Today’s Guest – Karen R. Koenig
1. Your name, title, and age? What do you do (or did you do) for a living?
Karen R. Koenig, LCSW, M.Ed, 65 years old, clinical social worker/educator/author
2. Who was the person that inspired you as a child to eat healthy and stay fit? What was their relationship to you?
My mother
3. What did they do to inspire you?
She followed her appetite, didn’t overdo with sweets or treats but mostly stuck to eating at mealtimes, didn’t use food for emotional reasons, wasn’t overly concerned about weight but tried to keep hers in a healthy range
4. How did their lesson change your life?
For many years I ate like my father—sweets, treats, overeating or dieting, overly focused on food—until I decided I wanted to make peace with it. I then used my mother’s way of eating—she’s a “normal” eater—to help me see how I could do that. Also, my own recovery based on her way of eating sparked my interest in the field of eating disorders and I’ve gone on to author five books and enjoy a thriving psychotherapy/coaching practice.
5. Do you convey their message to kids in your life presently?
My husband and I don’t have children.
6. What would be your main message to children today to lead healthy lifestyles?
Learn the rules of “normal” eating: 1) follow hunger cues, 2) choose satisfying foods, 3) pay attention to what you’re eating, 4) stop eating when you’re full or satisfied. Also: have lots of things you enjoy in life not just food, eat without distraction, don’t follow diets or food fads, ignore what your friends are eating and follow your own appetite, handle upset without turning to food, don’t worry about being thin and instead focus on being fit and healthy.
7. Do you have a web site you would like to promote….web address only?