Annalee Gray Brown, Nutritionist

Hi! I am Annalee, the Founder of Nourish Caribbean, and a Jamaican-based Nutritionist. My focus in weight management, PCOS management and helping people to enjoy eating well.

The Nourish Team provides nutrition services to support Caribbean people at home and abroad in living healthier lives. Each person on our team has a unique journey. Here is a bit of mine. Growing up, I was pleasantly plump and I got increasingly plump as I grew older. At two points in my twenties, I lost 10 lbs. The first time was due to changing my eating habits for 3 weeks on Daniel’s Fast and the third was due to a consistent walking programme with reduced calories for about 2 months. Each time I lost the weight, I was elated but later regained the weight. In the past 5 years, I gained 60 lbs. During this period, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  Much of my weight gain is PCOS related. I kept saying to myself and friends and family that I was determined to lose the weight but my actions never quite matched up. In fact, I struggled with sugar cravings and barely exercised with my main reason being due to pain as I also had and still have pain due to motor vehicle injuries.

Every moment provides the opportunity to live our best lives if we make our best decisions.

I wanted to lose weight and would sometimes make healthier choices, but I was not consistently putting my knowledge into practice. For example, I would walk for 20 minutes one day and then not walk again until 3 weeks later and so on. However, in March 2020, I got a shocker when I realized that my weight had gotten to 225lbs! I started to make healthier choices while still enjoying the foods that I love and started to lose weight. I also started physiotherapy to help me overcome the pain and improve my physical health. Prior to this, almost every day, I would say that tomorrow I will quit eating lots of sweet treats but after a lifetime of saying this to myself and having a blood sugar reading in the pre-diabetic range, I could no longer say tomorrow. Tomorrow became today. Today and every day is an opportunity to enjoy the foods that I love but in a healthier way and now I am living my best life as I am making great decisions.

When you commit and take the first step, we journey with you.

I never gave up on my health though I struggled greatly and often felt discouraged, misunderstood, and guilty. I have come to understand that I may never be the world’s slimmest nutritionist, but I can maintain healthy habits and work towards a healthy weight. Everyone’s journey is different and I have come to appreciate how having the right support helps us to be our best selves. Making the decision to get support to improve your health is a great one. Once you have committed to taking the day by day steps to be your best self, my team and I are committed to doing the journey with you.