{ep. 005} Kara Lydon, RDN, RYT

Today I’m speaking with my good friend Kara Lydon. Kara, AKA The Foodie Dietitian, is a nationally recognized nutrition and culinary communications expert and yoga teacher based in Boston. Kara believes that the secret to a holistically happy life is nourishing the mind, body and spirit and she instills this integrative philosophy in the kitchen, yoga studio, working one-on-one with clients, on her food and healthy living blog, The Foodie Dietitian, and in her e-book, Nourish Your Namaste: How Nutrition and Yoga Can Support Digestion, Immunity, Energy and Relaxation. Her blog features delicious seasonal vegetarian recipes and simple strategies to bring more yoga and mindfulness into your life and has been most recently featured on SHAPE, TODAY, Fitness, SELF, The Kitchn, Prevention and Buzzfeed.

Kara also partners with like-minded food brands and organizations on recipe development, food photography, nutrition communications, and media and spokesperson work. Kara is an avid writer too and has recently been featured in Yoga Journal, Food Network’s Healthy Eats Blog, Today.com, Environmental Nutrition, and Eating Well Magazine.

Kara is often sought after for her passion and expertise on yoga, food photography and social media to speak at events and professional meetings, including Today’s Dietitian Symposium, Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Massachusetts Dietetic Association, Rhode Island Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Nutrition Entrepreneurs Dietetic Practice Group, Massachusetts Dietitians in Health Care Communities Dietetic Practice Group and the Bariatric Summit.

Prior to starting her own business, Kara led health communication strategy for one of the fastest growing food start-ups in history. She began her career in clinical nutrition and weight management at The Weight and Wellness Center at Tufts Medical Center.

Kara graduated with honors from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Sciences and completed her dietetic internship at Mount Auburn Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. She completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Back Bay Yoga Studio (now YogaWorks) in Boston. When she’s not working, Kara loves going for nature walks and hikes, trying new restaurants, traveling, and spending time with her husband and furry cat, Constantine.

In this episode Kara and I talk a lot about her e-book, but also about how to tap into your intuition, when it comes to your career. Interestingly enough, it involves very similar practices as to when you’re trying to tap into your intuition when it comes to eating. Kara talks about how taking frequent social media breaks (and quieting your external environment in general) is a great practice for tapping into your intuition, because it gives you an opportunity to think about what you want without being influenced through blog posts and photographs of what everyone else is doing. On top of that, she talks about the importance of distinguishing between “should” and “want.” Many times when we’re looking to make a move in our career transition (OR trying to reach a health goal) there are a lot of people telling us what we “should” do. But, if we’re not careful, we can spend most of our time getting “should” on, and very little time considering what we actually want. Sound familiar? A great life lesson.

Links & Resources

http://karalydon.com/blog
@karalydonRD || Facebook || Pinterest || Instagram || YouTube
Nourish Your Namaste e-book