Don't Tell Me I Can't…Become A Health Coach

An unsettling time in Margaret Bell’s life proved to be a catalyst for change

- Fiona Kinloch

Thumbing through the pages of the True Taste recipe book, I’m drawn back to the front cover. No matter how many copies I look at, the excitement of seeing my face and name on my very own cookbook will never subside. Having spent two decades working in events, retraining as a health coach at the age of 40 was terrifying. But now, with a book and a successful coaching business to my name, it’s proved to be one of the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done.

I haven’t always had the healthiest relationship with food. When I was 14, some kids at school referred to me as ‘thunder thighs’.At around 9st, I wasn’t overweight for my age – but, as I examined myself in the mirror, I convinced myself that the bullies were right. Desperate to lose weight, and the nickname, I started starving myself, foolishly believing that was the answer. Eating only bread and water for days on end, in just three months I’d plummeted to 7st. I was tiny and remained so until my 20s.