Hi. I’m Ashley, the star of Ashley’s story. Thanks for popping by to learn a little about why I do what I do today. I wonder, have you ever wanted something so badly that you would try anything… and try to do that or those anythings perfectly… to get that “thing”? My story doesn’t start with a 7 day 40 ounces per day ONLY goat’s milk “cleanse” but I got there in pursuit of the perfect solution to finally help my belly. I hope you read on and I hope you never, ever, try a goat’s milk cleanse. I promise you it’s not the digestive tune-up your body needs.
What if constantly searching for the “perfect” diet is adding to, not solving, your problem?
What if? What if? What if?! I grew up asking countless “what if” questions because I was curious. Especially when it came to my food, my weight and my health, I kept asking what if because what I was taught didn’t get me the results promised, even if I did it perfectly.
Turns out, I wasn’t alone. For over two decades, I have met individuals just like me: perfectly frustrated, perfectly stressed, and perfectly ready to give up on being able to have the one thing we all want: better health. Better health is fueled by better nutrition which comes from making better not perfect choices more often.
Better? Not perfect? That’s right!
I didn’t always see perfect as the problem. Perfect was exactly who I wanted to be.
Her name was Angela Bower from “Who’s The Boss”. The funny, thin, blonde advertising executive who came home each night to the hunky Tony Danza– laughing, even fighting, perfectly. Growing up I wanted to be Angela Bower, imagining life would be perfect that way.
My first career was in advertising so I could become my Shero, Angela. Just like her, I loved studying people and matching my clients’ products to their needs with messages that were compelling and easy to understand. Years later, as a dietitian, I frequently use the skills I learned from advertising to help patients identify better choices, and match them with AKA Approved brands to get and keep better health.
But to get to where I am today, I first had to address my own perfect problem. Growing up the only girl sandwiched between two brothers, I wanted desperately to be the perfect child – helping, knowing all the right answers, and often speaking for others so they could be right, or rather, be perfect, too. The only times I wasn’t talking was during one of my frequent strep throats where it hurt too much to talk or swallow. Thankfully, there was the perfect health solution: antibiotics.
I don’t remember the antibiotics ever upsetting my stomach. But I remember my belly. It was always there. As I grew up, my belly controlled my life, driving me from one perfect-promising diet to the next. Despite mostly A’s in AP classes, I was an F at weight loss – specifically belly fat loss. It wouldn’t be until after college and several “perfect” diets (even that 7-day goat’s milk cleanse because I was told ‘goat’s milk is the perfect food’!) that my belly and I worked out our stuff.
Things only got better when I learned a few key things about the body and nutrition:
- You are not what you eat, you are what you digest and absorb.
- There’s no perfect diet, but there is better nutrition and it enables better health.
- Your total nutrition – what goes in and on your body most often – is what impacts your health.
- You can’t be healthy without better digestion – so fixing digestion is always step 1.
My digestive system improved thanks to a better balance of good bacteria (probiotic) and nutrients like magnesium and glutamine. As I lost my belly, I gained confidence in my ability to enable my own better health. I realized my true calling wasn’t to be perfect Angela Bower; it was to become Ashley Koff RD– your better health enabler.
Today, thousands of patients, speaking gigs, books, media segments, Twitter parties and Facebook lives later, I learned something else – telling people and businesses what they could and even, should be doesn’t enable better health.
Better nutrition assessment tools empowers anyone to figure out what your body needs to run better. It’s like turning on location setting before using a GPS, Lyft or Uber.
Today, I passionately help others get and keep their better health powered by better nutrition. Want to join me?
Ashley Koff RD, Your Better Health Enabler