Hello, my name is Kristyn and this is my story

I’m an intuitive wellness mentor, empowered energy guide, podcaster, and sustainability nerd with dreams that extend far beyond myself. You can probably find me somewhere dancing and drinking cardamom lattes.

I’m a ‘tell you like it is’ kind of gal interwoven with TMI and tasteful swearing (is that a thing?).

Starting a business wasn’t always the plan. I was a chef with big dreams to be a powerful female lead in the restaurant industry. It wasn’t until mono and Lyme disease kicked my physical abilities to the curb and forced me to come up with a new plan that I saw I was made for more than just cooking.

I’m here to do my part in shifting the narrative and trajectory of the wellness industry and help people find their intuition in wellness again.

Lemons.

Picture this: I’m living out my dream in the culinary industry at a private city club and practicing as Captain of ACF Culinary Team USA, preparing to go to the cooking Olympics in Germany (yes, it’s a thing!).

Then I got sick with a severe case of mono for 9 months. I had to quit Team USA just 6 months before the Olympics and hand over 3 years of my work to someone who couldn’t care less about it. Talk about soul-crushing.

I quit my job and moved back in with my mom - I was too sick to keep up with life and slept nearly 18 hours a day as a 22-year-old.

I saw five different doctors who couldn’t provide answers for why I was still sick 2 years after contracting mono. I was even sent to psych before anyone would believe that something was really wrong.

Lemonade.

In an effort to find a backup plan amidst all the uncertainty, I enrolled in college and a nutrition school program. 

I kept learning how to advocate for myself in the face of doctors and, through my persistence, found one who listened, heard, and believed my experience. Before long, I was diagnosed and treated for leaky gut.

When I started to decline again, I got many more tests, and I was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease. After all these struggles, I knew I wanted to use this experience to help others search for answers, so I launched my health coaching business.

This life pivot and Lyme diagnosis taught me what’s truly important in life and how to set boundaries to stay centered on those things. I left a relationship that wasn’t serving me, set boundaries for friendships, and focused on getting healthy again.

Lemonade Stand.

I believe health is full-spectrum. So while I was taking the meds, eating a special diet, and resting as much as possible, I was also doing deep internal work to get to the root of what got me here.

Making the energetic connections to how I manifested my illnesses was the biggest factor that catapulted my treatments towards healing. In March 2020, amidst a global pandemic, I hit Lyme remission. I re-launched my coaching business with a new direction, fusing intuitive energy work and integrative nutrition.

Now I’m teaching women how to take radical responsibility for their health to make the necessary changes they need to take their power back and live a vibrant and whole life.

Healed people heal people, and that is exactly what I am here to help you do.

 A few fun facts about me

 
 

Books are my jam.

You’ll find me reading anywhere from 3-8 books at one time, no shame. Want to see what I’m reading? Follow me on GoodReads.

I’m a “retired” chef

I competed on Culinary Team USA set to compete in the culinary Olympics. I’ve worked in kitchens across the world.

I am a coffee enthusiast

I love making unique coffee flavors and different types of espresso drinks! My favorite is a cardamom orange latte.

 

I’m an empath and highly sensitive person.

I used to consider this a weakness, and now it is my greatest strength and gift.

 

Looking for the formal credentials?

Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition

Certified ReCODE Health Coach for Cognitive Decline through Apollo Health

Bachelors in Psychology from DePaul University

Professionally Trained Chef and Ex-Captain of Culinary Team USA

Masters in Clinical Nutrition, in Progress

 My experience influences the work we do at Shut the Gut Up even more than the credentials. From restricted diets to spending years looking for a diagnosis, I’ve seen many ends of the wellness spectrum. The most important lesson I learned? How you identify yourself in the healing journey.

Our brains love to validate our thoughts – so if you identify as a sick person, we’re often going to find more ways to be sick. Doing the work to identify with our healthy habits, even if they aren’t yet consistently in place, is an important piece of the work we do.

For almost an entire year of dealing with Lyme, an underlying fear of mine was getting healthy. I thought it would make people take Lyme less seriously if I healed faster, or that they would think it wasn’t as bad as I said it was if I could heal “quickly”. I also was afraid that if I was healing, it wouldn’t last and I would get sick again. It’s still a trigger that surfaces every now and then – healing is not linear.

But I am here to remind you that the healing process does not diminish the experience.

You can give yourself permission to heal, choose a new identity, and never lose the value of your story as a result of your experience through symptoms and illness.

  You are the CEO of your body.

 

It’s time to act accordingly.

Welcome to your health CEO guide, created to help you gain clarity on the role you are playing in your health so you can create a wellness plan to help you transform in an aligned and supported way.