Christina Toimela learns about healthy living from Kathy Kohl

I met Kathy Kohl in a Business Start-up Workshop in Brighton. She looked radiant and I was not surprised to hear that she is a Nutritionist. Having been passionate about healthy living and eating since the age of 13 I was inspired and wanted to learn more.

Sitting outside a café in the North Laine sunshine Kathy admitted: “Basically, I’m a foodie! I love food, drink and socialising – but I’m also on a ‘special’ diet and if you can’t eat gluten, dairy etc it can get hard.”

At just 20, Kathy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Not really knowing how to deal with this at home, she went abroad to teach English as a Foreign Language. She loved it although it was more about hedony than healthy living!

Back in the UK in 1996, Kathy started researching how diet may help with MS and even reverse the progress of the disease. Brighton reminded Kathy of Portugal and she decided to stay here. She started following the ‘Best Bet Diet’ for MS, and set up her website sensitivefoodies.com. Last November, after 25 years as an EFL teacher, Kathy took redundancy to finish her nutrition studies and pursue a new career in nutrition.

What is Kathy’s particular area of interest within nutrition? “It’s something that affects us all. We’re living in such a toxic, processed world, I see detoxing as a key to health,” says Kathy.

“Have fun experimenting and embracing new ingredients”

What has Kathy learnt about challenging diets? “People should not dread having to give things up. Have fun experimenting and embracing new ingredients that you may not have tried otherwise. The great thing is that you should start feeling better too!”
Kathy’s mission is to make eating and living well something that people think of as a normal part of caring for themselves and the planet: “The healthcare in UK is essentially ‘sickcare’. I want to be part of a real healthcare movement. I want good food, swimming pools and gyms to be cheaper and therefore subsidised.”

You might think Kathy’s mission sounds ambitious. However, as she describes: “The Business Start-up Course was a real kickstart for a teacher used to being told what to do. The website is a start, and talking about ideas is all well and good but you have to bite the bullet and go for it! The title of Richard Branson’s book recommended on the course says it all: Screw It, Let’s Do It!

Find information and recipes for foodies on special diets at www.sensitivefoodies.com or visit their Facebook page.

Do you know any people who have really inspired you in Brighton?
We’re not looking for celebrities. Not ordinary, but extraordinary.
Contact Christina: christina.toimela@gmail.com