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Interview by Lyle Hurd
the TRUTH about BEAUTY comes OF AGE
It has been a sincere pleasure working with Kat James over the past three years. Her
landmark work, “The Truth About Beauty Transform Your Looks and Your Life
From the Inside Out”, led to her becoming a best-selling author, public television
host and the founder of InformedBeauty.com and Total Transformation Programs.
As well as a regular contributor to totalhealth magazine.
LH: Kat, next month’s release of the 2007 edition of your
bestselling book, The Truth About Beauty is a cause for
celebration. With sales that have only increased since its
publication in 2003, I can say as a publisher, that such a
grassroots phenomenon—with no formal PR—is quite rare.
The Truth has hit the Amazon top 100 multiple times, not
from appearances on Oprah, but from the sheer power
of word-of-mouth. In the meantime, you’ve had your own
health column, led your Total Transformation® programs
in Europe, Hawaii, and the Caribbean with glowing reviews
in top travel and spa magazines. You’ve become one of the
most sought-after speakers at high-profile health events
across the country, and were even featured on PBS. Today,
The Truth is considered a classic to many, with countless
success stories in its wake. What do you think is behind this
response to your work?
KJ: Lyle, you forgot to mention that I’ve been on the cover of
totalhealth! Seriously, I think people are finally ready to get
past the fluff, the sentiment and the philosophy of “insideout
beauty” and get down to the actual steps they can take
to transform themselves in a way that is real. My book is not
only a faithful translation of what happened to me (anyone
who would like to see my own “before and after” can see it at
www.informedbeauty.com, it also provides all the resources
for follow-through that took over a decade to gather. Once
people start to look and feel so different, without having to
suffer as they’ve always been told they’d have to, they want
to share it with everyone they care about. And that is how
my book and message has spread. If someone had given
my book to me when I was a teenager, I could have been
spared twelve years of suffering, crisis, and self-loathing, not
to mention the expense of all the beauty regimens that only
worsened my skin’s condition and challenged my body all
those years.
LH: In your book, you often refer to a “Process of Shedding”
could you tell us about that?
KJ: The Process of Shedding is a process that can help us find
our way back to our original potential. My own Process was
jumpstarted by a major health crisis. In order to survive it I
had to first shed my old mindsets that were keeping me closed
to natural solutions (the drug solution to my disease wasn’t
pretty). When that alternative actually worked (which stunned
me), a lot of other blinders fell away. But before I could shed my
eating disorder, I needed to shed a succession of biochemical
issues that where keeping me heavy and reinforcing my
self-destructive relationship with food. Those biochemical
aspects, amazingly, turned out to be even more powerful than
the emotional ones. One by one, I was able to shed them by
learning and applying nutritional information. Eventually, there
was nothing left to feed my eating disorder, except for one
final emotional “remnant,” which I unknowingly shed in a final
desperate pledge to myself, which I shared in the book. By the
time that final emotional issue was cleared, I’d shed a lifetime of
accumulated burdens that characterized what I call my former
“denatured life”. Peeling away those layers allowed me gradually
to re-sensitize my body and sensibilities to the point that the
self-abuse I once took for granted became intolerable, and even
unthinkable one day. And that was the day my most physically
obvious aspect of shedding began: the steady, uninterrupted
shedding of ten dress sizes over three years. What was waiting
there beneath all those layers was my true potential, which I’d
never even glimpsed as a teenager, and was staring back at me
for the first time at twenty-eight.
Sadly, many people go from cradle to grave without ever
experiencing (or even imagining) what they were meant to
look or feel like. And nature’s plan is more radiant than we
can ever achieve via harsh, external, or artificial means. As a
formerly conventional beauty expert, this has changed how I
“practice” beauty forever. Real beauty—nature’s intention—is
never static. It’s not something we can or should try to “freeze”
in time. Our beauty at 40 or 50 is different from our beauty
at 30, but no less compelling. The Process of Shedding is a
continuum that ebbs, flows, and evolves us toward nature’s
most radiant intention.
LH: Most people think of inner beauty and self-transformation
as emotional or spiritual pursuits. By contrast, we think of
the external beauty pursuit as a frivolous one. I believe your
message differs on both fronts.
KJ: To most of us, inner beauty describes the heart and soul
of who we want to be as people. But too many people who
are “beautiful inside” still neglect the “craft” of how they care
for themselves, and many do not treat themselves well at all.
This unfortunate blind spot—which I paid for dearly—can
eventually affect one’s very capacity for joy, how they feel about
themselves, and how they care for others. Many think of self-
transformation in terms of spiritual awakening, rites of passage
or personal achievements, which are all powerful things. But
how we treat ourselves, and what goes into our bodies from
dawn to dusk while no one else is around, can determine what
we become tomorrow more than just about anything else.
Our pursuit of external beauty is built into nature’s plan. It’s
a catalyst for our survival. But unfortunately too many of us
give up the real thing by lapsing in our sacred roles as selfcreators,
which others cannot fulfill. By merely “maintaining”
ourselves externally with well-researched perfumes, clothes,
makeup, blow-dryers, and the choicest products displayed in
our bathrooms—or worse yet, thinking of ourselves as being
“maintained” by doctors, fitness trainers or beauty advisors—
we render beauty a frivolous pursuit. Many people keep up
with the socially acceptable personal care trends, while never
scrutinizing what actually goes into—and becomes—their
bodies. True vitality, which is the most radiant beauty attribute,
can only be achieved through transformation at a cellular level.
This requires passion—not trend watching or suffering. We’d
never call a painter or a chef “high-maintenance” or “fanatical”
for demanding the best tools and raw materials for their
creations. Vital beauty requires that we become such passionate
artisans and connoisseurs of ourselves.
LH: I know you oppose the drill sergeant, “extreme makeover”
approach that is so popular today. How come?
KJ: Though it’s the last thing that the desperate woman I was
would have believed, transforming ourselves at the cellular
level has nothing to do with counting calories and fat grams, or
huffing and puffing on a treadmill, or hiring a plastic surgeon.
The most dramatic stories of self-transformation I’ve seen
required none of those things and yet achieved far more than just
major weight loss. And the power of the kind of self-advocacy
that puts your health first (even above weight or beauty) is an
incredible catalyst for emotional and spiritual transformation.
By the way, it can also do more for your skin than any topical
regimen money can buy.
Those who read Part IV in my “Self-Transformation Series” here
in totalhealth over the last eight months will enjoy these pictures
of Rudy, who transformed from obese, diabetic, alcohol abuser, to
slim, self-respecting and recovered (off medication and alcohol).
Rudy did not increase his activity or count calories for this to
happen (he’d already had a physically-demanding delivery truckloading
job, yet was still obese). There are other under-sung issues
that invariably stand
between most people
and dramatic, strugglefree
self-transformation.
You don’t see them
discussed (or naturally
addressed) in your
average magazine, or
on “The Biggest Loser.”
But whether it’s weight
gain or acne you’re
concerned about, the
real underlying factors
are often painlessly corrected, but never by the strict or harsh
regimens or no-pain, no-gain plans that are regarded by so many
as the only real answers.
Totally Transformed:
Rudy Echeverri stopped drinking and was taken off his diabetes medication after only a few weeks on Kat's Program.
LH: It seems that many people who feel “beyond hope” are
finding a second chance in your strategies.
KJ: Yes, and those people are close to my heart. But most people
who read my book and come on my Total Transformation
programs are no where near the crisis point I started at and
just want to take care of themselves in a more enlightened
way or turn back the clock a bit. But those who are the
furthest off track are the ones who tend to show the greatest
transformation in the shortest period of time. And once they
experience that first marked change in the mirror (without any
suffering), they can’t believe something so powerful could be
so doable, and they want those they love to become “believers”
too. They often share the book with their mothers, girlfriends
or daughters they can’t seem to “reach” (teens like that I was
a mainstream beauty expert who has worked on some of their
favorite “celebs”). Painlessly adopting the first few “lifestyle
upgrades” laid out in the book alone can be as powerful as
changing the course of a train. You feel the change right away,
but what’s really amazing is how different it will be at your
destination from the original destination you were headed
for. And it’s a ripple effect that your own transformation can
inspire in many lives around you, and can even change the
lives of your children’s children.
Kat conducts a cooking class at her Total Transformation Program.
Photo: Jen and Walter Greenwald
LH: You are big on research in your book. How has the ongoing
research affected your approach or your programs?
KJ: More than anything, emerging research has validated and
reinforced why my approach should not change. More interestingly,
it has given me a far deeper understanding of how
and why so many aspects of it work. The research pouring in
on fish oil, for example, has added so much dimension to my
understanding as to why it helped me so much, beyond the
obvious initial effect it had on my liver health recovery and
in transforming my skin. The ongoing research on its mental
health effects is astounding, and explains a lot of the healing
I had in that respect. I was also very excited last year to come
across the work of neurochemist Kenneth Blum, Ph.D., a former
researcher at university of Texas who revolutionized our
nutritional understanding of cravings and addictions in the
1980s. This information again validates my approach and has
helped me hone it further, but is largely ignored by most organizations
that purport to heal addictions (see Part 3 of my fourpart
series on Self-Transformation in the last four issues of this
magazine for more on that). It was also a revelation to learn of
Dr. Ron Rosedale’s book, The Rosedale Diet, which sheds new
light on the issue of the hormone leptin, the influences (or lack
thereof) of which was a certain factor in my own experience
and is likely a major factor in any case of obesity or insulin
resistance your loved one is facing today. Because his work,
and the dietary aspects of my Total Transformation Programs
are in uncanny alignment, he has joined me as a presenter at
several of my programs and we have lectured together for diabetic
patients and doctors.
LH: What has been the most surprising reaction to your book?
KJ: Many people tell me “I didn’t realize supplements were
so important!” Now, considering that most of the country is
overweight and metabolically challenged, it’s amazing there is
still anyone out there not taking the safest and most effective
mood, blood sugar, and weight-stabilizing substances on
earth—nutritional supplements. They saved my life and they
transformed my body and skin beyond recognition! Forgive my
enthusiasm.
LH: What do you enjoy most about this path you’re on?
KJ: Seeing the real life success stories. Last week I heard from
a young woman who gave up purging and learned to nourish
her body and trust eating again after attending my Program.
Her monthly periods have returned and she is feeling feminine
for the first time she can remember. She never achieved this
even at in-patient clinics. The challenges I faced just to write
the book and bring my message to people rivaled that of my
original health journey. However, it’s worth it when you can
enable others to by-pass a lifetime of struggle. My other great
joy is meeting visionary people—present company included—
who are bringing crucial products, services or pioneering
research to people, to better this world. These people enrich
and inspire my own journey with their friendship, and some of
their goods and resources are highlighted in my book’s Living
Beauty “Resource Guide.”
LH: What’s up next for you?
KJ: Keeping up with breaking health research and reviewing new
products for my annual book updates will continue indefinitely,
as will my appearances and lectures. Future publications are
in the works, including publication of recipes from my Total
Transformation programs. And, of course, I’ll conduct several
Total Transformation programs this year.
I’ve devoted my life to delivering—and guarding the purity
of—my approach, because I know most people will not be freed
from the growing American plight by what is widely considered
“the best” diet or beauty advice. But my message and my own
transformation are just manifestations of a greater Truth that is
bigger than I am. A Truth that people desperately need to heal,
that is getting closer to the surface every day. A Truth that has
never changed, and is finally coming of age.
For more information on Kat James, The Truth About Beauty, or
Kat’s week-long Total Transformation programs, call 877-548-6825
or visit www.informedbeauty.com.
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