Hi There! I'm Tara, I'm So Glad You're Here
My name is Tara Wright and I'm an International Certified Health Coach trained by The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I coach clients from all walks of life, but my true passion is for a low carb, ketogenic lifestyle.
Current Credentials: Certified International Health Coach, Certified Well-Being Coach, Certified YogaMedCo Yoga Coach, Certified Genius Breaks Coach
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If you're interested in a low carb high fat diet (The Ketogenic Diet), I invite you to follow me here:
As a Health Coach, my mission is to help guide you along the cluttered path so that you can create a life you love to live in.
Bookmark this website and return regularly as this is my central hub which is constantly being developed.
My Story...
Let me start at the beginning....
Pain and weight issues have been two constants in my life since my early teenage years. I grew up on a small farm in "the middle of nowhere", Iowa.
Some of my fondest memories are of helping my great grandma in the kitchen, the garden and especially with baking! I remember one time, she accidentally grabbed the salt instead of sugar when making cookies.
It makes me chuckle to this day.... she still thought we ought to eat them because "heaven forbid" we throw them out. How wasteful! I learned a lot of really great lessons from my great-grandma.
She spent her entire life on that farm and was passionate about her garden. She also really loved to eat fat. She would fry her meat, pancakes...just about everything she cooked was cooked in lard. She lived to the age of 99 in fairly good health until her last few years. The most valuable things she instilled in me was the love of reading and the love of baking.
Now that I have transitioned to a low carb diet (ketogenic diet), I have turned my baking skills to the development of ketogenic recipes and low carb recipes.
In 2017, I launched a Youtube channel called "Tara's Keto Kitchen" where I'm teaching you just how easy keto cooking and baking can be.
Weight Yo-Yo
From as early as I can remember, I've paid attention to what I ate. In high school we had a unit on nutrition and I clearly remember spending hours in the library at school. Trying to figure out how much and what I could eat so I could finally be thin and confident in myself.
Horrifyingly, I decided on a almost fat free diet plan where for lunch in the cafeteria I would eat saltine crackers and drink a diet coke. I'm horrified about this now...but this is what I was taught "Eat as little fat as possible and as few calories as possible and you'll be thin".
Now, I wasn't an athlete. I didn't have any great nutrition role models in my life. My mom... she did shake her head at me as she munched on her walnuts and told me that fat was important. But... I was a teenager.... so I didn't listen.
This is about the time I started creating recipes in the kitchen for myself. I experimented with cooking and baking with low fat or fat-free ingredients and learned all the cheat swaps like using soda in a cake mix instead of fat or using applesauce instead of oil in banana bread.
And... I did lose weight. Calorie restriction worked. But, I started getting headaches. I had very little energy and required 9-10 hours of sleep each night. I had a lot of low back pain and my period symptoms became severe.
I just didn't realize how the food I was putting into my body was affecting my overall health.
Migraines
Over the next few years my headaches got worse and I was officially diagnosed with chronic migraines and cluster tension headaches. In the worst years I was in and out of the hospital. IV's pumping me full of a cocktail of medications to try and get rid of the migraines. Medications which left me lethargic and feeling terrible for weeks on end. Only for temporary relief.
I tried all different forms of chiropractic and physical therapies with little results. My neurologist only had new medications to hand to me -- all with a host of side-effects that left me exhausted and barely functioning through the fog of migraine pain I existed with on a daily basis.
I gained weight again due to the effects the medications were having on me. I was exhausted all the time and my brain associated sugar and carbohydrates with quick energy. Except it never worked.
This is a picture of me around my heaviest weight...shortly after my nephew was born. I avoided pictures back then so there are not very many when I was this heavy. I was embarrassed and in pain. I remember being furious with my sister for even taking this picture. But look at that smile on my oldest nephews face!
Health Coaching
In 2011, I went back to school to become a Certified Holistic Health Coach.
When I made the investment in my education, I really had no idea what I wanted to do after I finished. I was on a quest for knowledge and wanted to figure out my own health issues. Over the years, I have coached 1-2 clients at a time and maintained my full-time job working in the Information Technology Industry.
During my education, I learned well over 100 different dietary theories. I learned how to tell a "fad" diet from one that actually had long term health benefits.
I learned about hormones and how so many chemicals that are used by "Big Corporations" are actually harming our body. Endocrine disruptor's are in everything from our deodorant to our make-up to our hair products, nail polish, sunscreen, dish detergents and even in our food supply!
The education I invested in really opened my eyes to how much I didn't know. I had been going along as most of us do... thinking I was making healthy decisions by drinking diet soda, sugar-free lemonade and 100 calorie packs of treats.
I had no idea that the severe migraines, headaches and abdominal pain I experienced consistently were related to chemicals in my diet and things I was putting on my skin.
Since graduating from IIN, I have continued to immerse myself in books written by doctors and PhD's. I also attend industry conferences and virtual workshops. My passion is keeping up with the latest research.
I'm so passionate about this stuff that my husband has even picked up on it. My "I only want meat & potatoes" guy now excitedly eats salads and enjoys trying new recipes I come up with. He'll pretty much try anything I put in front of him and has even started experimenting himself in the kitchen.
The "RIGHT" Food & A Toxin-Free Environment Allows The Body To Heal Itself
During my education with IIN, I was inspired to make dietary changes which allowed my body to heal itself. By the end of the program, I no longer carried a list of medications with me.
I rarely experienced migraines or headaches and I had lost a considerable amount of weight. However, I wasn't totally healed. I still struggled with daily fatigue that was unexplained. I still struggled with GI distress that I hadn't been able to rectify.
It wasn't until 2017 that I discovered that I have endometriosis.
When I recieved the diagnosis, I was horrified to hear my doctor tell me that I should consider a complete hysterectomy followed by hormone replacement therapy...and then presented me with a few other options including a medically induced menopause. I didn't know a lot about these options, but intuitively I felt like these weren't great options. I dug in to find an answer.
If you have endometriosis and have done the research--you probably know there's quite a bit of disagreement about it's cause. Some popular theories are that it's an inflammatory disease and that it could be caused by estrogen dominance.
Newer research is showing some correlation (not necessarily causation) between endometriosis and ovarian cancer. One thing I did know is that the endometriosis would come back and that I would need more surgeries down the road.
Determination
I became determined to slow the regrowth as much as possible. The first thing I did was eliminate sugar from my diet and I ordered a whole handful of books from well respected doctors that I follow.
As I began reading, everything was pointing in one direction.
Eliminate wheat and grains.
Essentially they were all recommending some form of the low carb diet or what is more recently referred to as the ketogenic diet.
Testing The Ketogenic Diet
With 4 weeks to go before a family vacation, I decided I would "test" this dietary theory on myself.
I was incredibly skeptical about following a ketogenic diet and was scared to death to give up wheat and grain and most carbohydrates.
I had learned that I needed to "supplement" a ketogenic diet properly in order to support my body ideally and I put together a package for myself with the highest quality supplements on the market. (Young Living Supplements).I started taking those the same day I began my trial-period.
The results? In four weeks, I lost 10 pounds. (Unheard of for my body!)
My energy was through the roof.
I had mental clarity like never before.
I just felt good.
My knees no longer cracked loudly when I went up and down the stairs and I could feel that inflammation had left my body.
My daily "energy crash" around 2pm no longer caused me to struggle to focus.
I suddenly had energy to cook dinner and experiment with recipes!
I was hooked.
When we were on family vacation, my husband looked at me and said "I'm trying the ketogenic diet as soon as we get home". He was that impressed with what he had seen in me.
I knew I was really onto something.
The Birth of the Whole Keto Course
Then, I started talking to other health coach's and peers who I knew were very interested in the same things I am. I discovered they were all abuzz about the ketogenic diet and what it was doing for people's health and waist lines. I realize that I approached the ketogenic diet from a "I want to be healthy" perspective. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. But, not everyone comes at it from that perspective.
At that time, I began the development of a course which I call "Whole Keto". This is my personal version of a Ketogenic Diet. It's a step-by-step guide on how to do Keto right.
Because, most people start the ketogenic diet incorrectly. I made a number of mistakes even though I had spent months researching. This course will provide worksheets and even a ketogenic diet planner (coming soon!). I looked high and low for a ketogenic diet planner that could be used daily to help retain focus and document the journey. Finding nothing, I decided to develop one. For those of you who like to do your own research--I'll be providing a booklist of optional reading.
Whole Keto is going to be my passion project over the coming years. By coming on board early, you'll pay a lower price and have access to all the extras that I develop for this revolutionary program! The program will only be available during specific times of the year. If you want to be notified when the course is available, just sign up for my newsletter!
My intention with this website is to help you along your journey regardless of whether you are just starting out and full of questions or you have “been around the block” a few times. You can learn from my mistakes, laugh at my adventures and discover new and innovative ways to recover your own health along with me. I’ll be pouring my heart and soul into this website for many years to build up content and helpful information for you and your family.
Note that I am not medical professional. The content in this website is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.
As a Certified Health Coach, my intention is to help guide you along the cluttered path. Here I share what has worked for myself as well as for my family, clients and friends. I stress that there is not a “one size fits all” solution for nutrition and fitness. I encourage you to experiment and find what works for you.
I hope that you understand that to support this blog/website I am compensated by some of the companies I recommend. This in no way biases me towards these companies or products. I do my best to keep an open mind and an honest look at each company and product on the market. Therefore, the product offerings on my website will naturally evolve over time as new products are introduced to the marketplace. By purchasing through my website, you are helping to support us in our mission to reach out and help others by providing the content and information within.