Have you ever wondered how empathy could be your one superpower? 

In this interview, ​Joyce Bergsma shares with us how empathy has taken her business and life to a higher level of success and satisfaction. She is a registered Nutritional Therapist, practicing Orthomolecular and Functional Medicine since 2010. Joyce has a BA from Canada and later trained as a Nutritional Therapist in the UK. Her interest is on how food affects our mental health and she is an advocate for managing sustainable change for her clients.

Before studying nutrition, Joyce worked for the largest private health insurer in the UK. Since moving to the Netherlands, she’s focused on where food comes from and how it can be used to best promote our mental health.

Growing up in Canada, the kitchen was the center of Joyce’s family home. Her mother taught her how to cook from an early age with the vegetables from their garden.

As she got older, she noticed how food affected her mood, energy levels, digestion and stress levels.

When several people close to her started developing serious health problems, she felt there was a connection between the illnesses and their diets. Would a healthier diet create a healthier life?

This interest led Joyce to study nutrition in the UK, where she learned to identify the connections between the systems of the body. She found out how diet, exercise, our environment and genetics affect whether diseases develop or not.

Joyce’s interest in preventing the same depression her close family suffer from inspired her to learn how mental health could be influenced by nutrient therapy. Understanding the challenges of adjusting our lifestyles in a consumer society, she is keen to motivate others in making practical changes that enable their bodies to heal themselves.

Change is difficult, there’s no two ways about it. Joyce works to break down the different factors that contribute to mental health into bite-sized pieces so each step is manageable. We all have busy lives, but making change just happens one step at a time.

Joyce is currently working on developing the Happiness Hub, a place to connect and learn about being mentally healthier. She also offers personal consultations and runs workshops for private groups on Stress Management and Fermenting Foods. You can book online or check out the Happiness Hub at www.eatlivelovefood.com/happiness-hub.