We recently connected with LaShawnda Beasley and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, LaShawnda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I took a big risk when I decided to bet on myself and voluntarily leave my work-from-home (WFH) telehealth job and work full-time in my private practice. Working in my WFH position made it easier to get my practice up and running. It was great working in both my full-time position and my practice while I gained more clients, until it wasn’t. About a year into working in both positions, it became increasingly difficult to manage both. I went from waking up in the morning ready to help others reach their health goals via telehealth to dragging my feet to get started. While I was able to support people in reaching their health goals that they didn’t think were possible, trying to do this in both positions was becoming overwhelming. I love helping others reach their goals! And being that I’m an introvert, you would think working in a healthcare role where I communicated with clients only by text would be a dream for me! However, it became increasingly clear that helping others through text was not enough, and I wanted to do more. A few months into year two of my dual positions, things started shifting. The company I was working for announced that they were looking for employees to be laid off from their roles voluntarily. Although I knew working for myself would be a dream come true, I was still hesitant. And a lot of that hesitation was a lack of confidence in myself to work on my practice full-time. I prayed to God and asked Him to give me clarity on what I should do. And signs He did send! And when you start to see signs that it’s time to move on, you’ve got to take the leap! I decided to take the severance package offered to me and use it to invest in my practice, and now I’m running it completely full-time and supporting my clients the way I believe they should be supported!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’d love to! My practice is called Health For You By You, and my mission is to support my clients in building a healthier lifestyle and relationship with food. My goal is to support my clients by working “with” their bodies versus against them.

While I specialize in disease prevention, I primarily focus on polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), weight loss and management, and prenatal and breastfeeding nutrition. At a young age, I knew my purpose was to help people. I was (and still am!) such a science nerd. The human body and anatomy has always fascinated me, and I wanted to help people live healthier lives. The problem was I didn’t know *how* I wanted to go about it. Throughout my childhood and into adulthood, I was able to enjoy nutritious, home-cooked meals. For as long as I can remember, healthy menus were the norm in our household. As a child, I thought this was everyone’s reality. But as I grew older and more aware of the world outside my own, I began to realize that everyone did not (and still does not) have the privilege of having access to health care and reputable wellness information. Because of this, a passion was born and has since grown inside me to promote health through nutrition to diverse communities. I started volunteering for a non-profit called Youth Leadership for Global Health with my mentor, Dr. Wilma Kirchhofer. Thanks to her and working for WIC, I discovered the population I wanted to serve primarily. Through Dr. Kirchhofer’s non-profit, I had the amazing opportunity to cross international borders, visiting Ghana, Nicaragua, Cuba, and other countries, providing community health services, and studying public health. This passion still holds close to my heart, even after my mentor has passed. This is one of the main reasons why I decided to start my own practice, make myself more accessible to my community, and provide reputable nutrition education to those who may not have access to it.

It wasn’t until I became a registered dietitian (RD) in the early starts of my practice and was diagnosed with PCOS that I discovered how little is known about the correlation between food, supplementation, and PCOS.

When I was diagnosed with PCOS, I didn’t understand it. It was never heard of in my circle of friends and family, and it was a struggle at times to describe what I had been feeling. I had once chalked it up to being all in my head (because that’s what was told to me. As long as I was at a healthy weight and my blood glucose and A1c were normal, I was fine). I was not fine. And I think back to the days in my early 20s, dreading the thought of my cycle sometimes returning sooner than it should and being in pain, wanting and praying it would stop. I still vividly remember a time when I was traveling with my mom and sister on the road to VA… from GA…. that’s an 8-hour drive. I was in excruciating pain during that drive. I even remember my sister asking (and she probably doesn’t remember this, but I do) would she experience periods like this when she started having hers. And that has always stayed with me; I didn’t want her or anyone else to experience this. But how could I protect her or anyone else from feeling this way when I didn’t even know what the heck was going on?!? It wasn’t until almost ten years later that I *finally* started to research my symptoms and discovered I had possibly had PCOS. By that point, I had gotten tired of being sick and tired (literally!!) Thankfully, I had an OBGYN who actively listened to my concerns. She agreed that I was a strong candidate for having it. Once I had an ultrasound, I was officially diagnosed. Part of me was relieved; the other was saying, “What now?” All I had done was research the condition.

I knew nothing about treating it. When the clinic suggested that I try metformin, I was a little discouraged. (“Is this the only solution, I wondered?”) I asked them to give me a year to think about it and find solutions on my own. Although I had gained weight, and the excessive hair growth made me uncomfortable, medication wasn’t something I wanted to turn to immediately. Being that I was a registered dietitian and I had finally been diagnosed, I decided to use my access to reputable research and resources to make changes to my food intake and lifestyle in a healthy and realistic way. From there, I knew I had to share what I’d learned with other women who are struggling with the disease and help empower them to feel confident and comfortable in their bodies! I now help and support women who struggle with the same back and pelvic pain, fatigue, body image concerns, dark, velvety patches, acne, oily skin, and excessive hair growth I’ve struggled with through the use of whole foods, supplementation, behavior change, and accountability!

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Yes, absolutely! I wouldn’t change it at all! I do believe we all have a purpose we’re designed to fulfill, and I’m a firm believer that God gave me this purpose: to inspire and empower others to find flexibility and guidance in their food choices and realistic solutions to improve their health. I love what I do and love hearing about the success of my clients! With PCOS still a very misunderstood condition, I firmly believe it’s my mission to help ease the concerns and frustrations around the condition.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Ensuring my clients are being heard, creating a safe space for them to be themselves without fear of being judged, and teaching them that you can incorporate ALL foods into a healthy lifestyle.

Too often in our healthcare system, many people, and especially women, share their pain, and it is often dismissed, and their concerns fall on deaf ears. So, it’s refreshing to my clients to see a healthcare professional who gives them the time and space to express their feelings and frustrations. We then collaborate to find solutions to their healthcare concerns to build healthier eating habits and lifestyle behaviors.

When building healthier eating habits, I stress that it’s possible to have a healthy eating lifestyle without depriving yourself of foods you really enjoy unless it’s a medical reason. Learning how to remove the mindset of rigid healthy eating patterns to a flexible one that incorporates nutrient-dense and fun foods is how we remove unrealistic and unsustainable diets that just don’t work.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.healthforyoubyyou.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthforyoubyyou/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthforyoubyyou/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lashawnda-beasley-rdn-ld-clc/

Image Credits
The Essence Wellness House picture is credited to Essence Communication Inc. All remaining pictures were taken by LaShawnda Beasley.