Karlene Karst
by author Lucretia Schanfarber

Karlene Karst looks like she'd be right at home on a fashion runway. With her trim figure and movie-star good looks, it's not surprising to learn she once worked as a professional model. But Karlene's career path has led her to an entirely different kind of modelling job.

As a registered dietitian, she is a model of good health and a dedicated teacher of progressive health information. Born and raised on a Canadian farm, Karlene is steadily becoming an outspoken nutrition icon who dares to go far beyond conventional dietary recommendations. An international speaker and best-selling author, she loves serving up her unique brand of natural, nutritional guidelines to a growing audience of TV viewers and radio listeners.

Remodeling Canada's Food Guide

The author of two self-help health books, Karlene has "remodelled" the current food guide into what she calls "an optimal health pyramid."

"I am not a big fan of Canada's Food Guide," Karlene admits. "I don't think it goes far enough, especially when it comes to distinguishing good fats from bad fats and refined grains from whole grains."

Karlene's first book, Healthy Fats for Life (Wiley, 2004), coauthored with Lorna Vanderhaeghe, simplifies the often complex issue of dietary fats and their importance to good health. Her most recent book, The Metabolic Syndrome Program: How to Lose Weight, Beat Heart Disease, Stop Insulin Resistance and More (Wiley, 2006), provides clear nutritional and lifestyle guidelines for preventing and reversing the health hazards related to metabolic syndrome.

Makeover Magic

As part of the alive magazine makeover project, Karlene generously volunteered her professional services to participant Rob Klettke. Click here to read about the alive makeover project.

Healthy Living: Karlene's Top 10 tips

1. Eat more veggies than anything else. Make vegetables your primary food group.
2. Eat low-glycemic fruits such as pears, apples, oranges, grapefruit, and plums. Many other fruits, such as bananas, greatly increase blood sugar levels.
3. Eat only whole, unrefined grains. Get rid of everything white-white bread, white sugar, white flour, white pasta, and white rice. Get back to basics. Clean out your food cupboards and start fresh with alternatives to the whites.
4. Do not eat anything made with trans fats. Eat only health-promoting fats, including extra-virgin olive oil and omega-3 polyunsaturated fats from fish, flax, nuts, and seeds. Avoid high amounts of refined oils, including corn, safflower, sunflower, and canola.
5. Include more vegetable-source proteins such as soy, legumes, and protein powders. Eat five or six servings daily.
6. Stick to ideal serving sizes-do not SUPER-SIZE!
7. Take a multivitamin and mineral, an omega-3, and a probiotics supplement.
8. Get off pop! Switch to sparkling mineral water or organic fruit juice spritzers.
9. Get moving! Buy a pedometer to track the number of steps you walk each day. Your target goal is 10,000.
10. Eat breakfast. It's your most important meal of the day.

Lucretia Schanfarber is a writer living in BC.

Source: alive Web Exclusive, March 2007