Karyls passion for writing is matched only by her passion for sharing health advice. She knows from personal experience how difficult it can be to overcome poor eating habits and take control of your health.
Karyl lived for years with an undiagnosed BED (binge eating disorder), and she felt defeated and powerless about her weight. Once she was able to overcome the binge eating, the weight slowly melted off. Unfortunately, she found herself developing unhealthy habits to try to keep the weight from piling back on and became extremely strict about her diet.
CICO (calories in, calories out) was helpful in her recovery, but today Karyl is at a place where she can practice what she calls mindful intuitive eating she knows how much her body needs to maintain her weight, but she gives herself wiggle room for treats, too.
Now, Karyl runs for pleasure and not punishment, and she has completed one whole marathon, three halves, one Spartan beast, and countless 5Ks.
As for trying out particular diets, Karyl has experimented with almost all of them. In the past, when she was trying to recover from her eating disorder, she dabbled in Paleo. She found it to be too restrictive for her liking, so she then tried a dairy-free/gluten-free diet. Neither fit her lifestyle.
Karyl is now pescatarian, but she mostly sticks to a vegetarian diet. This works for her because she can eat whatever she wants without feeling deprived, and shes able to fuel her body for her preferred sport (running).
Karyl attended College of the Redwoods, where she earned a degree in psychology. Her area of interest in college was the role of diet and mental health. She is fascinated by the emerging evidence about how mental health and diet are so connected.
Diet plays a major role in a persons mental health, and by making subtle changes to ones diet, a person can actually improve their mental health. If you looked at the research behind certain factors such as the correlation between casein intolerance and schizophrenia, or even how carbohydrates affect an epileptics persons brain its all so incredible and fascinating.
Karyl now lives in Monterey, California, with her husband and her cats. In addition to running and sharing her knowledge about health, she enjoys writing, reading, drawing, and learning.