My Bio, Not Necessarily in Chronological Order

Summary

Joan, an exercise physiologist and dance expert with a PhD in Psychoactive Nutrition, recounts her life's journey from an abusive childhood to becoming a passionate advocate for nutritional health, aiming to help others redefine their relationship with food and manage conditions like diabetes and addiction.

Abstract

Joan's bio is a narrative that defies chronological order, beginning with her impactful work on insulin resistance rather than her early life. Adopted and raised by an abusive couple in New York, Joan's academic journey led her to major in philosophy, study karate and dance, and eventually meet her husband, Jim, in college. After federal budget cuts led to Jim's career pivot to athletic coaching, Joan pursued a Master's degree in exercise physiology and dance at Oregon State University. Her career in the fitness industry was marked by a pivotal encounter with a woman working with recovering addicts, which sparked Joan's interest in the addictive nature of sugar and foods. Urged by this woman, Joan overcame her reluctance to pursue further education and earned a PhD in Psychoactive Nutrition. For two decades, she has been coaching clients, speaking publicly, and writing about the effects of food on brain chemistry and hormones. Joan invites individuals to transform their relationship with food through her services at LastResortNutrition.com, offering hope for managing metabolic conditions and mood swings.

Opinions

Joan values the transformative power of education and coaching, as evidenced by her own academic pursuits and her husband's successful career shift.
She believes in the interconnectedness of physical activity, nutrition, and mental health, emphasizing the impact of foods on brain chemistry.
Joan is passionate about her work, suggesting that her professional focus on psychoactive nutrition is not just a job but a personal calling.
She acknowledges the challenges faced by individuals with food-related addictions and metabolic conditions, showing empathy and a desire to help.
Joan is optimistic about the potential for her clients to achieve control over their health and self-esteem through nutritional changes.

A woman walked in, brandishing an article I had written on insulin resistance.

When asked to write a bio for Illumination, I realized I never start at the beginning. My bios typically begin with my Master’s degree and/or my PhD. Since I don’t think that’s what I’ve been asked to do, I’ll take a deep breath and go in a different direction.

I was adopted as an infant in New York, making me the only child of a physically, verbally and emotionally abusive couple. Until recently, New York had closed adoption laws, so finding my birth mother was not possible. (Through Ancestry, I’m making an attempt at that now.)

Once we moved from Brooklyn to Long Island, I stopped liking school, although I did well academically.

I went to college in Worcester, Massachusetts, where I majored in philosophy and also studied karate and dance. The best part of it was meeting the man I eventually married. Jim was a marine biology major and an athlete on two collegiate teams.

After college, we moved to Oregon, where Jim attended graduate school. Federal budget cuts eliminated his job at the EPA and necessitated a pivot.

It turned out he was, even then, a brilliant athletic coach. He became the most popular instructor at a full-service athletic club. I was lucky enough to receive the best athletic coaching anyone could ask for, absolutely free.

From there, it was a matter of “bloom where you’re planted.” I applied to, and was accepted at, Oregon State University, where I received a Master’s degree in exercise physiology and dance.

I worked in the fitness industry for a number of years and had jobs in fitness clubs — first in Oregon and then in California. Among other things, I wrote articles for the newsletters. One day a woman walked in, brandishing an article I had written on insulin resistance. She demanded an appointment with the woman who had written the article.

So that’s how I met this woman — believe me, she doesn’t deserve more specific identification than that — who was working with recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. Recidivism rates among addicts are extremely high, but her methods kept them in recovery far longer than usual.

Before she met me, she didn’t know that someone who wasn’t an addict could be addicted to sugar and other foods. I started applying her methods and became obsessed with what I was learning. Keep in mind that the abundance of materials we have today on the subject didn’t exist then.

She nagged me for two years to get a PhD, but I wasn’t interested in repeating the intensity of my master’s program. Finally, she said something I couldn’t refute: “Joan, this is all you do, all you read about, all you talk about, all you study. Why not do it for real and get your PhD?”

That’s how I ended up with a PhD in Psychoactive Nutrition, how foods affect brain chemistry and hormones. It was my passion then, and probably still is. I’ve been coaching clients, speaking to groups of all sizes, and writing articles for about 20 years.

And now we’re current, and I’m loving the Illumination community. My thanks to all of you.

What if you could redefine your relationship with food? What if you could potentially reverse diabetes and other metabolic conditions, or mood swings, or binge eating? What would it be worth to you to regain control and self-esteem, and enjoy your life without stressing about food? I’d love to help you get there. Just visit www.LastResortNutrition.com and grab your free Empower Me Consult. Discover how easy it is to make small tweaks that lead to results you love.