Better Nutrition February 2019

colleagues across the U.S., Carla’s case
had me stumped,” says Murphy.
Finally, Carla’s naturopath recommended
that she try a high-fat, low-carb diet.
Carla had read about this type of diet
in my book, The Truth About Beauty,
several years prior, but her naturopath’s
suggestion prompted her to revisit
the basic principles. She began to see
improvements in her weight and heart
monitoring results by changing her
diet and taking some supplements
(recommended by her naturopath).
Feeling that she was on the right path,
Carla contacted me this past summer to
pursue an even lower-carb, higher-fat,
leptin hormone-optimizing regimen
(read more about leptin in “Transforming
Our View of Fat” at betternutrition.com).
Within a week, she began to see a big drop
in her appetite and inflammation-related
fluid retention, especially in her arms,
face, neck, and waist. She decided, with
Murphy’s blessing, to stop doing her oral
exercises to see if dietary changes alone
could improve her airways. After a couple
of weeks, she wondered if it was her
imagination when she checked her
airway in the mirror, and it looked
nearly double in size. She scheduled an
appointment with Murphy to be sure.
“When I walked in, she commented
that I looked incredible and asked what
I was doing,” says Carla. “But when she
took a look at my airway, she was
speechless. She had me drink a small
cup of water … I used to rack my brain and
did tons of practicing to get my tongue,
James, 52,
started her
dramatic selftransformation
in 1990. Since
then, she’s led
88 retreats and
has become
known as the
“Jane Goodall
of leptin.”
lips, and mouth muscles to swallow
normally, but couldn’t. When I drank
the water this time, I saw her eyes fill
with tears and she simply said: ‘You’re
done.’ I thought to myself: ‘This is either
really bad or really good news.’ She told
me that my Mallampati score was now
a perfect ‘1’ because my airways fully
opened. My lips were even closing all the
way. She said that if I’d looked like this
when I first came to see her, she wouldn’t
have even taken me as a patient. Mind
you, I’d started with one of the narrowest
airways she’d ever seen. Now, she said,
I no longer need surgery!”
Murphy’s note to me the same day
confirmed this: “When Carla walked
into my office yesterday, I first noticed
her body shape had changed. And her
face. Most notably, the ‘shiners’ under
her eyes had disappeared. After months
of working with her to no avail, I pretty
much all but discharged her today. Her
airway has completely opened and all
signs and symptoms of soft tissue and
muscle dysfunction are gone. I’ve never
seen anything like this kind of recovery.”
A New Life to Sing About
“Only a few months ago, I’d resigned myself
to a future of physical complications,” Carla
says. “To suddenly envision life without
all that is truly like a dream. I can breathe
easily again. I don’t have any heart twinges
anymore. I can sleep again. I have a waist
again. My belly is almost flat and my ‘back
flab’ is gone. I can see my collar bones, and
my thighs aren’t struggling to pass each
other when I walk. I don’t plan to weigh
myself, but I never imagined I’d achieve my
‘goal’ size 8 jeans again (and I’m still losing),
only this time the healthy way… with zero
food obsessing, starving, or shame. My
friends can’t believe how my appearance
and shape have changed. When I look at
that old photo from the early ’90s of me
with my band, I remember how I ‘starved’
to look like that and still thought I was fat!
Now, I’m not suffering or struggling at all,
and I feel far better today, and even look
better than I did decades ago!
“I had barely sung a note all these years
because my joy was gone. And though I
still take care of both my dads, I have much
more stamina and get much more done.
Most importantly, my optimism and hope
have returned. I find myself singing and
whistling all the time … I’m even hitting
new notes lately… and thinking—even at
57—about possibly taking the stage again.
Only now can I realize how caged, sad, and
ashamed I had become. But no longer.”
Carla’s husband, Eric, was so impressed
that he joined her for my educational
retreat on the Tennessee River last fall,
where they gave an impromptu concert
for the rest of my clients. After learning
about my regimen and returning to the
“real world,” Eric’s stomach pains, blood
pressure, and love-handle issues promptly
resolved. His doctor commented that his
skin color went ‘from grayish to pinkish,
like he’s a different person.’
I asked Carla if it was hard for them
to stick with my regimen, given their
former sugar addictions—Eric’s colleagues,
especially, marvelled at his unwavering
“willpower” against the donuts and other
junk he used to eat. “Other than eating on
time, it’s not hard at all because there’s just
no temptation anymore,” says Carla. “Our
sense of taste and even smell have changed
in a big way. We’ve actually never knowingly
strayed or wanted to, and that’s a first.
We see this as a life-long path for us. Our
next mission is to get our dads doing this!”
Note: For more inspiration and to hear Carla
discuss her changes in a live radio interview,
search this story on betternutrition.com.
To learn more about The Kat James Show
on Sirius XM’s Family Talk (channel 131,
Saturdays), visit totaltransformation.com.
To read previous Kat James’ articles, search
“Kat James” on betternutrition.com.
Kat James has been called “a master of self-transformation” by SELF magazine in response to her self-guided,
stunning recovery from liver, autoimmune, and eating disorders that nearly took her life. Her controversial and
pioneering dietary method—now recommended at top neurology, fertility, functional medicine, and even dental
clinics—has left countless dramatic success stories in its wake and been featured at top spas and institutions such as
Omega Institute and Canyon Ranch, as well as on “Today,” Fox, and PBS, among others. Learn more about her
upcoming program retreats at informedbeauty.com or by calling 877-54-TOTAL.
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