013: Nikola Howard – Getting Out of Diet Prison

Nikola Howard

Nikola says that she started to gain weight when she entered puberty. She put this down to good too much ice-cream and a decreasing desire to exercise. In 1999, aged 29, weighing 19st 2lbs, an Evans size 26 she was concerned about the arthritis in her right knee, both wrists and left shoulder.  Having lost 3 and half stone with low fat diets, and then gaining it back again, along with the extra 4 stones, what hindsight now as a very hypoglycaemic person, the periods of being hungry and ratty on those low fat attempts were increasingly wearing.  She would reach for the raisins, as a fast sugar fix, which became her saviour food. What we now know as a  typical “High and crash” insulin reaction.

It was a work colleague that introduced her to the “Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution” which he had used to lose weight and lent her the book.

The principles of low-carbing changed her life. She discovered freedom from Hunger. As a confirmed carnivore, low-carbing is a way of eating (WOE) where she can eat the foods that she loves. She believes that there is no sense of deprivation, as you can still eat Curry, Chinese, Steak, and (with preparation) the ice-cream and the biscuits, finding that life is just better without the Sugar and Starch.  

As we will hear, her journey hasn’t always been smooth sailing, with some obstacles getting in the way and interrupting her low carb living.  She has endured prolonged stalls, managing various health issues, side effects of treatments yet she found her way back to low carb and is now coaching.  She now works with clients who struggle with being overweight, tired, who may feel that they suffer with shame, guilt and anxiety in order to get some space, clarity and reclaim their health.  She seeks to free people from Diet Prison and wishes for the UK to stop eating itself sick by being able to disrupt the diet industry paradigm, moving away from that shame and guilt that comes with sense of victimhood associated with food and bodies.  

Nikola's Book

How to do Low Carb, UK Style!: Eat your way to an optimal body - Nikola Howard

https://amzn.to/2Vt8Rh2

Nikola's Top Tips

1. Eat food when you are hungry
2. If you are not hungry, don’t eat or stop eating 
3. Make each mouthful as optimal as you can, given the circumstances that you find yourself in.

Quotes

“Your mind lies, cheats and deceives to get you to stay the way you are, to get you to stay safe in your known patterns. And of course going low carbohydrate is so unknown, your brain screams at you to stop you doing it. Your body on the other hand has no language, all it has is the way to communicate with you is by sensation and by the way it feels. And it does not lie, it always tells the truth.”  

Nikola Howard

“I believe that where we currently are with society is called ‘Diet Prison’ all the measuring, all the weighing, all the guilt, all the shame, all the taught to be a victim to food..”

Nikola Howard

“I believe my purpose is to free us from ‘Diet Prison’. My methodology is very much built around what the nutrition of the food is not how it makes you feel.”

Nikola Howard

“The diet industry is more like a religion rather than a science...we haven’t flexed in this matter until very recently until the last 20 years or so until we’ve done some proper science.”

Nikola Howard

“I’m here to rid the world of the word ‘weight loss’ because it is useless.”

Nikola Howard

“My whole attitude to life and choice, is if I want to eat that knowing what that does to my body then I will make that choice. I am not a victim to food. I control what I eat.”

Nikola Howard

“One of things I am very pro: it is not your fault.  It is not your fault that you ended up in the body that you’re in but it is your responsibility to change.”

Nikola Howard

“All of the snack food in society is carbohydrate based.  Therefore we need to change what you view as a snack. Think about the name: snack - food.  It is an invention of marketers, it is not something that the body requires.”

Nikola Howard

“Sometimes you find yourself in non-optimal circumstances when making food choices. Take it, move on, live your life. Never beat yourself up about it. We are human and going to make them, put it down to experience. Figure out why you have made the choice.”

Nikola Howard

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Music by Bob Collum

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