Brain Brilliance with Lucinda Miller

Lucinda's new book Brain Brilliance offers 60 delicious and nutritious recipes as well as a wealth of diet and supplement tips and hacks for children living with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD and Autism as well as other unique and special brains. If you are a parent, teacher or carer, you can learn how to help them thrive and live their best neurodivergent life… with a little bit of nutritional know-how.

Sarah will be in conversation with Lucinda at this event and there will be a chance to ask all your questions as well as to buy a signed copy of the book and find out more about Lucinda's work.

About the Book
Brain Brilliance will help you and your children make the important connection between what they eat and their mood, behaviour, and learning – even if they are a highly selective eater and resistant to change. This book provides the most accessible and up-to-date evidence-based nutritional advice to improve a child’s brain function for all ages from toddler to school age to teens, and beyond. Understand the importance of the microbiome and the gut-brain link, as well as the negative role that ultra-processed foods play on the neurodivergent brain. Lucinda also highlights how to rebalance your child’s blood glucose levels to prevent 'hanger' and meltdowns. And learn how inflammation and the immune system can also dysregulate the neurodivergent brain and what to do about it.
Woven throughout this book are gentle and respectful ways at managing mood swings, tics, anxiety, chronic pain, speech delay and learning difficulties through better nutrition. Find easy to prepare Breakfasts, Lunches, Suppers, Drinks and those all-important Savoury and Sweet Snacks – which include switches for all the key 14 food allergens. All the recipes contain brain foods which encourage optimal development, mood and behaviour, whilst being kind to the sensory palate – and they are fun to make and easy to cook.

About the Writer

Lucinda is the clinical lead of the NatureDoc team and is the author of two healthy family cookbooks. She originally trained as a Naturopath, Iridologist and Master Herbalist at the Holistic Health College before training with Functional Medicine University and The Institute for Functional Medicine.

She is particularly passionate about the importance of children’s health and how early years nutrition can build strong foundations for their future health.

She specialises in neurodevelopmental nutrition and how best to support the neurodivergent mind. She also works with children with autoimmune neuropsychiatric conditions such as PANS/PANDAS as well as young people with complex long term physical and mental health concerns.

Her work focuses on understanding the nutritional and metabolic interactions between the gut microbiome, the immune system and brain function.

Up until my teens, my own health had been pretty good but then at university, my energy levels dived and I slept through every single lecture (I simply could not keep my eyes open). I have a pretty strong work ethic, so I revised in between naps and just squeezed a degree through. After university I landed a job as an analyst in the city at an investment bank, which was quite a pressure. I relied on four sleeps per day (including a couple of sneaky ones at work most days!) to get through and slept a great deal at the weekends. By this point I also had quite bad gut problems and my periods only came a few times a year. Eventually, very weak and in pain, I crawled in to see a gastro-enterologist and he shrugged it off as IBS, saying I should learn to live with it.

One day after working through the weekend, I just crashed in front of my boss. I was beyond exhausted. The bank’s GP said my blood tests were all OK and nothing more could be done. This is when a lady on my desk suggested I go and see a naturopathic iridologist, and that had to be worth a try.

This appointment, with the lovely and talented naturopathic iridologist Harriet Di Luzio, literally transformed my life. Out went the Diet Coke and fat-free yoghurt for breakfast and in came a wheat-free, dairy-free diet. With a 10-day liver cleanse and some blood sugar balancing herbs I was a completely different person, half a stone lighter, bouncing out of bed at 5.30am every day and no naps needed! Slowly over the next few months, the myriad of niggly symptoms started to disappear.

This was so transformational, at my follow-up appointment, all I wanted to know was where to train, so I enrolled on a course with the Holistic Health College almost immediately! I started seeing patients after work at home – my first client was in my lunch break in a garden square in the City of London.

Since then I have studied at the Functional Medicine University and the Institute of Functional Medicine which has allowed my practice to be more integrated and to have a more evidence-based approach.

From time to time I also lecture on paediatric nutrition, as well as neurodivergence on the degree course at The Institute for Optimal Nutrition.

I am now a mother of three gorgeous kids. But like most parents, it hasn’t always been easy. My eldest had some attention and co-ordination problems which affected his writing and organisation, and some chronic bowel issues. My daughter developed a tick-borne illness and my youngest had a significant milk protein intolerance as a baby and toddler. They have all benefited hugely from focused nutrition and food supplements. My passion for paediatric nutrition from the functional medicine approach continues and I was lucky to write a nutrition bible and cookbook The Good Stuff which was published by Short Books in 2018 and I Can’t Believe It’s Baby Food! in 2021.

When talking to clients, I often discover things that should have been obvious before, but no one had ever taken the time to unearth them. But the cornerstone of my work is rigorous lab tests which take the guesswork out of health plans.

Then by using food, natural food supplements, herbs and a positive approach to health habits, working in collaboration with clients – holding their hands where necessary, we manage to achieve great results.

Today, I am lucky enough to have a very busy naturopathic practice with an amazing team of NatureDoc practitioners. As a team, we work collaboratively bringing our many years of clinical experience together, to help many many people of all ages get their health back on track and reach their potential.

I feel I am the luckiest person in the world helping families and individuals to reach their health goals and realise that nature knows best.

Host or Publisher The Kitchen Table and Zenia Deogan