We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Leadbetter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I have always been interested in food and nutrition and as is common, when I was 17, I went vegetarian for 8 years. But after craving meat and reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, I became an omnivore once again. Shortly after, my husband convinced me to try The 4-Hour Body” “diet” and for the first time in my life I noticed positive differences in my sleep, energy, and weight. I became even more interested about food and nutrition and then decided to go back to school to become a holistic Nutrition Consultant. My mission is to empower people to make purposeful and intentional decisions around what they eat, what products they use, and what they are exposed to do on a daily basis.

Katie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started at Bauman College in March of 2014 in pursuit of my Nutrition Consultant certification, but life had other plans. At the age of 31, in June 2014, I was diagnosed with Stage 2b Breast Cancer (DCIS – Ductal Carcinoma In Situ and IDC- Invasive Ductal Carcinoma). I underwent 6 rounds of chemo, bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, and 25 sessions of radiation. I also learned that I have the BRCA 1 mutation. I had surgery to replace my temporary expanders replaced with “real” implants in 2015 and then I had another surgery to trade my first implants for bigger implants in 2016. After concerns of Breast Implant Illness and implants being not recommended for someone with an immune deficiency (CVID – Common Variable Immune Deficiency), I opted for a diep flap reconstructive surgery in 2020 (where surgeons removed my implants and used tummy tissue to create breasts).

Since my diagnosis, my nutritional focus has changed from eating well to look and feel well, to a focus on eating for survivorship and long-term wellness, which also includes eliminating toxins to help prevent a recurrence.

As a Nutrition Consultant, I do not believe in one size fits all approaches as we are all unique, nor do I believe that everyone needs to do the exact same things on their health journey. Rather, my focus is on educational empowerment. My mission is to empower folks to make intentional and purposeful decisions about the foods they eat, the products they use, and the things they are exposed to each day.

I focus on gut healing and balancing blood sugar levels. Most people will feel significantly better when they have worked to heal their gut and balance their blood sugar. I have been the person with wild blood sugar swings. I have been the person that needed to eat six small each day. I have been the person with recurrent candida infections and hard-to-treat SIBO. I know what it’s like and I’m here to help clients move into a healthy and vibrant future.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was about two months into nutrition school when my world was filp-turned-upside-down. I was diagnosed with Cancer while everyone around me was telling me I was the healthiest person they knew. I certainly wasn’t “doing everything right” but I sure was doing a lot right and that was very humbling. I navigated so many changes during my diagnosis that forced me to learn to let go of always being in control.

For example, I went in for my fifth (out of six total) chemotherapy session, and the nurses told me my liver enzymes were too high to continue with chemo. At that time they were 271 U/L. The standard range is 15-60 U/L and even mid-way through chemo they ranged from 52-80 U/L. Around that time during treatment, with all of the tastebud changes, I had started allowing more sugar into my diet. A little idea cream “here and there” quickly became a nightly routine. My chemo had to be delayed one week and needless to say I was devastated. I had a “chemo is over” celebratory trip planned just 8 weeks later and it had to be canceled due to this delay.

After being devastated, I put my nutrition consultant hat on and made myself my own client. I went on a strict LOVE your liver diet. I included a variety of high-quality protein sources (salmon, turkey, beef, eggs, etc), lots of cruciferous veggies – kale, broccoli, and cauliflower, and alliums like garlic, and onions. I eliminated all sugar except fruit sugar, and eliminated grains. In just one week my ALT levels dropped to 157 U/L. Needless to say, the doctors were shocked how much they dropped in one week. Chemo proceeded with only the one-week delay. That n=1 experiment taught me not only how resilient my body is, but also just how much what we eat impacts the daily functioning of our body.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I have been on Instagram since 2014. It took me some time to build up my Instagram presence and I think there are several things that helped me. 1) Getting better at food photography and creating a look and feel to my IG page. People like visually pleasing accounts! 2) Partnering up with others. I have done many IG takeovers, lives, and collaborations with accounts over the years and that has made a big difference in followers. 3) Show up and being authentically me. I don’t know how to be anyone else and while I may not be for everyone, I am for a lot of people and that is fine with me. 4) It’s not a numbers game – it’s all about engagement. It’s more important to engage with a large portion of your followers than to have a lot of followers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cleaneatingwithkatie.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/cleaneatingwithkatie
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cleaneatingwithkatie
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCICEjfjfKrRwngWK0DMqLgA

Image Credits
Tricia Mogensen