Claire McHugh qualified as a dietitian at the University of Pretoria in 1999 and went on to specialise in Paediatric nutrition in the UK, where she worked for 8 years. She has been in private practice since 2009 specialising in paediatric and infant nutrition. She works closely with paediatricians; GP’s and nurses in the hospital and outpatient setting managing nutrition of children; from premature infants to teenagers. She is also a qualified lactation consultant and consults to new mums assisting and educating them on breastfeeding. Alongside this, Claire provides a part-time service to the adult wards at Alberlito and Victoria Hospitals. This service includes inpatient nutrition care of patients in the ICU, medical and surgical wards. Claire is a well-known speaker in her field and has presented research and done numerous scientific talks for large multinational nutrition companies on topics relating to child nutrition. She has also written articles, presented on radio and television for a variety of magazines and parenting websites and programs. Claire is the nutrition expert for the Pampers institute and Mamahood South Africa. She works for Woolworths doing store tours and nutrition education in schools. Claire is the founder and director of a nutrition education tool- “Healthy plate Healthy me’. Claire has a special interest in allergy and serves on the executive committee for the dietician’s interest group of ALLSA.
Each patient or client is different and will each have their own goals. They, therefore, need a unique and tailored solution to achieve their intended outcome. Advice is provided, and tailored nutrition strategies or eating plans are calculated and prescribed accordingly to ensure that, if adhered to, they will result in an achievement of a client’s goals.