Practitioner Resource - We want to help you thrive!
Meet Ceylon Keeslar. Ceylon is a functional nutritionist and health coach who helps her clients to improve their body composition and health without sacrificing their relationship with food.
She is results-oriented, yet passionate about ensuring that there is no one-size fits all for any client. Her comprehensive approach is a no-fail method, by using advanced lab testing, symptom assessments, health education, and behavior science. She is determined to help both men and women to feel good from the inside out.
The conditions she addresses with clients include unexplained weight gain, eating behaviors, mood issues, skin rashes, acne, hair loss, and hormone imbalances. She first got into functional health and nutrition after working for a dietary supplement and genetics company, Seeking Health, for nearly 7 years as their Product Educator.
During that time, she struggled with her own weight gain, mood imbalances, hormone imbalances and skin issues. After many doctor visits without help, she finally found healing through advanced lab testing and the science of behavior and habit change (her 30-day challenges!).
Currently, she holds a BS in Psychology, is a certified Health Coach from American Council on Exercise, and is at Bastyr University for her MS in Integrative Nutrition.
As an academic and practitioner both, she continually educates herself on the most up-to-date nutrition science, including Metabolic Fitness with Dr Brian Walsh and courses at Harvard University.
To learn about her approach and whether she can help you, sign up on her website for a 15-min free consultation!
You can also connect with Ceylon on instagram @IG: @InbodybyCeylon or by Email: info@inbodybyceylon.com
We asked Ceylon 3 Questions:
1. How To Lose Weight
2. What's Best Diet Fat Loss
3. How Do We Get More Energy!
How do I lose weight?
Weight gain (and the inability to lose excess body fat) is not the main issue. Rather, weight gain is a symptom of something deeper. The underlying issue could be due to metabolic dysfunction, insulin resistance, hormone imbalance, or high stress, just to name a few.
If it's the result of eating a poor diet and not having enough muscle on the body, then following a metabolic protocol (clean diet, exercise, quality sleep, and strategic fasting) will generally reverse the issue. If there is an underlying condition, then a more therapeutic protocol (with the help of a qualified health practitioner) will be necessary. For example, a clean keto diet, the autoimmune protocol, or Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT).
This requires lab testing (blood testing and other advanced labs if necessary) in order to get an objective picture of what is going on inside the body - don’t guess, test! Strategic lab testing is so often overlooked in our world of fad diets and weight loss surgeries that skip the real, underlying issue. For example, how do you know if a particular fad diet is right for you, if you haven’t seen your nutrient levels in an organic acids test? How do you know if the reason you cannot lose fat is due to hormone dysfunction, unless you have tested your hormones and other hormone related markers? It may just be as simple as a single stress and hormone test, to realize that your progesterone or testosterone levels are very low.
It could also be dangerous for you to follow a diet or protocol without getting lab testing first.
For example, I do not suggest a keto diet for someone who has poor cardiac health. Rather, I help them with a high vegetable, low processed food diet to get them their antioxidants. For someone who has insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction, the keto diet is an excellent choice. Oftentimes, the underlying issue behind weight gain is also the lack of knowledge around food psychology and metabolism. In other words, what do you eat to prevent metabolic dysfunction and promote a healthy food relationship? Simply knowing why you are struggling to eat healthy can be a game changer. This is where food psychology and basic metabolic nutrition come in.
For example, one of the first concepts I teach in my programs is that carbohydrates are the only macronutrient that does not signal your feeling of “fullness” (satiety). This can help clients understand why they feel “addicted” to many processed foods. Limiting these addictive foods and focusing on non-addictive carbohydrates (vegetables), protein and fats, we are able to easily control our eating habits.
Calorie counting was developed when people realized they could “overeat” on processed foods, and therefore required a limit to quantity. In my programs, I do not have clients count their calories and macros necessarily, but rather identify foods based on their addictive and nourishing qualities to prevent metabolic dysfunction and promote sustainable fat loss.
So the bottom line is, in order to lose weight, you first need to identify the reason behind your weight gain, and then become properly educated on the protocol specific to your body.
What is the best diet for fat loss?
There is no single best diet for fat loss - this is all dependent upon YOU and your unique biochemistry. How do you know what your unique biochemistry requires? Lab testing. Without proper blood work, urine testing and advanced symptom assessments, we are unable to understand why your body is doing what it's doing.
Most labs I recommend are covered by insurance and can be ordered through your primary care physician. It’s important to understand that a nutritionist will recommend different labs than a doctor, because nutritionists are looking for very sensitive markers that indicate nutrient deficiencies (the direction that your health is heading). In this way, nutritionists such as myself, can catch things before they occur, like vitamin deficiencies and insulin resistance that can later lead to hormone dysfunction.
Once this lab work is retrieved and evaluated, there are many therapeutic diets that have worked to help clients lose fat for good. Most commonly, metabolic dysfunction occurs from insulin resistance - long term consumption of carbohydrates that are simple and refined (sugar and flours) and constant snacking.
In my metabolic health program I teach my clients all about how refined carbohydrates and constant snacking takes them out of fat-burning mode, and eventually becomes difficult to reverse. Many people benefit from a diet low in refined carbs and sugars and added strength training to reverse metabolic dysfunction. However, this is not for everyone.
There are many other diets and versions of “low carb” that can support someone’s metabolism. These include a clean keto diet (often dairy-free), paleo and whole30, and a high-protein vegan diet. It’s also important to know that sustainable eating is necessary once the reasoning behind weight gain is identified, otherwise it would be very difficult to live happily in our modern world.
We are constantly bombarded with processed foods and addictive flavors that are part of our social environment. As my client’s health coach, I understand that social interaction, travel, and eating out at restaurants is an important part of happiness.
A healthy, sustainable diet is generally high in plants and natural foods, but allows room for some “treats”. In my programs, when a client identifies the protocol to help them heal, they can work their way towards a healthy 80/20 eating style (80% of the food they consume is clean, and the 20% of the food is their choice). This way of living has a high success rate for fat loss, body composition, and overall life happiness.
How do I get more energy?
Low energy can be a symptom of thousands (yes, thousands) of underlying conditions. For example, hypothyroidism, insomnia, anxiety, adrenal fatigue, dehydration, gut inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, and food intolerances just to name a few. However, there are some common reasons for fatigue that we can turn to when a client is concerned about their energy, which will give us a good starting place.
First, lab testing is required. It's important to avoid reaching for a supplement, powder or herb that markets itself as an “energy booster”. This is because you don’t know whether that product is dangerous for you to take based upon your unique biochemistry, or whether it's formulated for the reasons that YOUR energy is low.
For example, if the reason you have low energy is hypothyroidism (very common), and you take a supplement for dopamine production, you will not be addressing the root cause and completely missing the major issue. This is so easy to do when there seems to be a new “diet” and “supplement” for every health issue nowadays.
The truth is, no one can tell you wh