Hormones & Happiness founder and Merit Club member India Parker-Smith is an online body transformation coach focusing on female hormones. Hormones & Happiness started off as a Facebook group where women shared their daily health struggles and from their eye opening feedback India began creating packages that provided women with easy and simple solutions on resetting their bodies.

Can you tell us a little bit about what you do and your unique approach to personal training?

I am an online Personal Trainer who specialises in helping busy women lose weight, tone up and feel fabulous. I focus on resetting gut health & hormone health whilst reducing stress levels to create a happier and healthier lifestyle.

What made you decide to start Hormones & Happiness? 

I have always loved working hard, but also desired the freedom to travel and do the things I enjoy most. As a busy freelance Personal Trainer, I was running around South London from 6am-10pm most days which left me with no time to focus on myself, my health or my social life. It was then that I decided something had to change!

My boyfriend had a successful online business at the time and recommended I use my expertise to create online nutrition programmes for women. I started off with just a free Facebook group providing young busy women with helpful tips on hormones, healthy snacks and quick workouts. From here women started to enquire into working with me one on one so I began to build out bespoke programmes targeting the struggles women face on a daily basis.

Fast forward 6 months and my online business is doing great, I am able to provide a better service to my clients but still have the time and freedom to focus on the things that make me happy. For instance, I am writing this whilst sat by the pool in Argentina!!

We so envy you for that! What do you believe should be the priorities when it comes to training, eating well and looking after our health?

As working women, we forget that living a busy and stressful life can affect our weight and mental wellbeing. The first thing I would recommend is to limit the things that contribute to your high stress levels!

Secondly, choose a sport or activity that you love taking part in so you don’t see working out as a chore.

Thirdly, I would recommend taking a food intolerance test to eliminate any foods that irritate your body and prevent your gut from working efficiently. Symptoms of an intolerance are weight gain, skin irritations, fatigue and IBS.

We are fascinated by your focus on hormones and how this impacts on our health, our stress levels and our happiness. Can you expand upon this a bit for us and let us know any top tips for getting in control of them?

I believe the 3 topics (hormones, gut and stress) are related heavily and if one is out of kilter the other two suffer! It’s like a vicious cycle…

If our gut isn’t healthy, foods don’t get digested efficiently and our hormones can be disrupted. Equally, if we are stressed this can impact our digestion which has a knock on effect to certain hormones. This can lead to possible weight gain, fatigue and long-term frustration and low mood.

With regards to hormones; they naturally fluctuate on a weekly basis so as women we should aim to adapt our nutrition and exercise depending upon where we are in our menstrual cycle.  For example, try to reduce the intensity of your workouts week 4 of your cycle and train hardest in week 1.

Working with your menstrual cycle is a lot more beneficial than working against it!

My biggest tip is to listen to your body!

That's a great tip! Every woman from time to time can experience a range of things that may knock their confidence… anxieties, bloating, stress, tiredness, lack of sleep… Do you have any insights on how to overcome these, on nutrition, supplements we could be taking, or the best ways to balance our diets?

My go-to supplement which is like a magic pill for women is Magnesium.

Why?

• It reduces sugar cravings.
• It reduces period pains.
• Magnesium helps to reduce stress.
• Improves sleep.

Magnesium can be found in nuts and seeds or take 300mg/day in supplement form.

Which women inspire you?

There’s not one person that I look up to as my role model; I’m inspired everyday by the women I meet and my clients who are determined and committed to reach their goals and work towards their full potential.

What are your goals for the future?

My biggest goal is to run fitness retreats abroad with the aim to guide women towards long term health and happiness rather than offering a short term detox!

I also would love to create a global online community where women can discuss everything hormones, health and happiness.

You don’t shy away from pushing your boundaries from time to time and try out new things or turning up to events on your own – for some of us not having the courage to do this is what’s stopping us from really living our true potential. What advice can you give to our readers to help them overcome these fears?

I regularly attend events for entrepreneurs such as co-working events and educational talks on my own but that doesn’t mean I am completely comfortable doing it. I love pushing myself out of my comfort zone but it can be daunting. I find that last minute I will try and talk myself out of going but think ‘imagine how you will feel tomorrow if you don’t go?’ and that kicks me up the behind to go!

My advice to those who fear going to events is to remember that you won’t be the only nervous person going – everyone is in the same boat. Also see these events as an opportunity to meet like minded people and learn something new. You may even open yourself up to new work opportunities.

And just one extra (if we may!) - for our readers who are yet to become official Merit Club members, how would you describe our community and how have you found your experience with the Merit Club so far?

I tell everyone about this member’s club and how beneficial it has been for me so If you are thinking about joining…do it!! I love that this members club is solely for women and that their aim is ‘to create an environment which is truly about you, your personal discovery and development.’

I especially recommend attending their co-working events for the chance to meet like minded driven women and The Merit Club team themselves!

DISCOVER MORE