Hello and a very warm welcome back to wellness with Liz Earl and today I am delighted to be talking to Nicky Clinch a transformational life coach macrobiotic chef and counselor who's

going to be sharing her own journey from battling eating disorders and drug addiction

to finding health and wellness through the three pillars of food, body and yourself.

Welcome, Nicki. Hi. This is an extraordinary journey and I think if we go back to the beginning just to put this into perspective you were born in Hong Kong.

Yes I was yes raised by Buddhist grandparents. I wasn't raised by Buddhist grandparents.

I wasn't raised by my grandparents, but my grandparents were Buddhist, yes, and they had an impact on me very much so.

And I read that you were an active addict by the age of 10? I began by the 10 to 11 was when I first

began and by the time I was 20 when I got clean I had been in addiction for a decade.

So yeah, it was...

So how did it go so wrong so early?

Well, I mean I had a pretty difficult upbringing.

And I think for me now I have hindsight I can look back I can see that I always really

struggled with being comfortable with myself feeling the emotions that were going on for me, and I was just searching for an escape,

an escape route.

And I'll never forget the day, the first day that I picked up some wine.

And I remember drinking it and it was this instant solution.

I just felt confident and like I was good enough and suddenly I thought gosh this

feels good and I want more of it. So that was the beginning and I was only I

was just before I was turning 11 then I was on holiday with my family and I just

remember that so well and for me it was like the escape.

Yeah yeah because you kind of lose your inhibitions, don't you, and just, it just all can crumble very quickly.

And then you had an issue with food, is that right? Were you bulimic?

...