Wellness Achiever Interview With Dr. Fuller

Meet Ziquin's March 2009 Wellness Achiever:. Dr. Kathleen Fuller

“In modern America, the issues we have around the subject of eating food can be huge and very complex. Yet I enjoy making this topic easier for most people to understand.”


My interest in this subject is drawn from my own perplexing battles of compulsive overeating, binge eating and poor body image, which has trailed me for decades. This led me to a lifetime of researching the emotions, and the mental and physical challenges an individual might have. In my life I have experienced three types of eating disorders.

I was tired of being teasedAs a child – by the 5th grade and at the age of 11 – I had gotten very tired of being isolated and teased by my classmates. So I wanted things to change. I was a compulsive eater, considered obese, and challenged with food allergies that were undiagnosed. This made me gravitate to the worse kind of foods for my body and its immune system.

My mom took me to the pediatrician to seek help, as I was very determined to get thin. I asked the doctor, how do I lose weight? He looked at me, patted me on the shoulder and said “You’ll grow out of it.” Even though his medical specialty focused on children’s health that was the only advice he could give me.

Starving myself
Being willfully strong and committed to my goal, I said I would do it alone. I created my own diet. Based on what I knew, I decided the best way to lose weight was to restrict my diet of all foods. I would starve myself, and then later reward myself with a bowl of ice cream. That was my first experience in behavior modification.

In my teens, I had a passion for art and community service. However, my real dream was to go to the Olympics. I had rigorously developed my equestrian skills and even put in time training my horse, winning multiple championships in three states and Canada. This brought national attention to my doorstep. In the fall of 1965, the most popular magazine for teen-age girls, Seventeen, called and wanted to do an article on me. They had selected me as an outstanding teen girl in America. This created excitement for me and also an opportunity to model for them.
I was determined to be as skinny as Twiggy.

In my first year of college, I was eighteen years old, which was around the time the famous British model Twiggy hit America. She fast became a role model for thousands of young women, and was renowned for her gauntness and as a sensation in advertisements for Yardley make-up. I was determined to be like her—as skinny as Twiggy.

Striving for thinness, I kept restricting and reducing my food intake. This habit went forward for about two years and led to anorexia. It’s not unusual for this condition to lead to another eating disorder called bulimia. Like most people who have such a secretive habit, I wanted to stop and a part of me did consciously want to change. But until my mid 40s I would binge on various foods and then force myself to immediately expel it out of my body. Along with the shameful feelings caused by this, even exercising can become a compulsive part of the deceptive thinking surrounding anorexia and bulimia.

Always researching and looking for solutionsAlways looking for a deeper solution to my own eating disorders, as well as those of others, I did my undergraduate studies at a Methodist University in world religions and elementary education. Later in my forties I received two master degrees in mental health and human services with my doctorate in philosophy. I was fortunate to intern at Glenbeigh Hospital of Tampa, Florida. At that time it was the most innovative 12-step hospital for addictions in the US with a special eating-disorder unit. Looking back over my experiences I can say with faith there were no coincidences but only my Higher Power leading me.

An overwhelming physical melt downEating disorders can lead to a gradual but overwhelming physical melt down. I realized how unhealthy I had become as a result of three decades of residual nutritional deficiencies. By the time I had come to peace with the mental and emotional challenges of my past, my body began to react with some amazing symptoms that I could not ignore. There were constant fatigue, depression, swollen ankles, muscles aches and headaches. I lived with this physical condition for 4 ½ years before being introduced to Ziquin. Signals of intense gastrointestinal pain made my digestive system feel like it had closed down.
One day as I was working and writing my book, one of my co-workers, Coleen Rehm, who is a writer, editor and wellness coach in health, introduced me to Ziquin’s products. That’s when the next step to better health revealed its course. With her support, I went on the Ziquin foundational and advanced program.

Next step to better health - Ziquin products with educational supportZiquin and its educational process have been instrumental in my physical healing process and helping me reach a new level of vitality, mental alertness and relief from inflammation and nutritional deficiencies.
As I took some of the Ziquin products, Coleen’s coaching helped me to check in with my body, something I hadn’t done normally. During one session I realized how much I had been pushing myself (as if I were still competing for the Olympics) and needed to tell myself to slow down.

People really require additional information for their success. For instance, when I was going through a cleansing crisis or clearing process for toxins, though I understood it was part of a healing cycle, I still needed more insights about that condition because the experience could have fooled me into stopping.

I welcome you to read my book Not Your Mother’s Diet
What stands out when I look back at all my experience is that I always trusted the solution would appear in my life. So I asked, stayed connected and listened, from a deep spiritual connection to a higher power.

My book Not Your Mother’s Diet, which is coming out shortly, is a compilation of the insights I gained from my personal and many years of clinical experiences, plus creative tips and tools that have been successful for my patients from over 17 years of clinical practice. Much of the information in my book has never before been published for the benefit of the general public. I welcome you to read my book, ask questions and explore with me. If you want peace of mind, peace with your eating, peace with your body image, plus peace with your relationships, pick up my book by going to htt://www.notyourmothersdiet.com.

I look forward to participating in Ziquin’s educational process and helping others learn new ways to approach dieting and any type of challenges they might have around food.