Fiona O'Donnell MSc Nutritionist

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Fiona O'Donnell MSc Nutritionist Empowering change for a healthier, fitter you. Nutritionist and lifestyle coach. Founder of Feedback is more than welcome and is very much appreciated.

I built this page initially to chronicle my journey from marathon running to competing in figure competition. I love training and I also love eating - so dieting is a big challenge for me. For this reason, I try to develop new recipes which are gluten free, sugar free, low carb (for the most part) and highly nutritious. I am open to learning as much as I can whilst on this journey. Following completion of my MSc in Exercise & Nutrition Science, I am now working through a post grad in Applied Nutrition with the CISSN.

Travel day with these two for the Lego Serious Play conference in Dublin Olivia Norman & Zelda DiBlassi. Education, grow...
09/10/2026

Travel day with these two for the Lego Serious Play conference in Dublin Olivia Norman & Zelda DiBlassi.

Education, growth, adventure & play - engaging in some of my top values 🥰

This card comes out once a year for a birthday. At age 4, one of my children decided to draw their dad a birthday card. ...
08/10/2026

This card comes out once a year for a birthday.

At age 4, one of my children decided to draw their dad a birthday card.

12 years on, we still laugh.

I’ll leave you all to your creative juices.

30/09/2026

You can always tell when things are going south by how hard they grasp at straws when it comes to giving advice.

Social media has always promoted polarising content…. But Jesus my eyes are burning today.

One one hand, I’m celebrating the feminine rage (and all the men who are supporting justifiable rage against violence against women) …

And on the other hand, I’m crushed by the volume of coaches who are pushing the narrative that THEY know what’s best for YOU when it comes to body size, what your shape ‘should’ be and what your behaviours ‘should’ look like.

That decision always comes down to how you feel - not what someone else tells you how to feel.

Jesus. I’m tired.

If you’re finding yourself swamped with information, feeling uncomfortable in your body….. and the only option you feel is available is to give up biscuits, bread and any sense of enjoyment in your food, then I’d love to help.

This is absolutely not a diet.
I will not ask you to restrict.
I will not provide a calorie counted food plan.
And here’s the kicker, I will not promise weight loss.

Because truthfully, nobody can.

You have far more potential than a number on a scale! I feel very passionately about getting this message out there…..An...
29/09/2026

You have far more potential than a number on a scale!

I feel very passionately about getting this message out there…..
And having the opportunity to do so on national radio with Newstalk and Claire Byrne has been incredible.

Claire is spot on …. The message that the ‘only metric of success is weight loss’ is perpetuated by how social media constructs that success.

We rarely talk about the bigger picture.

And it’s not just asking if someone has kids and a job - it’s about exploring who you want to be in that environment.

Goals cannot be successful when they are isolated to a fixed metric, ignoring all@other factors.
That’s not a recipe for thriving.

We work on the process, the behaviours, the growth - so that when you reach that goal, you do so as your whole self.

Not a hungry, miserable, sick of dieting version of yourself.

22/09/2026

Here’s a piece I wrote on ‘Food & Mood’ whilst critically appraising a paper on the medical management of people with obesity.

Whilst the variety of research reporting on the association of mood and food makes a valuable contribution to knowledge, the mechanisms linking diet quality with mood provide further robust evidence to support dietary interventions.

A narrative review by Carabotti et al (2015) describes the ‘bidirectional communication’ between the gut and the central nervous system.
While a large proportion of (between 90-95%) our bodies serotonin is produced in the gut, this is not, in fact the
main mediator of mood.
This serotonin controls gut motility, vascular tone and can help modulate immune function in the gut.
However, it also indirectly effects mood by interacting with vagus nerve fibres, giving us the feeling of calm after an enjoyable meal and contributing to emotional regulation and stress responses (Hwang & Sang Oh, 2025).

This study also impresses the
importance of metabolites (short chain fatty acids) produced by a healthy gut, stimulating the production of serotonin in our brain.

SCFA’s are the main modulators of tryptophan synthesis.
Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin production within the brain. Serotonin in the brain not only has a direct effect on mood stability, but also regulates interaction with other neurotransmitters such
as dopamine and gaba which also effect mood, cognition and reward processing.

In an applied setting, this research provides clear evidence that modification of food behaviours should be an essential component in the design of mental health interventions.

Correcting misinformation is an important part of the role of appropriately qualified professionals. Have you heard the trope that your gut controls the ‘happy hormone’?

21/09/2026

Sadly, I have to frequently turn down clients who want a weight loss food plan and training regime - because that’s just now how I work.

If you are exclusively outcome focussed - that just does not lend itself to sustainable behaviour change.

Process focussed is a whole other ballgame.
We centre the person, their routine, the foods they enjoy, the lifestyle they live…. And we ask which elements contribute towards achieving their goals, and which elements make it harder.

We build the plan from there.

If this is an approach that sounds better to you than getting rid of every biscuit out of the house, drop me a message with OCTOBER.

We still have spaces on our next intake.

Address

Clonakilty

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+353873841233

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