About Kat

Hi there and welcome to Keto Mindfully. I’m excited to have you visit.

My goal with Keto Mindfully is to have a place to come to that will help you feel better from within using food as a guide to responding to what your body needs to feel good. Getting started with the ketogenic diet can be overwhelming and difficult to get your head around, so this blog aims to make it easier for your transition into the ketogenic way of eating. This in turn will hopefully help you feel better emotionally and spiritually. I hope that my collection of thoughts, ideas and recipes will make following a ketogenic way of eating easy to manage on a day to day basis.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

My journey to creating this blog has been an ongoing relationship with food which had a particular trigger leading to the discovery of blogging online.

I discovered I couldn’t eat gluten back in the day when it was only just a whisper of what gluten intolerant meant (20 years ago). The only alternative to bread was a heavy, unpalatable brick, only edible when toasted. It really was difficult to eat!  I watched as gradually, over a few years gluten free products started appearing on the shelves. A blessing for those of us who were struggling to eat wheat.

Following this however, I also started to notice weight gain, slowly but surely. I had 4 beautiful children and when our last child came along, I was starting to struggle with my waist line. It was also during my last pregnancy that I accidentally discovered low carb without realising it was a thing. This was in 2012.

I developed gestational diabetes. Due to my preferred birthing options, I couldn’t measure blood glucose levels higher than 8mg. I really worked hard at lowering my sugar levels. It was challenging because the recommended dietary guidelines actually made this very difficult to achieve without medication. So I reduced the carbs they told me I was ‘allowed’ to have. It was much easier to have lower sugar levels this way than if I ate what they recommended I eat. I did everything right – walked after every meal, ate no processed, sugary, or excessive carby foods. Even followed their recommended diet but found those foods made my levels too high. I only had 3 chances (readings over 8mmol/L) before being kicked out of the birth centre (a very special place for birthing naturally). So I did my own research and discovered the low carb way of eating.

After this pregnancy, I didn’t continue to follow low carb eating as there was no urgency or need to at that point. That is until I suddenly put on weight following breaking my leg! When you eat sugary treats daily, sugar in tea and not consider how food affects your body, eventually it will catch up with you. I had also entered my 40th year on this planet. This is when I realised changes needed to be made. My hubby had also been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, so the need to change our eating habits began!

Career wise, I have been counselling parents and young people for over 20 years supporting people with their mental and emotional health. I have discovered since going keto myself, the power of food to manage anxiety combined with a variety of complementary strategies including meditation and talk therapy. One thing that stands out the most however is if one ignores what food they are consuming, no matter how much therapy, tapping, meditations etc you do, your body will continue to struggle with anxiety until you also address the physical needs of the body.

HERE TO HELP

Going ketogenic has had many benefits for me like feeling less anxious, increased energy and weight loss. This way of eating has shown me how influential food is to the way I feel. I have gained increased awareness around food, nutrition and the physical body’s connection with mental health, and feeling better within.

Additionally,  I have matched my interest of keto with learning how to blog. This has also been a fun ride, where I have learnt so much about online entrepreneurship and discovering how to find an alternative income. I couldn’t have done any of this without help and support through Wealthy Affiliate’s training. At a very low cost I have grown in confidence and put myself out there doing something outside of my expertise – an online business. And still get to focus on my passion, helping others on their own ketogenic journey and feel better within themselves.

Feel free to browse my site. Send me an email or leave a comment to connect. I would love to hear your experience with the ketogenic diet. What changes you have noticed in your health and how you feel?

PURPOSE

My aim here is to share my thoughts and experiences of the benefits of going keto. There’s a lot of research demonstrating the benefits of low carb. I aim to bring my understandings of this way of eating to light in this blog. I will communicate how the ketogenic diet can benefit your emotional health among other health aspects.

Let’s look at how nutrition, food and how your body processes nutrients might influence your emotionally and general well-being.

If you can relate to any aspects of my journey, allow me to support and guide you on your own journey towards positive health and well being.  I will only share products I personally believe in and feel comfortable promoting that fit the ketogenic way of eating.

‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’ – Hippocrates

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them below and I will be more than happy to respond.

Happy keto’ing my friends

Kat
ketomindfully.com