A NEW café in Ulverston is looking to kickstart customers’ January resolutions with its tasty and nutritious offerings.

The Little Green Juicy Café and Clinic offers a juice bar, café and an acupuncture clinic to its customers.

Owner and acupuncturist Dr Lilla Cooper believes that it is important to treat the ‘whole person’ when it comes to health.

“The ethos of Chinese medicine is treating the whole person and I realised that as well as treating the physical problem, I also wanted to help people look after themselves with what they eat,” she said. “And I love tasty and nutritious food!”

She hopes the café will be a ‘hub’ for people to access ways of eating well and taking care of their health.

Dr Cooper started her early career in cancer research but was inspired by the way that acupuncture was incorporated into mainstream medicine while in Japan and California.

After returning to the UK, Dr Cooper trained as an acupuncturist and 20 years ago established her successful practice in Ulverston, lured by its atmosphere as a vibrant and characterful market town close to the beautiful Lake District.

The cafés mantra is ‘good food makes you look, feel and live better’ and the menu changes with the seasons, offering local produce whenever possible.

Ania Grom-Yoncali, who runs the café side of the business, said that it was fantastic to see so much interest in healthy food.

“We try to encourage people to try our juices,” she said. “People are coming here and saying they have been waiting for this. People are really taking to it.

“It makes me smile when I see people enjoying the juices.”

It offers freshly pressed juices, smoothies and wholesome food, as well as hot beverages sourced from specialist coffee roaster Atkinsons of Lancaster.

For those with dietary requirements, there are gluten and dairy free options and takeaway is available.

However, Dr Cooper recognises that not everybody who visits will be vegan or gluten-free and does not want her customer base to be limited to only those with dietary requirements.

“I would like it to be full of all different ages and types of people and to be very inclusive,” she said. “I want it to appeal to everyone.”