This is a photo of me and my Just For Tummies supplements ‘hot off the press’ when we launched the range at the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) show in 2015 – I remember how excited and hopeful I felt at the time, and I think the photo shows that too!
I started Just For Tummies because I saw a need, having run my busy digestive health clinic for 25 years. As a naturopath, specialising in helping people with stomach and gut issues, I was regularly seeing people who had all manner of digestive issues, from IBS to constipation, uncomfortable bloating, painful trapped gas, diverticular disease, acid reflux, not to mention issues with bladder inflammation and infections like UTIs and thrush. I was regarded as the person to see, especially if you had IBS and had tried every remedy under the sun to little or no effect in reducing the symptoms.
I got very busy, with appointments booked up six months in advance, and people still contacting me for help. I would give them dietary advice, as well explaining how key supplements could help reduce their symptoms. It was then that my husband, Kevin suggested that I develop my own range. I chided him for suggesting such a thing because he knew, more than any other person, how busy I was working in the clinic. However, he had planted a seed in my head and this seed started to grow and, however hard I tried, I couldn’t get rid of it. I knew there was no supplement company in the UK specialising in stomach and gut health, and I knew that many people who were buying supplements were not getting the correct advice and information to enable them to buy the appropriate supplements. I had to do something, so I did!
It took me a year to develop the range and the brand, thinking of names for the company and for each of the supplements, and putting together the best ingredients to use in the supplements. Back then, I knew very little about social media, spreadsheets, key performance indicators, analytics, and all that comes with running your own on-line, e-commerce business, so I had to learn fast!
Kevin and I committed funds to the Just For Tummies project – our private pensions that we invested in their entirety. I was developing Just For Tummies whilst working full-time in the clinic; looking back now, I realise what a crazy time it was, working those long hours, sometimes way past midnight. I honestly don’t know how I did it, but I was like a woman possessed in a way. It was my mission. It took its toll on my health at times, and on my relationships, particularly the one with Kevin. We’ve worked together for almost 30 years, many of those in the clinic (Kevin as a chartered physiotherapist) and we have always worked in synchronicity, with never a raised word between us. Developing and running Just For Tummies in the early days was a challenge for us though. But we are still married, and a stronger pairing thanks to the journey (at least I like to think so!)
I couldn’t give up on my quest once it had begun. I believed then, as I still do now, that people deserved better. They deserved a range of affordable supplements, targeted to their particular digestive and gut issue, a range made in England, containing no artificial nasties, with access to advice and support during the purchasing process and afterwards.
It really has been a labour of love for me. It’s taken a lot of work, some very stressful times where I’ve had to really stretch myself, a lot of guts, a lot of learning, a lot of money, but my faith in my supplements and the fact that they were very much needed, has been – and still remains – absolutely unshakeable.
I don’t believe in sugar-coating things, anyone who knows me knows that I am a straight-talking northern lass – running Just For Tummies has presented its challenges, and I have got to admit there have been times when I just wanted to go back to my clinic and not have all the responsibility of the Tummies business, but we’ve come too far for that now.
Fast forward to the present day, and I look at the truly incredible network we have built, not to mention the lives of all the people we have been able to help turn around – the many wonderful reviews and testimonials we get validate just how effective the supplements are.
Every time I hear from you, real people who are benefitting from the Just For Tummies supplements, it makes me so proud. All the hard graft has been worth it. I thank you all.
If you would like any advice or support regarding a digestive and gut health issue, I am more than happy to help.
