At the time I was doing some contract work, working from home. I watched a health show everyday while I was working and decided to turn the TV on early that day. There was another health show on and I was instantly mesmerized! It was a show called, “Know the Cause” hosted by Doug Kaufmann. This guy was putting science behind all my health issues, explaining the root cause of disease. A light bulb went off – it answered the question of exactly why some diets worked, others didn’t and why I had not achieved permanent results. I was hooked! I faithfully watched the show from that day forward and started to research on my own from this new found perspective, and it opened up a whole new world of health I didn’t even know existed!

Before my transformation.

Now I need to explain a few things below, because my transformation was not limited to just the physical results. Anyone can lose weight – as I had done many times before – but not everyone experiences complete freedom from the obsession with food and weight. This is the key to true transformation!

Now back to the story…all throughout these years, not only was I miserable in my own skin, but I was also miserable in my job and career. I lacked a sense of purpose. I prayed to God everyday for Him to show me what I was supposed to do with my life. Throughout my 20’s my walk with the Lord strengthened and I relied on Him for everything, so I thought… One fall afternoon, on a Friday, I was walking through my living room (I remember it like yesterday) not thinking about anything in particular, definitely not my purpose in life! And I felt God tell me to pursue health and nutrition as a career. Of course! I love learning about food and the body! And with this new knowledge I had gained from “Know the Cause” about the true cause of disease and illness I was ready to share it with the world! I spent the entire weekend glued to the internet researching nutrition careers and some type of education program so I would be taken seriously and so I could learn more. I kept re-visiting this one site, The Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver, Colorado. We lived in Arkansas, 800 miles away! I felt like I had to attend this school. So I prayed and told God that if He REALLY did want me to pursue health and nutrition as a career and if He REALLY was telling me to go to this particular school then I was leaving it up to Him to get me there because logically it was impossible in every way!

We lived in Arkansas.

We owned a house.

My husband had a job in Arkansas.

School was expensive and how would we afford living in Denver and keep our house in Arkansas?

How would Brad keep his job and come with me to Denver? I couldn’t leave my husband (with a job he disliked) and move to Denver!

We did not know anyone in Denver.

Even if we both could go to Denver, keep our house, have enough money to pay for our mortgage, school and rent in Denver, how were we ever going to find a place that we could afford to rent with a menagerie of pets!? A dog, 2 cats and 4 sugar gliders!!

Long story short God worked out every detail to perfection, even better than I could have ever planned.  We got a place that was 0.3 miles away from school and didn’t even know it when we found it! So Brad and I, along with all the animals, made it to Denver and back with a Natural Foods Chef degree!

This is me at cooking school in Denver.

While school was amazing, I was still struggling with my eating issues. I actually hit rock bottom at school. I graduated in December and we decided to stay an extra week to relax because school was so intense. I decided to do a fast because I had gained my usual 20-30 pounds and I couldn’t go back to Arkansas having graduated from nutrition school FAT! So I fasted, like I had done many times, except this time I was weaker and more tired than I had ever been. I got up to get something and I passed out! Somehow Brad caught me. I was only out for a few seconds, but Brad was so scared and furious at me that he demanded I break the fast. Even then after that scary experience I reluctantly broke the fast.

We moved back to Arkansas a day or two before Christmas. I was so shaken up from fainting. I had never fainted in my life! I was scared and I was confused. Here I was with a new career ahead of me wanting to help people with their health and mine was a mess! Again, I felt God speak to me. He said, “Kristin, you rely on me for everything else, why won’t you turn this over to me?” I cried. I don’t know. I had never thought it was a God issue. I thought it was my lack of will power and my problem. I am so stubborn and just kept going in circles year after year; however, even with a nutrition degree (and all the knowledge in the world), I was never going to overcome this problem unless I turned it over to the one who created me.

I found a Christian book called “Love to Eat, Hate to Eat”, by Elyse Fitzpatrick. It convicted me and I felt God speaking to me through the whole book. It shed light on my sin with food. I couldn’t believe I had been disobeying God all these years and had no idea! I couldn’t believe that I was using food as my idol! I had NO CLUE! I was devastated and from that day forward I tried to rely on God for my eating issues. It helped, but I continued to struggle and I was still on a roller coaster, it just was a smaller one.

We did not take a TV to Denver, so I had gotten out of the habit of watching “Know the Cause”. One February morning I decided to tune in and there flashing on the screen was a commercial about Doug Kaufmann coming to Northwest Arkansas this coming weekend! “Get your tickets at your local health food store.” I was so excited, amazed and sick to my stomach. What if I had not turned the TV on, I could have missed the seminar! We had been home for over a month without turning the TV on and just so happened to tune in that day. Looking back, it was clearly a God thing!

So that weekend, Brad and I went to the seminar. I brought my Doug Kaufmann book, “What makes bread rise? – The fungal link to weight loss”, how appropriate! And I stood in line after the seminar to get my book signed. I shook Doug’s hand, handed him my brand new business card and said, “I want to do exactly what you do!” and he said with a big smile, “Be careful what you wish for!”. He gave me his email address and I somehow had the nerve to ask him to be my mentor. I don’t know where that came from because I am rather shy, but I just felt so strongly drawn to how he is able to help so many, so I just asked… and he graciously said that he was very busy, but would help in any way he could.

Brad lost 45 lbs & I lost over 60 lbs!

After the seminar Brad and I were pumped up about committing to Doug’s Phase 1 lifestyle. The beginning was not easy, in fact it was miserable, but then we started to feel better, way better! My education was paying off because I was developing recipes we loved tha† were satisfying. I was seeing my business develop before my eyes. I wanted to spread the knowledge of the fungal link to disease and help people to incorporate the Phase 1 lifestyle into their lives in a quick, easy, and satisfying way that would nourish them and their families.

After finding balance.

So, for those of you in a really bad place right now, remember…there is a reason and God has a plan for it, even if we can’t see it and it seems never-ending and hopeless. Hang in there!