Beauty Fitness Dieticians Nutritionists - A Transforming Journey
For beauty fitness dieticians nutritionists, human transformation is a hugely rewarding experience. Yet, as Kat James shows, it is only a tiny part of the amazing journey available to anyone who follows the path of competent beauty fitness dieticians nutritionists.
I always feel a little awkward asking someone I've helped if I can share her story with the public.
While I'm convinced that there's no more powerful teacher or inspiration than a personal success story, I've learned from my own experience that any real transformation begins long before the body starts to change, and it goes on long after the photographer clicks the "after" shot.
Here is just a snapshot of one woman's journey that has only just begun.
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Amy Mongomery Takes Control
KJ: Amy, when did you decide to make a change in your life?
AM: I never thought the words "eating disorder" applied to me, but last year, when my sister gave me your book, I weighed the heaviest I had in my life and was just beginning to admit that I needed help.
She told me, "Kat James (beauty fitness dieticians nutritionists) has helped thousands of women with her natural beauty program."
I had tried all the popular diet plans, but with no long-term success. The loss of my marriage -- compounded by the fact that I was approaching 223 pounds -- had me feeling truly hopeless.
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Until I read your chapter about food addiction, I didn't even know that I had an eating disorder. I just thought there was something wrong with me. I just didn't care about my body or my health.
In retrospect, I know a lot of my problems stemmed from emotional stuff, although other physical issues that heightened my addiction -- which I had no clue about until much later -- came into play.
I was in a marriage that wore down my self-esteem. I began, unknowingly, to seek more and more comfort in food.
It's hard to say if I treated myself poorly because I felt terrible about myself, or if I felt terrible about myself because of what I kept doing to my body.
I had become convinced deep down that I wasn't worthy of respect, perhaps because I felt I couldn't even show it to myself. At a size 22, I was ashamed that my kids had such an overweight mother.
KJ: Amy, you look like a different person today. What do you think is responsible for this transformation?
AM: I made a game plan for myself after reading your book. I decided to do three things:
1) I started to change any starchy or sugary food or drink choices to low-glycemic choices, which surprisingly required no sacrifice of any of my favorite foods. I also cut way down on diet soda, which I learned wasn't doing any good and may have been causing harm.
2) I started taking supplements to balance my blood sugar, serotonin and hormone levels. I had to determine which weight-related health issues pertained to me; everyone's different, so I couldn't just start a one-size-fits-all supplement regimen. But once I determined the right ones for me, I took them faithfully because I saw how they had worked for you.
3) I started dealing with my emotional issues. Reading some self-help books you recommended and spending time with supportive people, like my mother and sister, was key. I am very lucky. They have been so great through this.
The change in my body and in my psyche over the past year has been incredible. I've lost 85 pounds at this point.
I don't have any set weight-loss goal, but I think my body will lose even more as I get healthier. It's so gradual, unlike when I've lost weight before.
I don't have good weeks and bad weeks where I "succeed" at depriving myself, or revert to bingeing. It's not like that.
I'm not even exactly sure when all my cravings subsided or when the control that food had over me started to disappear. It just seemed that all of a sudden I didn't need to have an ice cream binge in order to feel better.
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It was amazing to actually feel satisfied eating good food, and to feel the moodiness and lethargy (and self-loathing) diminish steadily over time.
I know that it's because I was finally off the sugar pendulum, as you call it.
It feels like I've been released from an awful ride I thought would never end.
I get a little craving now and then, but the thought of bingeing on candy bars or wolfing down half a gallon of ice cream while the kids are with their father doesn't even occur to me, whereas once those urges dominated my mind and my life.
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Secrets to Success
KJ: What has been the most surprising factor behind your success?
AM: The effect the supplements have had in helping with my cravings, moods and energy over time has been mind-blowing.
Only a month or so after I started on them, I no longer needed the afternoon nap that had been interfering with my job.
I'd swear I've regained a sense of emotional control as well, but again, so much of my "insanity" was actually my body's chemistry.
I look back at when I counted food points, went to weekly weigh-ins and just cut back on what I ate, and I realize I didn't understand what was happening in my body.
I don't think of supplements as magic diet pills that I take blindly. I've learned what each one does, and I take them for specific issues. I believe they enabled me to resist the wrong kinds of foods long enough to break my addiction.
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KJ: Is there anything else that you've added to your regimen that has helped your progress?
AM: I've started exercising more again. I have to admit, I didn't do much formal exercise during the past year, but more and more -- probably because I feel so much better -- I find myself wanting to spend active time, rather than eating time, with friends.
Recently I've gotten into hiking. In fact, I'm leaving tomorrow to go climb the tallest peak in Idaho with a new guy friend. This isn't something I would have imagined doing a year ago!
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Emotional Health
KJ: Where are you today with your emotional issues?
AM: I still have pain like everybody else, but it's less destructive I think, because I'm dealing with it and feeling it instead of drugging myself with food or hiding behind the "padding," as you call it.
I'm very proud of my new body and the fact that I'm acting on good information for my own health. It has given me an unexpected, powerful new source of self-esteem and hope.
I was once convinced I'd have to completely heal my emotions before I could ever permanently lose weight or be at peace with food, but that wasn't true.
My body simply isn't using food -- or any substance -- as a drug anymore. And I don't believe it ever will again.
Holistic beauty expert and health advocate Kat James is the author of the acclaimed book The Truth About Beauty and host of a nationally televised PBS special of the same name, which debuted in the spring of 2004. To learn more about her Total Transformation cruise program, visit her Web site. To learn more about her book, log on to informedbeauty.com.
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Hope. It's a huge part of our lives and those of beauty fitness dieticians nutritionists. Stories like Amy's provide the sort of real-life examples that really help anyone thinking about consulting beauty fitness dieticians nutritionists.
If the topic interests you, two resources you might enjoy are:
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