I finally sought out the help of a nutritionist after a good ten years of yo-yo dieting - really a kind of eating disorder now that I look at it in the big perspective. I was convinced that any nutritionist would either be gimmicky or just reiterate things I already know about eating well.
Karen was a really delightful surprise. During our first session she inspired an incredible amount of confidence in me, considering that I had come to her feeling totally powerless about my ability to control my eating habits. Much of it came from her ability to really see through me, reading a lot about my personality and behaviors just from a couple of exchanges. The difference is really amazing - before seeing Karen I was basically addicted to binge eating. Now I'm eating 4 servings of protein, tons of veggies, beans, a bit of rice, fruit, some nuts, and healthy fats without feeling like I'm depriving myself of anything.
Food is everything. I know I've read that in a million places, but after working with Karen for over a month now, I actually have seen it transform my life, and so I urge anyone who doesn't eat the best they can to consider working with her. Here are some amazing things that I have been able to do since working with Karen:
- I have lost 2% body fat and lost around 10 pounds.
- I haven't touched sugar, alcohol, gluten, or dairy for over 4 weeks now.
- I got off my caffeine addiction for good
- I haven't craved junk food at all over the last three weeks and can say with confidence that I'll stick to my eating plan.
- I can eat a cookie and just stop there. In the past, I would have known with doom that two cookies meant that I would have eaten the whole box.
- I now plan my meals with ease, instead of dreading it and avoiding it like the plague.
- I actually prepare much of my food the night before and get it done within 45 minutes.
- I can now make it through an intense training session in martial arts without feeling dizzy or faint.
- Much of my acne has cleared up on its own.
- I can maintain my energy throughout the day, so that I'm actually really slimming down on my to do list and working more effectively towards other goals.
- I'm saving a lot of money because I no longer order take out food all the time.
- Eating well and having Karen's positive encouragement and advice has made me feel more confident in general, so that I have sought more clients and have even started to make more money.
Thanks to Karen's approach to teaching nutrition as a behavior and a practice, I'm approaching life with a completely different attitude now. I have really shed my victim mentality and look at problems or difficulties that arise in my life as opportunities for trying out new strategies and proving to myself that I am capable of handling things.
Karen has a really remarkable intuitive ability to not only read between the lines when I share my thoughts around eating, but furthermore, to be able to read the 'eating system' that rules my life. Within the first session, Karen was already producing insights about the real sources of blockage that would prevent me from sticking through with an eating plan. Some of it is psychological, but a lot of it was simply the strategy that I had in place.
There are a million different things out there to help people eat better, but I can say quite adamantly that most of those things are b.s. Not because their information is wrong, but because their information won't lead to lasting changes rooted in behavior and the ability to strategize. Go ahead and go on your lemon-cayenne detox. You will lose weight. But you'll never physically rehearse the key behaviors that lead to visible and sustainable changes. I see my work with Karen a lot like working with a music teacher. She's teaching me how to practice effectively so that my life will be more resonate at large. read more