North East TV presenter Steph McGovern has teamed up with a neuroscientist to launch a new health and wellbeing business - after the doctor appeared on her show and helped transform her life.
The Steph’s Packed Lunch host and Dr Jones - also known as Dr Rock - have teamed up to improve the nation’s wellbeing following Middlesbrough-born Ms McGovern’s successful health revolution, which resulted from the doctor’s ‘smart wellness’ longevity plan.
Ms McGovern, who now lives in North Tyneside, has invested in the doctor’s Kent-based start-up company, Neuron Wellness, a year after she appeared on the lunchtime show. She was so impressed by her simple tips and wellness courses that she took part in them herself and managed to control her debilitating IBS symptoms and drop two dress sizes.
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Now the pair are on a mission to encourage individuals and business leaders to adopt the same approach and change their lifestyles - and those of their employees - to boost their physical and mental wellbeing without the need for a gym or diet.
Their first smart wellness hub opened this week in Folkestone, Kent, which features the UK’s first live bacteria bar, serving kombucha and kefir drinks. The new company also offers a ‘30 Diversity’ home delivery food box subscription service, a ‘Smart Gut’ health analysis and online wellness tips and webinars.
The Smart Wellness plan by Neuron focuses on simple daily biohacking tips to improve health such as intermittent fasting, eating thirty different fruits and vegetables each week, and improving sleep patterns and stress through music listening and breathing practices.
Ms McGovern said: “When Julia stepped into the Packed Lunch studio one year ago I had no idea it would change my life. Since then, I have been adopting her techniques and making small tweaks to my daily lifestyle, stopping bad habits and eating in a smarter way, having cold showers and working on my gut health.
“I feel so much better and people keep asking me how I have transformed my health. That’s why I wanted to work with Julia and be part of the business. Hopefully we can help many others change too and reap the benefits - as we both have.”
The business partners hope to roll out similar centres in other cities across the UK - alongside working with corporations – and Newcastle is top of the list for the next one.
Ms McGovern said: “I’ve got a big North Eastern love of this – I want to bring this North. We’re always getting slagged off in the North East for being unhealthy, and I think this is stuff you can do that is affordable. I’m not saying get a gym membership - in fact Julia tells everyone to cancel your gym memberships because it’s not about exercise, and training at the gym all the time.
“And we’re not saying pay loads of money - it’s more about the concept that you could bring things into your life that are sustainable.”
Dr Jones added: “During lockdown I was my own case study and used these simple techniques as an experiment on myself. I’m now the same weight that I was in my twenties and my sleep, focus and energy were also all boosted. Steph was fascinated and looking for ways to improve her health - and you can see the amazing results she’s achieved in quite a short time. Steph is evangelical about the programmes and when she said she wanted to be part of the business it felt a perfect fit.
“We hope the smart wellness hub to be the first of many and want people to know that they can revolutionise their wellbeing by working on their gut health and daily habits. We are also working with business leaders and employers who know their workforce’s health and wellbeing is a vital component of a modern post-Covid corporation.”
