Karen Mitchell, Integrative Nutrition health Coach
Graduate, Institute for Integrative Nutrition
Certified International Health Coach
National Board for Health and Wellness Certification
Functional Nutrition Lifestyle Practitioner FNLP, Functional Nutrition Alliance
Sibo Pro-Course with Dr. Alison Siebecker, Participant
SIBO Practitioner Mastery Program with Dr. Nirala Jacobi, Participant
PMBIA Level 1 Mountain Bike Coach
BS Range Management, MSU
Karen’s own wellness journey has covered many miles – metaphorically and literally speaking. She began her wellness journey in earnest almost 25 years ago when she moved to Montana in pursuit of a life more in line with her values of natural living and connection to nature.
After joining the staff at the Community Food Co-op, she discovered more about healthful eating and at the same time, learned that a mix of persistent symptoms were the result of a dairy allergy. In those years, she was a vegetarian with an eating disorder, and transformed to a meat eater with an emerging healthier sense of self.
Karen has always been passionate about everything she puts her time and mind into. Over the years this has included a long list of such things as: horse trainer and riding instructor, mom, wife, gardener, cook, yogi, meditator, cyclist, soil conservationist, community volunteer, business manager, and Air BnB host. But by far, the most meaningful work to date has been as a catalyst for healing in people who are affected by chronic health issues. And she has had experience with chronic infections and disease both within herself and her family.
As a new mama, Karen sought help for her son's crippling stomach aches and diarrhea. As she searched for answers, she discovered the gluten and casein free diet. Her son found immediate relief and their life was forever changed as they navigated the in's and out's of healthy, nutritious eating with severe food restrictions; Karen’s son tested allergic and intolerant to almost every food he ate. That was a frustrating time as they healed his gut through elimination diets, trial and error, careful food reintroductions and gut healing.
Many years later, as her child thrived, Karen’s health was heading downhill. Seemingly random symptoms like hair loss, constipation, bloated tummy, extremely dry skin, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and such painful menstrual cramps that nearly drove her to seek help in the ER, were cropping up. She tried every type of change in diet, routine, exercise - all to no avail. As a next step, she tested for SIBO and the test returned a positive result for both methane and hydrogen. Over the years since, in healing her SIBO, Karen and her naturopath discovered her gut was also host to parasites, an amoeba and intestinal worms. While not an easy discovery, the many layers of healing Karen has had to go through now enables her to understand and support client’s as they look to heal the root cause of their physical symptoms, especially when it involves the intestinal system. As she heals her gut, her symptoms slowly disappear, and a healthier Karen emerges – in body and soul. She is learning to care for herself gently and is driven to support others on their own healing journey.
Karen is a NBC-HWC, FNLP (Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach & Functional Nutrition Lifestyle Practitioner) a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and Functional Nutrition Alliance. She earned a BS in Range Management from Montana State University and has completed additional coursework in nutrition and the human body. Karen studies meditation in the Vipassana (Insight) Tradition and has completed 4 plus years of group and private study with her teacher. More recently, Karen is learning and incorporating neural re-patterning into her work with clients.
As a coach, Karen supports clients in accessing their inner wisdom. She does this through coaching, education and advocacy rooted in n understanding of functional nutrition and coaching psychology. Karen empowers clients to reconnect with their innate physical and mental wisdom as they create a fulfilling and balanced life.
In her free time, Karen plays in the great outdoors with her family and dogs, travels far and wide, grows tons of veggies and flowers, rides horses (as a volunteer at Eagle Mount), rides bikes, is a cycling coach (is a PMBIA Level 1 Certified Mountain Bike Instructor) and women’s cycling advocate and practices yoga and meditation regularly.
Her blog and more info can be found at www.karenmitchellwellness.com.
“Karen was by far the best coach I’ve had while working through my history with pica, Celiac Disease, and body dysmorphic disorder. Thank you, Karen, for helping me to become friends with my body. For the first time in my life I am honoring my physical body and am working diligently to be more respectful and trusting of myself. This was one of my biggest goals when I first met with Karen, and am so grateful for her diligent and intentional support. Karen’s guidance has been absolutely necessary, especially as we worked together before and during COVID-19 lockdowns. Knowing that Karen was waiting to hear about my week and my progress every Monday pushed me to dig deeper into where and why I put my body down and helped develop a practice of trust and respect. I continue to turn to this practice, especially in these uncertain times, as a way to feel grounded, capable, and strong. I credit an immense amount of this progress to my time with Karen and am so appreciative of the chance to work with her.”
“Karen is great to work with! She was very empathetic and educated. She was easy to get in touch with via email too. I’ve had less hives and more energy since doing a low-histamine diet while working with Karen. I feel like I’m headed in the right direction, in part because of her insight and support.”
“Karen was able to meet me where I am on my adventure of navigating SIBO and an auto-immune disease. She offered helpful suggestions for dietary considerations during active treatment cycles as well as specific instructions for reintroducing foods in a systematic way following treatment. Karen was also able to offer many other resources for additional information. On top of all of that, Karen is a great listener and clearly demonstrates care and concern.”
“Karen helped us conquer my 11-year-old son’s SIBO using a combination of the low FODMAP and GAPS diet. Without her knowledge, experience and guidance I would not have been able to navigate the SIBO treatment. Karen’s kind and supportive personality made working with her a pleasure. The treatment plan was clear and straightforward. The food information and recipes she provided me with were exactly what I needed to be able to make such a big dietary change in my son’s life.”
