About Kate

Kate is a registered nurse with over 20 years of patient care experience and 5 years in medical research, a dedicated mother and active grandmother to 4 young grandchildren, a business owner and a reiki practitioner. She has a passion for cooking and keto research, and feels called to support others in healing with the ketogenic lifestyle.

My journey with Keto

About 20 years ago, after the birth of my youngest daughter, I began to gain weight on my small 5’2” frame and noticed that if I ate any carbohydrate during the day it would make me especially sleepy.  Diet-induced sleepiness was a difficult challenge for a full-time working mother of three! This caused me to restrict my carbs and as the extra weight disappeared, I also noticed I had much more energy.  I maintained that weight loss and felt better for quite some time, but gradually, as my children left the house and I was able to have a slightly more relaxed lifestyle, I moved toward eating more carbohydrates again.

Let’s fast forward to a few years ago.  I was 52 years old, peri-menopausal with hot flashes, having difficulty sleeping and taking two different medications for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis as well as another for high blood pressure.  To the best of my knowledge at the time, I was “eating clean” and I was also dedicated to running and weight lifting every day.  I was tired much of the time and really wanted to get off of the medications and heal my thyroid, but despite being motivated and well educated as a nurse and researcher, I just didn’t know where to start.

I happened upon the podcast Keto Talk with Jimmy Moore and Dr. Adam Nally.  I binge listened to all of those episodes because the science made sense to me and I was eager to change and to learn.  A lightbulb went on for me from that period, and I gradually started to change and adapt to the keto lifestyle.  It’s been profound for me. Rather quickly I lost the bit of weight I had gained, started having better sleep and best of all, I experienced far less brain fog and found I had my energy back for the first time in years.

Today, I take less than half the thyroid medication that I did three years ago, and have not had a hot flash since I became fat adapted. My quality of life is much higher and I’m very thankful to have made these changes in my life. Even better has been the effect of converting my husband to this lifestyle. He had a heart attack at the age of 49 and had been prescribed the maximum dose of Lipitor to lower his cholesterol.  After a few years, he gained about 20 pounds and was having significant and frequent joint pain, heartburn and other digestive issues.  Two years ago, I coaxed him into trying my way of eating and I have been coaching him with it since then. Today he is 20 pounds lighter, has no heartburn, no joint pain and best of all, he is off of all statins!

We take our very active toddler grandchildren for overnights every couple of weeks. That time with them is so precious and although we are always exhausted by the end, it is so worth it to be an active part of their lives. I really can’t imagine that being possible if we hadn’t converted to the keto lifestyle.

Listen to me speak about my keto journey, health coaching, and Reiki on this podcast episode.

My Education

Always a lover of science, I completed a BS in Biology from Worcester State University.  My study in biology lead to an appreciation of physiology and the amazing abilities of the human body, which resulted in my pursuit and completion of a Nursing degree. I spent about 10 years working in the float pool of UMass Medical Center, which means that I worked on every floor of a bustling hospital, enabling me to learn constantly about the many different aspects of patient care. I spent another 5 years working in urgent care at UMass, where I was again in a position to see a broad spectrum of health concerns and treatment. This experience has led me to the conclusion that Hippocrates’ words still ring true, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.

In 2018, I heard about and completed the NASM and AFAA approved Keto Coaching certification course provided by Craig and Maria Emmerich. I became a Certified Keto Coach.

In early 2019, I completed the Nutrition Network LCHF (low carb high fat) Certification Program offered by the Noakes Foundation. This online training was the first of its kind and is presented by national and international medical and allied healthcare experts in their field, on a range of topics related to LCHF nutrition and its implementation into clinical practice. I also expect to complete their Professional Training in LCHF/Ketogenic Nutrition and Treatment certification by May 2019.

Today, I continue to research and learn more about the benefits of the ketogenic lifestyle.  I am eager to coach you along your journey too!  Let’s get started.