L
et’s welcome Karine Barlow
to EatInEatOut Magazine.
I know you’ll love hearing
her personal journey and
what lead her to start
an exciting new business.
What is your background? Tell
us about Karine…
2015 marks 20 years for me as a Registered Dietitian (gasp!!). It’s been a fantastic
journey! The world of nutrition has changed
so much since I first started practicing and it
continues to evolve at a fast pace. Never a
dull moment!
I knew early on I had a passion for learning
about food and how it related to health.
When I learned there was a career all about
just that, becoming an RD was an obvious
choice! In fact, I always felt it a gift that I
had such a clear path for myself. Food and
nutrition are in my blood!
In some respects I’m not your typical dietitian.
As a young person, I struggled with fairly serious weight issues and have battled obesity
for most of my life. I believe it makes me a
very humane, compassionate and realistic
RD. No judgements here…
I’m also a mom to a 10 year old who has
gone through quite a health journey that led
me to the world of gluten-free.
What led you to a gluten-free
lifestyle?
In short, my 10 year old son James did!
I personally do not have to be gluten-free,
and I will sometimes have gluten when I am
not with him, but at home and when I’m out
with him, we live a 100% gluten-free
lifestyle.
His story is a long, complicated medical
one. The short version is that after growing
increasingly ill over a period of a few years,
seeing a multitude of specialists, and generally becoming completely desperate to help
my child, my husband and I tried him on a
gluten-free diet. The results were dramatic!
James has now been gluten-free for about
5 years and he is a different child. Thriving,
healthy, active and well again. My journey
with him, having to learn all about gluten,
propelled me into a new world as a dietitian
– one I had not spent much time thinking
about prior to this time in my life.
What I learned was that his is a common
story. On average, it takes people 11-13
years to be diagnosed. Typically most
patients will see a variety of doctors, often
being told what they are feeling is just in
their head, and rarely does anyone think to
question gluten as a culprit.
In James’ case, he was anemic, there was
evidence his growth was not progressing at
a normal rate, he had spontaneous bouts of
crying in class, his language and fine motor
skills were not developing at the pace of his
peers, he had joint pain, chronic canker
sores, and more!
In retrospect, all these symptoms should have
been cause to suspect Celiac disease.
Instead he was tested for Mono, told he
likely has ADHD, reassured that his growth
would ‘pick up’ in adolescence, and got
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