Meet Ashley Hurst

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Hurst. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ashley, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Being diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis has given me a lot of resilience! Going through all the ups and downs with it in the last 15 years especially.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I own The Crohn’s & Colitis Dietitians – we are one of the leading IBD focused nutrition practices that see patients in both the US and Canada.

It all started for me when I was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis as a student-athlete at my university. My Gastroenterologist at the time told me – “just eat whatever – nutrition doesn’t matter”. The only problem was – I really couldn’t eat whatever – in fact I was barely eating anything.

As a nutrition student at the time I knew nutrition must matter – and especially when you are malnourished. I pushed for more answers and found a new Gastroenterologist. I wanted a dietitian to guide me who really “got it” but couldn’t find one. This lead me down a path of getting my masters degree and seeking out experts and researchers in this space around the world to learn from and eventually led me to starting my own practice.

The Crohn’s & Colitis Dietitians has become a hub of resources for both those diagnosed and practitioners looking for good resources. We have an expansive blog, IBD library and now a YouTube channel. Our podcast “Gut Feelings” is also our favorite spot to interview experts and deliver leading edge content to our listeners.

We have the honor of interacting with many IBD patients each year and we are proud of the ways we have helped many take the stress out of figuring out IBD nutrition, reduce their risk of flare and find symptom relief.

All of our dietitians are highly skilled and extensively trained in treating complex IBD cases. We are also sought out for our expertise in a variety of areas in addition to IBD – including prenatal care, perimenopause and Sports nutrition.

My personal area of interest and research is prebiotic fiber use. My experience lead me to create my own product line specialized in prebiotic and probiotics for sensitive guts – GutLove. Last year it became very popular grew fast – selling out in our first 7 months as people have loved it as a way to help support their gut health and ease uncomfortable symptoms.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Resiliance & curiosity are the most important skills to have when starting a business.

Resiliance because as you grow there are many obstacles that require persistance and patience to get through.

Curiosity because asking questions and a learners attitude is crucial to break through barriers and do things better.

How would you describe your ideal client?

We love our patients that love to learn – they make the best partners in health care!

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