Kathy's Story: Relief from Perimenopause, Migraines & Blood Sugar with Real Foods

Transcript:

Kara: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today's podcast is brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. We're a company located in Minnesota and our mission is to educate and counsel people to better health through classes and individual nutrition counseling. You know, years ago our focus was on in-person services like many other businesses. Of course, with the pandemic and all the other changes going on in the world, we eventually added virtual classes and counseling, which make up a very large part of our business now.

You know, it's really nice to be able to reach a larger audience, not just in the United States, but even worldwide. My name is Kara Carper. I'm a Licensed Nutritionist and Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist, and today we have a very special guest joining us. And that's the beauty of being able to do these things virtually.

My guest’s name is Kathy Irving. I had the honor of meeting Kathy again virtually when she enrolled in the Guided Menopause series. She's a long time Dishing Up Nutrition podcast listener. Kathy also signed up for our 28-Day Sugar Challenge. She's taken several of the virtual cooking classes that are taught by our amazing chef, Marianne.

Kathy’s story

She lives in Mississippi with her husband and 14-year-old daughter. We actually, I feel like we have some things in common. We have one daughter, you know, one kid, same age. We're both kind of around the same age and I know all of you are going to find her story and her health journey really inspiring. I can't wait to dive in. So Kathy, thanks so much for being here today.

Kathy: Oh, thank you for inviting me. It is a joy and privilege to have this opportunity to talk with you. Your resources have been such a blessing in my life and, so really I just want to inspire others to understand that change is possible regarding our health and wellbeing. So I look forward to this conversation.

Kara: Yeah, me too. Me too. Well, let's start with a little background of you and your family. I know you, you told me at one point your husband's a physician, and again, you have one child like me. They're both 14 and I think you homeschool.

It sounded like, you know, your family has taken an interest in the holistic aspect of health. You know, not just one area, but very holistic for many years. So back in 2019, I know you started having a lot of stomach issues and from what I recall, that started your journey and your health and nutrition mission to figure out, you know, what's the root cause of what's going on. Could you tell us more about that time?

Kathy: Yes. So in the summer of 2019, I kind of had that proverbial hitting rock bottom situation with my health as far as GI issues were, were concerned. So just started really getting these strange symptoms of cramping and diarrhea and, and all these weird things that just kind of wouldn't end.

And so I thought I had some sort of virus going around at the time but the symptoms just wouldn't subside. So then I thought it was more than that. And, so that's when I just got very vigilant about transformation for, for that, for myself. I started doing a lot of research and, that's when I, I found your podcast and some others.

And so that's when I started transitioning from the low fat idea of dieting to full fat and then I started incorporating things like probiotics and things like that, just, I was just searching for something I didn't want in my, my gut, so to speak, I didn't want the traditional route. I wanted something more natural.

And so my spouse was willing to support me in that even though he is a traditional medical specialist, so at that point, and I'll, I'll speak on it later, but how we incorporated some different things with that. But mainly at that point I just wanted to figure out what was best for me overall for my health. You know?  

Kara: Yeah. That's great. So then you, so basically you kind of, you dove into our podcast. I think you even said that you, you went back and listened to previous podcasts, a variety of topics, and just really started being on that journey to just improve your overall health and wellbeing.

Kathy: Right.

Kara: And I, I also remember you telling me, and maybe this was before you even had your daughter , but you said that you and your husband, you know, you've always kind of been seeking information and you went to the Hilton Health Institute. And at the time, their message was calorie counting, exercising, low fat eating. So like many of us, you also kind of bought into that low fat myth or that message and believe that things like Smart Balance was appropriate to eat or better than real butter, or that drinking fat free or low fat milk was healthier than whole milk products.

And I know since then Hilton Health has improved their, and progressed with their message and their recommendations. But it's really amazing that you and your family started incorporating those healthy fats, like, you know, butter. Did you have some coconut products? Maybe avocado? Just a real variety.

Kathy: Yes, I, I, I did, and, and I will say that that facility was a wonderful place for us at the time because it helped us sort of wrap our heads around a change in our health. So they really had, you know, their program is, is really nicely put together. But yeah, I think they were sort of on with the culture.

I mean, I think everyone sort of had that low fat calorie counting message. And now we're understanding that it's, no, it's, we need to eat eggs and beef and chicken with the skin and the bones, you know, rather than the grilled chicken breast. And then, yeah, I have found great…

It's all less pleasure or whatever, you know, in, the full fat yogurts. But I even, I have a kind of an inflammatory issue with some milk products, some dairy products. I actually like to use coconut products like Cocojune is kind of one of my favorite yogurts to turn to. But then I also like to use, like you mentioned the avocados, the avocado oils, the olive oils for salads.

And then I'm a huge fan of coconut oil. And I don't know if we can mention companies, but I'll say that I've, Healthy Traditions is a nice company that offers a virgin coconut oil that I really like. And then I like to get salmon and things like that as well.

Yeah, just trying to use products like that. Broth, and bone broth. I'm a huge broth of bone making. I like that a lot.

Kara: Wonderful. You know, that's where we get our flavor is from those healthy fats and they're satiating and help us stay full. So there's so many good things about incorporating those healthy fats.

So let's fast forward a few years after you started your 2019 journey due to having the stomach issues, things changed again for you in 2023 and I, there's kind of a laundry list of some new health challenges and symptoms you were dealing with. Can you talk about some of those challenges you were experiencing?

Overviewing some of Kathy's health challenges

Kathy: Yeah, that was really kind of like an unexpected storm in my life. I mean, and I can pinpoint the very the first moment of having a brain fog issue. Fall of 2023, I just lost my train of thought in a more dramatic way than was normal, you know, and to the point where it caused it a panic situation because I thought, I don't know what's going on here.

I can't remember what did this person say, you know? And then I was having, like you mentioned, you know, these erratic periods, all the telltale signs of starting into the menopause journey. the crazy mood swings. Now I do homeschool my daughter and, you know, we would be sitting at the table and I would just have these angry outbursts that were not characteristic of my normal behavior.

But the panic attacks and the, the like not being able to breathe well, and the serious brain fog, those were kind of the main symptoms that really made me think, okay, I can't live like this because I need to function and I, I have to get help. And so that is when I was fortunate to find a functional medicine practitioner in my area, and she did a lot of testing.

She discovered that my estrogen was very, very low. And then she put me on a bioidentical hormone treatment, which I was resistant to for a very, very long time because, you know, you have that study that's about the hormone therapy and all this, but I didn't understand that some of these things are okay to use for a time. And so anyway, she started me on that and then has been monitoring me. And so we are, we're able to get good levels for that.

Kara: You know, so many women going through some of those similar symptoms of perimenopause and menopause know they realize that they don't feel like themselves. They're maybe acting out of character, feel like they're not even in their own skin, but often, you know, those symptoms are brushed off either by well-meaning family, friends, colleagues.

Even nurses and doctors sometimes. And you must have known deep down that there were going to be some answers and you didn't throw in the towel and just suffer through that important period of your life. Was that around the same time that you had either heard about or read about our Nutritional Weight & Wellness Guided Menopause series?

Kathy: Yes, I can, I remember listening to a podcast and hearing your advertisements and it was just, this is kind of funny. I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but, I resisted for, I don't know why I signed up the very last hour. I mean, literally like, I think I had to call your company and get into the class, but I just felt such a calling and a compulsion really to sign up for the class. I just felt like I needed that in my life.

I needed to sort everything out and see. Okay, 'cause I kind of understood my hormones were out of balance and I understood some things, but I just wanted to get like a whole picture of the, the process, you know? And I'm so thankful that I did.

Kara: Yeah, well, we loved having you. I was, I hosted that six week guided course and Melissa was the moderator. We really enjoyed having you. You know, we got to chat with you and see your face in the weekly live Q and As, and you brought a lot of positivity and knowledge to that community of like-minded women, and we were all in the same perimenopausal and menopausal age range; even Melissa and I, and you told Melissa, well, you told both of us that there were a couple takeaways for you during that six week course; tips that you've stuck with since then, and can you share what those were? Okay.

Key takeaways/benefits Kathy experienced from the Menopause Solutions series

Kathy: Yes. And, and, and to mention this, those videos, I just want to give a shout out. They were so comprehensive and well done. I mean, just so much information. Yes. The the takeaways that were surprising to me were, so when I was having the breathing issues, which I just could not figure out a way to really attack those, and Melissa had mentioned me trying GLA and I thought, how in the world is that going to help ? It did relieve those symptoms. I have found help through using GLA and I mean, I still take a couple every morning.

What I like about them is you can sort of break them up in your mouth like, and you don't even have to swallow. It's like with those omega-3’s as well, 'cause I was having some swallowing issues at some point with all of those problems. And so having something that you could just breakup in your mouth was helpful, but, so I really liked that product. And the other thing is that you mentioned, so I was taking, and I am taking an oral progesterone, a compounded one at night.

Kara: Mm-hmm.

Kathy: But you suggested using the Pro-Gest cream, in the morning just a, a little bit. And that has helped with my anxiety so much. I, I don't miss that dose. I mean, like, I make sure I have that with my other stuff. And I actually have taken all this information to my functional medicine practitioner and, and she and I have talked through it together and sort of put all, I mean she was very much on board with all of that as well. And so we're kind of working together to come up with a plan. But yeah, those were my kind of two of my favorite takeaways.

Kara: Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. I'll just, for people listening that may not be completely familiar with natural progesterone cream or GLA, so progesterone cream, it's the over the counter that you're referring to, that you topically put on in the morning to reduce anxiety is, you know, it's about 20 milligrams, which is essentially the same amount that an ovulating woman would be producing her ovaries;

You know, if she were of ovulating age timeframe, and so that's not, it's not a prescription, it's over the counter, gentle, natural, low dose, but you know, progesterone, it's a very calming hormone and often in perimenopause and menopause, women become deficient in that. And it is a precursor to a neurotransmitter called GABA, which is referred to as nature's Valium, if that kind of explains how GABA works.

So it's really helpful for just kind of toning things down, taking the edge off. And the GLA that Kathy mentioned, that just stands for gamma linoleic acid. It's an essential fatty acid. Looks basically like an omega-3 fish oil softgel. So she referred to being able to break that up in her mouth.

A lot of people become deficient in GLA, just like you can become deficient in omega-3 fatty acids. And so it's very anti-inflammatory. Some people find it helpful to balance hormones or help with acne, rosacea, dry skin, brittle nails and hair, things like that. But for Kathy, that's so interesting. I mean, you were, you were really dealing with some lung issues. I think your husband even may have suspected heart or lung. And so it really, really worked to reduce that whatever was causing the lung inflammation for you.

Kathy: Right, yes. Very surprising, but very wonderful.

Kara: Love that. And I know you, you know, at the time that you were enrolled in the Guided Menopause course, you mentioned that you'd started seeing a functional medicine doctor and were working with hormones, and she did some extensive testing. Can you talk about some of the other things that the two of you discovered with all the, the stool testing? I know you had blood work, just a variety of labs.

Kathy's health benefits reaped from giving up gluten

Kathy: I did. Which I mean, I think that that's, I, I would recommend that for someone who's really having a broad range of problems, because you can't really figure it out unless you do this testing. And I went through with some, as we talked about, the Geneva Diagnostics testing and I found that I had a non-celiac gluten sensitivity. And so for two years now I have been mostly gluten-free. I mean, I know that it's hard to be a hundred percent, you just don't know when things are there and there you just aren't aware of.

But for the most part, yes, I have tried to be gluten free. Which, when I gave up the gluten, that's when I discovered, this wonderful side effect. My migraines started going away. I, I mean, I thought, like, as we talked about this for a very long time in my life, I was kind of having a headache daily.

I mean, I just thought that's how it was supposed to be. And I mean, it was just crazy. But now I have headaches every now and then, but it's usually exacerbated by or stress or something like that, or rather instigated by stress. So that was a plus.

Now I even lost some weight because, you know, when you give up gluten, I think that's just going to happen. Like you're just not, you're not eating the things that you know, because when you, and for me, and I know there are a lot of products out there and, and you know, my daughter likes to find all those gluten-free breads and cookies and pastas and whatnot. But I just, for me, I'd rather just eat the real food and replace the, you know, gluten with that because kind of start getting into other issues. Because all these gluten-free products tend to have too much sugar and that kind of, you know, so yeah, so she found some interesting things when she did the testing.

Kara: Yeah. No, I mean, and thank you for sharing that about the migraines too, because I can guarantee there are some listeners struggling with migraines and if giving up gluten is going to be the answer for that, I know you can attest that it being a hundred percent worth it. So I think most listeners have heard the term gluten. It's a protein that's in products, you know, that have wheat, barley, rye, sometimes oats.

And so those are essentially the foods you gave up, a lot of the higher starch, higher carb foods, pasta, things like that. Gluten for many people can cause issues. Sometimes it's gut issues, sometimes it's brain. It's always a case of increased inflammation when somebody is sensitive to gluten or has celiac, so, so I just kind of wanted to explain like why Kathy was able to lose weight and get rid of her migraines.

She was reducing a lot of inflammation in her brain and body by removing gluten. So it is time for us to take a quick break. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition and we'll be right back. So stay with us.

-----

Welcome back. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Kara Carper, Licensed Nutritionist, and I have a special guest with me today, Kathy Irving, who is coming to us from Mississippi, and Kathy is sharing her story about her health and nutrition journey and how she was able to overcome some perimenopausal symptoms as well as some other health related challenges like migraines and pre-diabetes just by simply focusing on a holistic health and nutrition plan.

So before break, Kathy was talking about how she removed gluten from her diet, lost some weight. Her migraines essentially went away after years. And another really big thing that happened, your functional medicine doctor Kathy, had discovered that your blood sugar levels were elevated and that you were in the prediabetic range. I'm sure people are going to want to hear, you know, if you wouldn't mind sharing what your fasting blood sugar levels were and you even had fasting insulin, which is a great test and we can talk more about that.

Kathy’s journey of reversing prediabetes

Kathy: Yes, because that's been a really big deal for me because I sort of took that on as a life project because I realized just from all my reading that how destructive a prediabetic glucose level could be, because you know, you go into the doctor and you're told, well, you're fine as long as it's not 125. Right? Or, you know, that's kind of the, what you get at a, at a, at a traditional appointment. But my functional medicine practitioner, she said that was, you know, it shouldn't be over a hundred.

Okay. So, and I was noticing that mine was always in the 106 to 110 range just for the last few years. So I have some test results here showing that a previous result, I'll just, I'm, I'm not sure exactly when that was, was 106. And then in March of 2025, I was able to have a fasting glucose of 86.

Kara: Congratulations!

Kathy: Which that was, that was a really big jump. And then, and my insulin, which we discovered, you and I talking about it, it's, it's just a one time insulin, not an A1C. But the previous result was 7.4, but in March of 2025 it was 5.0 and that was so amazing that the nurse from the office called me and she said what have you done to do this?

Like, you know, and really I've really set out as a goal to reduce that number that was intentional and with anything in life, and I want to stress this to the listeners, it's doable. But you have to make a plan and you have to be intentional. I mean, this is not just going to happen.

So, and I researched and found some hacks that sort of helped me make those changes. I found these hacks through various people who love to talk about this on the internet but the, the hacks that I prefer are eating foods in a certain order, and you think about it, it's not that hard if you have , you know, like a green salad first in your meal and then you, so that you would have your veggies first and then your proteins, and then, you know, you save your starchy products for the end. And so that way, I mean, for some reason it just, your glucose is just not as affected if you do it in that order.

And then also just for a little treat, I have been drinking sparkling water has been kind of my thing. And I'll throw in a splash of apple cider vinegar. And if you have that while you're preparing your supper, it's sort of like a little mocktail; sometimes you can add like lemon or lime or something like that and make it fun. And really that has a little bit of sweetness in it. You kind of get used to that.

I also have found help with digestive enzymes. Now I'm, that was for a specific time where I really used those because I had some reflux issues, but I think those help as well. But the apple cider vinegar is pretty good too. When you finish a meal, I think it's very important to get up and move for about 10 or 15 minutes, like just take a walk around the block and that helps stabilize your blood sugar.

I have found help with some gentle intermittent fasting and I don't do well with longer fasts because I get headaches. For me, I think the, you know, having a little window of maybe 13 hours or so of just fasting from night to having a later breakfast has helped me with that.

And then for a time I used a continuous glucose monitor, which I highly recommend just because it gives you an idea of what foods and when you're eating, like how that affects your blood sugar. Because I think that that's different for everybody.

Kara: Sure.

Kathy: So you just don't really know what's going to spike it. And I had some, a couple of things that were surprising, like I remember eating a pizza with my daughter somewhere out and about, and I got the gluten-free pizza with lots of meat on it and veggies and I thought, okay, well this is not going to be bad, but, and my blood sugar just went, whoa, like, you know, spiked really high. I mean, you just don't even realize the things that will, you think you're doing one thing and you know, the results show another.

Kara: Yeah, so interesting. Those are some great, great hacks and it's all the proof is in the numbers. Really, that you are able to reverse your prediabetes. That's huge. So hat's off too. Another interesting thing that I remember during one of our conversations is you and your family had embraced eating the healthy fats, the coconut products, the avocado, maybe some butter, but at first there really wasn't that connection made that pairing the healthy fats with and not paying attention to reducing sugar or higher starch, higher carbohydrate foods was still not a great combination either.

You know, whether somebody's goal is to lose weight or reduce blood sugar numbers or what have you. It's just not a great combination. So I know that after the six week guided menopause course, you also decided to enroll in the Nutritional Weight & Wellness 28-Day Sugar Challenge that Teresa was leading and didn't that kind of help you take your health to the next level and ultimately did, did that play a role in reversing prediabetes? Or what did you take away from that 28-day sugar challenge?

Kathy: Yeah, that's really interesting. I'll tell you a funny thing about that. I took that course to “help my family”. And it helped me. I, I, I found that you know, we're so ingrained in us, we just don't, so Teresa had us do like, this, she gave us a challenge of trying to be sugar detectives. And to try to find, you know, different things that we were eating that might have, you know, more sugar than we thought.

And yes, I noticed that I was getting, okay, I'll give an example. I won't say the company, but I was eating this little ice cream cup from this little fast food place down the street. And I, and it was so small and I thought, okay, this is fine. Benign, right? So I pointed out to the class that that one little cup of ice cream was 24 grams of sugar. And that shocked me. But you know, it shouldn't because it's nothing but sugar.

But, what I discovered though is, with my glucose levels, I think I might've tried it with, I can't remember if I did that with the monitor or not. But anyway, it's helpful to, if you're going to have that and, you know, life, okay, we don't want to deprive ourselves of all the treats in life, but if you're going to have that, have some grilled chicken nuggets with it and maybe put some almonds in the ice cream or something.

I mean, do something to balance it out because that class was really good at, just making you aware of how you need to go about this. So, yeah. I thought that was very helpful, the class. Yeah.

Kara: Well that's, yeah. That's wonderful. Kind of took things to the next level. You had already implemented so many positive changes, but just added a few more. And I know your functional medicine doctor, she sounds amazing. I know she, with her extensive testing and she was very thorough. Some other things also came up, like you had mentioned you were struggling with acid reflux, even bone pain. I think specifically hip pain. Can you tell us a couple of other things that she found in that lab work?

Optimizing gut health & vitamin D decreased some symptoms

Kathy: Yes. She discovered that I had an H. pylori overgrowth and she had me taking some natural supplements to fight that, which I did for, I, I took some things like, mastic gum and some other herbal supplements, for several months and I was able to eradicate that H. pylori overgrowth.

I also, she also found, a yeast overgrowth that we worked on with some probiotics. And then, a very surprising low vitamin D number and I know that you all are very good at talking about vitamin D and how that affects your health. And it really is true. My number was very low. I mean, I want to say something like, I can't remember the number exactly, but it's something like 20 maybe.

Kara: And we want that to be for optimal health, at least 50.

Kathy: Right. Yeah. And I was able to at one point, get that up with supplements, I think in the sixties that, that kind of thing. And I felt so much better. And you're right. I mean, I literally had, my bones were hurting before I had the supplement, like I could, and yes, the joint pains and everything and the vitamin D supplement helped that tremendously.

Kara: Wow, wonderful, wonderful. More great information from all the extensive lab work that you had done. You know, it's one thing to know a lot of this information intellectually. It's, you took all this, like I said, to the next level with being able to practice this on a regular basis and be really consistent with the changes that you were making.

Kathy’s tips & tricks for staying on track

Now, how do you handle this when life gets busy with your daughter and husband or you’re traveling? We, many of us have, especially in the summer, social events and many occasions that are surrounded with food and alcohol and things like that. Could you give some tips for folks that might be struggling in that area just to kind of stay on track when life gets the best of you?

Kathy: Yes, because, and I want people to understand that in no way do I practice this perfectly. I mean, life is just, it's not like that. And you, you have to start over every day. Some things that I have just been able to consistently put into practice is when you get the bread basket at the restaurant, you make a choice not to eat it. It's not, I can't have it. It's, I choose not to have it mentality, you know, so, I, I'll choose something else, like, that's fine. Like I try to intentionally order salads at restaurants because those are pretty safe. And then I add as many extra veggies as they'll let me.

And I'll also add a protein. I think that that's that, and that is just a good balanced meal that you can find at most restaurants. Sometimes you're going to have the dressing at the restaurant, but you can sometimes just ask for their vinegar and oil and you can put a splash of, of those two things on it, and that's usually enough. I just don't indulge in dessert often. I mean, I do, and if I do, I mean, I try to have a small bowl of it, like, you know, you will put, you can put some dessert in a little bitty bowl and it looks like a lot, you know, it's like.

Kara: That's another great hack.

Kathy: You can do these tricks to, I don't know, you just have to kind of play around with it. And yeah, you don't strive for perfection. You're striving for consistency . Another thing like, because we, at our church, we do a lot of potluck dinners and I always try to bring, you know, some very, everybody knows that I'm going to have a kind of, an interesting dish. But that's fine.

You, you, that way you can introduce people to healthy foods and I mean that, you know, that's a fun thing. My daughter and I will try to come up with some creative things to bring to those events and, you just kind of have fun with it. It shouldn't be a burden. It should be fun.

Kara: Yeah, and right and no, no one's striving for perfection, but it's really like you put that consistency and just, you know, being consistent with those better choices. And quality of food is also important to not, you know, it's not just about getting any kind of meat. So I was wondering if you could just talk a little bit more about some of those practices at home, like preparing a meal plan, whether it's on paper or in your head, and kind of what do you seek out when you're looking for animal protein?

Kathy: Yeah, I try to, you know, again, it's not perfect, but I try to use local farmers. I'll try to purchase like a half a cow at a time and then freeze that up. I have found a good source. It's Azure Standard where I get my fish in bulk. That's very quality and from Alaska, I think the salmon is from that region.

I like to sit down once a week and think about a meal plan starting with, just putting all your meats. And then you will just add your veggies, whatever's available or in season. I mean, that's going to change throughout the year, and I, as we were kind of talking about this, the, I am intrigued with the way French people sort of have that practice of having a variety of foods.

And I think that appeals to me. I think that the more variety we can eat, it makes sense. We're getting different vitamins and minerals and, and you know, it and that, like, I think that for me, soups are really a nice option because you can incorporate a lot of different vegetables and salads.

Those are easy ways to incorporate lots of different things. And yeah, I do like the pasture raised and the grass fed and all those fun products if you can find them, it's, they're available.

Kara: Yeah, it sounds like you do have some good, some really good local resources where you're located, so that's wonderful. Now, speaking of soups, you, I didn't realize that that was, you know, kind of one of your go-tos. Was that one of the classes or one of the virtual cooking classes that you took from Chef Marianne, soups and stews I think it was called.

Kathy: I did. I really enjoyed those cooking classes and we talked about that before. Yeah, I'm remember seeing you now in not only the soup class, but , I think it was the desserts class as well. And yes, she, chef Marianne does such a wonderful job, not only teaching you how to prepare, but she gives you all these little extra tidbits of information.

Sign Up For a Cooking Class!

Kara: Yeah, she's amazing.

Kathy: I mean, I would say everybody should try one of those cooking classes and you just learn so much and you can go through the replay and so, yeah. A very recent one she had was a cooking class for brain and heart health. I was so intrigued that I made the spaghetti squash, which my family is not usually a fan of, but I did exactly what she did. I had my phone set up with the replay and I just went by whatever she was doing and she had cut up the asparagus up in the little bitty pieces and then sauteed that and then added the squash, some butter, garlic, and lots of herbs and things.

And you know, my husband actually kind of enjoyed it, you know? So, I mean, I thought I just gobbled it down honestly. But yeah, so that, yes, I am a huge fan of your cooking classes.

Kara: Oh I love it. Yeah. She, that's such a great resource for people. They're really affordable as well. So you were telling me, I believe it was an iteration that a friend of yours said that she uses, and now that you use, if you feel like you've gotten off track with eating. I was wondering if you could just share that again.

Kathy: Yes. I love that you asked me about this. So I am with a wonderful online community. They are called Simply Convivial, and it's a group of homemakers and housewives and we like to discuss many things together. And that is one of the things that we like to discuss is this idea of iteration. So yes, when you find that you're getting off track, then you stop and you evaluate where you are and then you make the necessary changes.

So this is just a practice that I'm trying to implement and you do this through a process of, you know, your brain dump out on a list, like what's going on in your life, and then you are able to see that on paper and you can make adjustments and then you start making a different plan. I mean, it, we're, we're all going to be in this process of iteration.

And refining, I mean that I want everybody to understand that because life is a journey, right? And we're just, we're trying to figure it out as we go along and hopefully it gets better and better and you know.

Kara: Yeah. I think those are wise words. I think that's a great way to kind of wrap this up. Well, Kathy, this has really been an amazing conversation. We're so appreciative that you were willing to take the time to be with us today, and I know your story will inspire listeners who may be feeling like they're stuck. Your dedication to improve the health of yourself and your family, it's clear, it's obvious.

They're really fortunate to have you in their lives. I know you even purchased a 12-week class for your mother-in-law, the 12-week Foundations, the Nutrition for Weight Loss. For those of you, if you'd like to read about Kathy's story, she does have, a testimonial on our website.

It's called Kathy's Story: a Journey to Better Health and Wellness. And please do consider sharing this podcast with anyone you think may benefit from it. Thank you so much, Kathy, for being a guest on Dishing Up Nutrition today.

Kathy: Oh, thank you.

Kara: You know, our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. And it's a simple, yet a powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. So thanks everyone for listening. Have a wonderful day.