My name is Krista Olsen, MD.
I am a daughter, mother, wife, sister, friend, neighbor, doctor… Life Coach.
I am from Northern Minnesota and the youngest child of 4. I went to undergraduate at St. Olaf College, medical school at the University of North Dakota and residency in OB/GYN at the University of Minnesota. I am currently practicing full-time with a private OBGYN group in the Minneapolis Metro area.
I have: traveled the world, lived in India, run marathons, reached professional goals, hosted killer holidays, helped to lead organizations….. been divorced, lived with substance abuse under my roof, experienced anxiety, depression, infertility, pregnancy loss and lost loved ones to suicide and murder… In other words, lived life!
Trying to balance all of the “roles” in my life pushed me to my breaking point. I was trying to do it “all” and do it “perfectly” and in the midst... I lost myself, my joy and felt empty. On the outside it may have appeared that I had it all together. Slowly, through life my coping mechanism became food. It was safe, socially acceptable and developed into my drug of choice. I would turn to it to celebrate, check-out, comfort, calm, entertain you name it. Slowly and quietly it became the food I was eating that was eating away at me. I avoided weighing myself, looking at photos of me and began retreating socially. I was irritable, stressed, angry, unsatisfied and fatigued. Over time I tried Atkins, Weight Watchers, restricting, exercising, recording, app based programs… and nothing seemed to work. No program “stuck” and the weight would come back on along with a little more each time. The insanity of it made me feel ashamed and broken… a victim.
Until… I learned how to change my brain! With the help of Katrina Ubell, MD and Brooke Castillo I was able to understand the underlying biology of why weight loss was a challenge for me and harness my metabolism. More so, I was able to dig into my brain, understand my human experience and drastically change my thinking around food and my past. During this journey, an amazing thing happened: every aspect of my life changed! I was able to find more joy, feel more emotion, create the life I wanted, enjoy my spouse, children, job and family more… I changed my brain!!! I have not looked back!
Slowly during my clinic days or interactions with friends and family they noticed the physical and personal transformation. Questions arose: "What are you doing? How are you doing it? That really works?" In 5 and 10 minute segments, I was able give some tips and help foster interest and change. Then, I realized how important this work was to me and what an amazing melding of my interest in health care, lifestyle medicine and mental health… It was time to get certified as a Life Coach, BAM!!!
Click below to watch a snippet of my journey >>
