Kerri McGuiness
The Quiet Power of Nutrition
I catch up with Kerri at her home, just a stone’s throw from the quiet charm of Wandsworth’s high street. From the moment I step inside, it’s clear this is more than just a place to live. It’s a working kitchen, a creative studio, and the nerve centre of a growing food business.
The day is still young, but already the warmth has crept in - sunlight pours into the courtyard, casting soft reflections across the kitchen, where bowls, boards and jars sit in abundance, the space alive with purpose.
“It’s lemon water, every morning, Simple. Old-school. But it works. I’ve had allergies my whole life, mostly stress-induced from school. But lemon water sets the tone for the day. Then coffee, of course. Seven, probably.”
Born in the wild west of Ireland - in Mayo, just “next to America,” she jokes - she later moved to Kildare, a green, horsey town just outside Dublin. She did well in school. “I’m not academic, but I worked hard.
But her story doesn’t follow a straight line. It’s tangled with grief, momentum, survival, and ambition. She trained at Leiths in 2017. “It was intense. Night shifts in restaurant kitchens. Early mornings in class. There’s no self-pity in her voice. Just a quiet, measured steadiness - like someone who’s already done the hard thinking, and chosen to keep moving forward.
She pauses mid-thought to take a tray of homemade granola out of the oven. Lovely golden clusters laced with the biggest cinnamon stick - deep, warm and spicy. The kind of flavour that lingers.
There’s a softness to her that carries through the tough stories. The food issues as a teenager. The years of working and waiting. “I was obsessed, I wasn’t well. I had anorexia as a teenager, and that sort of thing never fully goes away. It just changes shape. Then after I got married in 2016, my periods stopped. I was diagnosed with PCOS.”
That diagnosis became a turning point. “I started learning how food could help - how it could heal, or at least support the body through something complex. And then, in 2018, while I was still training, I lost my dad to Parkinson’s. That broke me open. On the outside, I was holding it together, but inside, I was a mess. My anxiety was through the roof. I lost a dangerous amount of weight.”
She speaks plainly, but there’s power in the honesty. “The healing started slowly. I don’t think losing a parent ever gets easier, but you do find ways to carry them with you. It was during that time that the desire to start a family really solidified.”
Food is her way of making sense of it all. “Our fridge is full of the kind of things that support PCOS and fertility. It's woven into every meal, for us and for my clients. A lot of them are walking that same road.”
Now there are also marathons. Out of necessity at first. The chef life doesn’t lend itself to gym timetables. “So I just started running wherever I was - Amsterdam, Spain”. She got pregnant five days after completing the Ibiza marathon. Her consultant still can’t believe it. “I don’t know how. I just did.”
There’s a rhythm to her life now, work, family, nutrition and the endless hunt for flavour. She’s currently leading menu development for a major hospitality brand. It’s commercial, yes - but conscious too. “When I started, a few people thought, ‘Who’s this with her healthy thing?’ But now everyone’s on board. We’ve evolved the menus. Added porridge, plant-based, gluten-free options. The demand is real. People want to eat well.”
At home, gluten-free is the default. “It’s easy. Delicious. Naturally gluten-free food, not substitutes full of additives.”
So what’s next?
She doesn’t hesitate. “I’d love to write a cookbook. I did one for my nutrition course already, focused on fertility. But I want to do it properly now.”
Strawberries are needed to finish the granola Kerri’s been prepping while I’ve been trailing her with my camera, so we pop out to the shops. Chatting with the shop owners is second nature - a smile here goes a long way. It’s clear Kerri’s a familiar face, woven into the rhythm of the street.
It doesn’t take her long to find the best punnet - tucked just beneath the top layer of the display. The kind of berries that hold their shape in a bowl, but burst with flavour the moment you bite into them. She knows what she’s after. Always does.
Back in the kitchen, She finishes by layering the granola over cool and smooth Greek yogurt, and a handful of the strawberries we picked up earlier. It’s a simple bowl, but there’s something quietly beautiful about it. Thoughtful. Nourishing. The kind of food that feels like being looked after. To finish it off she drizzles honey over the activated pecans. The smell is warm, nutty, with a touch of sweetness in the air.
In the corner of the kitchen a handwritten reminder reads ‘Activate Your Nuts’. When I ask about it, she chuckles. “I’ve had that up for years,” she says. “Soaking nuts overnight, then drying them low and slow in the oven - it changes everything. You can actually digest them that way. Your body thanks you.”
For more on Kerri check out here website at www.verykerri.com
