From BBC Studios to Nourishing Mothers: How One Woman's Health Crisis Sparked a Mission to Transform Exhausted Mums

When Thalia Pellegrini was just 17, a bout of glandular fever derailed her life for five years. Doctors diagnosed her with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and told her there was nothing they could do except wait and hope she'd get better with age. By her early twenties, she was struggling to hold down her first job after graduating from Cambridge, constantly battling debilitating exhaustion that seemed to have no end in sight.

It was a chance encounter with a nutritional therapist that changed everything. Within four months, Thalia's energy was transformed, setting her on a path that would eventually lead her from the BBC presenting studios to becoming "The Knackered Mums Nutritionist" – a mission born from her own journey through motherhood and the crushing realization that even with all her nutritional training, she had lost herself in the chaos of caring for everyone else.

Today, Thalia helps mothers navigate everything from post-natal depletion to perimenopause, championing the radical idea that when mums prioritize their own wellbeing, the benefits ripple through their entire family. Her story is one of personal transformation, professional reinvention, and the powerful truth that sometimes we must lose ourselves completely before we can find our true calling.

From BBC presenter to "transforming the lives of knackered mums" - what inspired your career pivot to nutritional therapy, and how did your personal health journey shape your mission to help mothers put themselves first without the guilt?

I loved working as a presenter for the BBC, but I felt a strong pull to do something completely different. The decision to study nutrition was an easy one to make. I only became a TV presenter because a nutritional therapist had changed my life in my 20s. Aged 17, I got glandular fever - but I didn’t get better. Diagnosed with Epstein Barr virus, I was told by doctors that I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but there was nothing they could do - I would probably just get better as I get older. Five years later, and nothing much had changed. By then I was trying (and failing) to hold down my first job after graduating from Cambridge, but I was constantly ill and struggling with debilitating exhaustion. I found the name of a nutritional therapist in the back of a book about how to beat fatigue. I started to have sessions with her and within 4 months my health had been transformed, and I had more energy than I imagined possible. I got to pursue my dream of being a TV presenter. I was so grateful.

So, when I felt I needed a new direction, nutritional therapy felt like the right choice. I spent 3 and a half years studying at the renowned Institute of Optimum Nutrition in London and graduated in 2009 when I was 4 months pregnant with my first child. 

But motherhood exploded my wellbeing. Even with all my training, I wasn’t looking after myself. Not sleeping, barely eating, I felt isolated and ashamed that I was struggling.

I poured every ounce of energy into my beautiful boy and thought that was all that mattered. I had to hit rock bottom to realise that I was short-changing him as well as myself by thinking that as long as he was thriving, that was all that mattered. When I had my second son two years later, I realised I had to do things differently, for all of us. And so, the Knackered Mums Nutritionist was born.

Your signature programs like "The Energised Mum Method" focus on perimenopause and helping mums go from "knackered to nourished." What's the biggest mindset shift you help your clients make, and what's one practical step busy mothers can take today to start prioritizing their energy?

No matter what life stage my clients are in, they all share the same devotion to their families. And that often overrides how they look after themselves – if they do it all. They feel guilty when they spend time or money on themselves. The first mindset shift is the realisation that they are the centre of the universe for their families and if they are happy, healthy and full of energy EVERYONE benefits. 

I invite women to hold their own wellbeing sacred. It’s always a total joy to see what follows when she does, whether she’s post-natal or in perimenopause. 

One practical, simple change a busy mum can make is to eat a nourishing breakfast. Doesn’t have to take long, but it needs to be filling and nutritious because it will dictate what you eat and how you feel for the rest of the day. Try it for 7 days. You’ll be amazed by the difference in your energy. You can email me at thalia@thaliapellegrini.com for my free and exclusive Recipe Collection Breakfasts for Mums in a Hurry.

You emphasize that "when you feel better, less hormonal, more energised, more vibrant, more YOU – the impact radiates through your life." How do you help women overcome the belief that self-care is selfish, and what does an "empowered perimenopause" look like in practice?

When a woman starts to feel her energy shift in a few weeks of working with me, she gets how powerful nutritional therapy can be. Bear in mind that when women come to me, it’s almost always because they’re knackered and on some kind of hormone rollercoaster and have been for a long time. They’re finally ready for change because they just don’t want to feel this way anymore – full of rage, impatient, exhausted, teary, in pain, anxious, zero libido. It could be PMS, PMDD, PCOS, endometriosis, post-natal depletion or perimenopause – often more than 1 of the above – but she probably hasn’t felt fantastic in far, far too long.  

We often start with a conversation about self-compassion. Nutritional therapy isn’t just about what’s on your plate. Self-compassion is about acknowledging that we have one body and it’s our home – we get to make the choice to nourish our body with food, movement, breath and sleep. It’s not about perfection! We can only do our best each day and that’s always enough. The first step is knowing, deeply knowing, that is not selfish to cherish our own health. 

An empowered perimenopause is about connecting to and understanding what’s happening to our bodies. We’ll explore the stages of perimenopause and menopause and the varying hormonal shifts but far more than that, we focus on overall health - gut, skin, liver health, movement and breath, stress management, weight, as well as understanding that we are futureproofing our health too. Understanding how to support cardiovascular health, brain health and bone health is empowering. We may live 40 years after menopause. Those years should be joyful, healthy and pain free. Whether you’re on HRT or not, for some women this is a profoundly challenging time. I’m knee-deep in it myself and it’s been humbling but I’m finding my way too and learning from the amazing women that trust me with their health. 

Not only am I an empath, but I am also deeply intuitive. That, combined with more than ten years clinical experience means that every woman who works with me benefits from unique nutritional therapy completely bespoke to them and their life. And it works. 

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