Interview Date: 28/10/2018

As we moved to a new platform, we believed it was still important to feature this blog and share the passion of practitioners dedicated to guiding people toward better health, through their own personal journey.

About ​Karen Harrison BSc (Hons) Dip CNM mBANT rCNHC:

Karen is an experienced Nutritional Therapist; her training has educated her to use a scientific and functional medicine approach.

She is conscientious and highly focused with a flexible and adaptable approach to her clients.

She is highly qualified and has extensive knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for helping others and improving their well-being through diet and lifestyle.
Particular interests are stress management, endocrine disharmony and employee wellbeing.

​I am so very grateful for Karen's passion and for being one of my most influential teachers, for it has pushed me to be a more conscientious practitioner, to always prove my point with current research and not use biased information, and to be better organised;  and for sharing her own personal views on stress and how it can affect your life, as it did hers.

And for this, I need to say: Thank you!

Q. Before you became a nutritionist you were working in a very demanding environment, working long hours and little time to eat — sitting down in front of a healthy home-cooked meal was simply not a reality. Were you at the time aware you were under loads of stress, as much physical as emotional? Did you, at any time, experience stress-related symptoms due to stress? 

A. Before I was a Nutritional Therapist I ran three pubs, One in East London and two in Cornwall after 5 years of working 100-hour weeks. I moved across the world and ran a 160-seater restaurant in Perth, Western Australia. I came back to the UK and started an office role while studying for my Diploma and Bachelors Degree in Nutritional Science. Initially, I had no idea what I was doing to my body until I became friends with a few Australians who had a lot more understanding of work/life balance. Once I started to study I became very aware of what I had done but still in a stressful situation juggling work and study with little life balance.

My realisation came when I suffered adrenal fatigue in 2009, I felt as if I was trying to walk through a treacle just to do normal tasks. The worst day was when I was trying to get out of bed, my head moved but the rest of my body didn’t, that day it took about 30 minutes just to get out of bed.  

I also realised that stressing about the small stuff really does you no favours at all, hence why I’m quite chilled now!

Q. The human body being so resilient — an unbelievable "machine" capable of adapting for the sake of survival —, you have experienced head-first adrenal fatigue (also known as HPA axis dysregulation). Despite signs of fatigue showing, you still kept on pushing. You then reached a point of no return: adrenal exhaustion. Was this condition diagnosed by a medical doctor? What was the allopathic treatment offered? How long did it take you to recover?

A. By then I was at college and I decided to see a naturopath. She asked me to do an adrenal stress test — the results are commonly known as a flat line, i.e. next to no cortisol in the morning and little throughout the day.

I didn’t bother with the GP. It took about one year to feel normal and another to fully recover thanks to her and other practitioners I saw.

Q. Today you are now a qualified nutritionist. Was this change of career the result of years of struggle to reach optimum health?

I wanted to change career when I returned from Australia, I didn’t want to go back to working 80-100 hour weeks and nutritional therapy was an area I had started to get to know so I enrolled at a nutrition college and my life has changed slowly but surely since that moment of the first lecture.

My health is much better now but I still have to be careful.

Q. Are you relieved now that you have many tools at hand allowing you to understand and listen to your body and help other people do so?

A. I have a lot more knowledge regarding what I should do and what I can do, I am much more in tune with my body and have reaped the benefits, but I am a human and occasionally I do slip up.  

Q. What advice would you give to people who just keep on pushing, despite all the signs showing that their body is barely coping?  What would be the usual signs to look for? Would reaching for stimulants (e.g. caffeine, sugary snacks) be a sign?

I would ask what is driving you to keep going. If you keep going will you be able to continue? If not, recheck your goal(s). Are they really unachievable (or have they changed) therefore are you harming yourself for nothing?

I would make a list of foods eaten, if they are bland, brown or white you are eating too many refined foods and, therefore, sugar. If your regime includes lots of colours and the odd amount of sugar gets in that’s okay. But the sign really comes when you have what I call “food amnesia”. Many people forget that they have consumed chocolate, cakes etc. and only remember their meals, it’s then when you really have to take stock and look at why you are using foods.

Q. It seems that you are able to deal with stress quite easily and choose not to ‘bother’ if you feel like it. What would be your personal tip(s) to help people recognise that they may (or their body) be under stress; how to deal with stress, find balance, and reach a healthier state?

First of all, you really want to ask yourself: “Do I want to continue this way?” Once you can answer no, this is a big step.

Secondly, define what or how you will know you are healthy. I ask this question because everybody is different and my ‘healthy’ is different to a bodybuilder or a mum.

Write down what you are eating and be truthful about it, if you don’t see rainbow colours, then you are probably using sugar and stimulants to get you through the day.

Re-evaluate what is worth stressing about and what isn’t. (I know, I can hear you!, much easier to say than do)

If in doubt go and see a nutritional therapist who can give you many more tips and information about eating.