Ashley Carter Youngblood is the owner of both Lotus Lifestyle Coaching and her professional psychotherapy practice, Inner Peace Counseling, PLC. As a natural entrepreneur and with training in holistic approaches to healing, following Ashley’s her own story of healing using a low-carbohydrate/high-fat (ketogenic) way of eating, she wanted to spread the word about the healing power of an ancestral ketogenic/low-carbohydrate lifestyle to others. Ashley started by beginning to integrate education about the power of food as medicine related to the impact of nutrition on mental health into her psychotherapy practice.

But, even that didn’t allow the kind of intimacy Ashley wanted to be create when coaching those experiencing food addiction, disordered eating, sugar addiction, weight management issues, or the desire to simply live a more traditional and natural life. Ashley wanted to be able to be only a text away when someone was panicking in the grocery store about what to buy. She wanted to be able to have the ability to meet someone for tea or sit down with someone outside of her office to create a meal plan that is just right for them (Goldilocks style!) and their bodies, incorporating things like food preferences and sensitives.

Using her training on the food-mood connection and her own story of healing as a motivator, Ashley dug into the research on the power of a ketogenic/low-carbohydrate lifestyle to heal things ranging from acne to thyroid issues to cancer. To date [updated 6/2/19], Ashley has had 39 hours of training from the leading research organization on a low-carbohydrate high-fat (“LCHF”) way of eating, The Noakes Foundation, has had 27.5 hours of training on the connection between nutrition and mental health, has meticulously read 27 books on the topic (with at least 20 more on her reading list), has watched countless documentaries about holistic nutrition (both in support and opposed to a ketogenic/low carbohydrate lifestyle), has interviewed local and international food producers/companies, and participates in over 20-hour-long conferences to receive information on the most updated research related to the ketogenic/low-carbohydrate lifestyle. She is even in the process of writing a book on the topic!

Ashley has seen first hand, both in her personal healing and in her professional work, the importance of addressing nutrition and stabilizing blood sugar for both mental and physical well-being. Once Ashley became aware of her own carbohydrate intolerance, she repeatedly found that, when clients tracked their foods and emotions, the realization was that the blood sugar roller coaster caused by high sugar/carbohydrate foods was triggering anxiety and panic attacks. The importance of addressing blood sugar stability via ketogenic/low-carbohydrate nutrition has become even more clear, particularly the case given that recent studies have shown that only 12% of the population is metabolically healthy. This means that 88% of the American population should be addressing their metabolic health! And, guess what has proven to be the most-successful way to do this!? (Hint: it’s not eating more carbohydrates/sugars/processed foods!)… It’s adopting a well-formulated, whole-food, nutrient-dense ketogenic/low-carbohydrate lifestyle!

Although trained as a psychotherapist, at heart, Ashley is a ketogenic lifestyle coach who seeks to help people integrate wellness into all aspects of their lives. She would love to work with you to help you achieve the healing that she knows is possible for you. If she can do it, anyone can!

But, Wait! There’s More!

It is true that we are not only what we eat, but we are what we eat eats. So, Ashley’s lifestyle coaching isn’t just about food. It’s also about your environment and what you are putting in and around your body? It’s your emotional health, your beauty products, the quality of your food, the ecological impact of your food choices, and the ability to be self-sustaining in order to not only honor your body but honor Mother Earth, who nourishes us.

Given that Ashley’s original mission since she started her Lotus business in 2017 was to coach other helping professions be as successful as they can be, there is something else that Ashley offers: business coaching. In Ashley’s mind, living a true healthy lifestyle is about helping people find complete wellness not only in their personal lives, but in their businesses, as well. Ashley hopes to assist others in giving themselves permission to thrive and be the healthiest that they can be in all aspects. So, while the direction of her vision of helping others has evolved since 2017, her mission remains the same: help others to be their healthiest selves – nutritionally, emotionally, socially, physically, spiritually, intellectually, financially, sexually, environmentally, and even professionally.