Karen Knowler - Eat Right for Your Personality Type: How to Work with Your Unique Personality to Create the Perfect Diet for You

First published and distributed in the United Kingdom by:

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Text Karen Knowler, 2012

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without prior written permission of the publisher.

The information given in this book should not be treated as a substitute for professional medical advice; always consult a medical practitioner. Any use of information in this book is at the readers discretion and risk. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss, claim or damage arising out of the use, or misuse, or the suggestions made or the failure to take medical advice.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-84850-577-3 in print
ISBN 978-1-84850-866-8 in ePub format
ISBN 978-1-84850-865-1 in Mobipocket format

This book is dedicated to you
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Thank you to family, friends, colleagues and clients who have shared so much of themselves with me that I could uncover this powerful work.

Thank you to Alis Diamonds 2009, whose support and encouragement provided the resounding YES for getting this book out into the world.

Thank you to Julia McCutchen who assisted me in pulling my ideas together in a way that worked.

Thank you to BG for your unwavering support, patience and tenaciousness.

Thank you to all at Hay House for your belief in this work and helping me to spread the word.

Thank you to Katie Foster and the rest of my fabulous team for all of your invaluable back-at-the-ranch support, which enables me to do what I do.

Thank you to Kendall SummerHawk, Ali Brown and Fabienne Fredrickson who have impacted me, my work and my world more than you will ever know. I am forever grateful.

Thank you to Tony for all your support every step of the way; this work has been made all the deeper and richer for everything youve shared with me.

Thank you, Luke, for letting Mummy write and being all that you are. I am so proud of you.

There are people all around the world right now who are eating something and feeling bad about it.

It might be because they know its not a healthy thing to eat, or because they know it will make them gain weight, that it will exacerbate a health condition or sensitivity, that its source is not ethical or sustainable, that theyre eating something they dont enjoy, or maybe they even had to steal it because they didnt have the money to buy it.

Perhaps you also have had times like this where you ate something and didnt feel good about it? If youre like 80 per cent+ of the Western population, this might even be the story of your life.

How would it be if you could find a way of eating that nourished you on every level, that was comprised of foods that were a perfect fit for you in every way, that made you look and feel the way you want to look and feel, and that you knew that, no matter what you ate, you would always be able to feel at peace with, while the majority of the time you would easily and naturally make choices that felt 100 per cent great to you?

If this sounds like an impossible dream, then Im here to wake you up from your slumber.

Your first step to food freedom begins with understanding the single biggest factor in your eating and dietary patterns the one thing which, more than anything else, has created your food story, your body, your health, your eating habits and your energy levels.

That one defining factor is something totally within your control. Youve carried it about with you from the day you were born. You wont find it in a bottle, jar or diet book. Its not something youve learned, experienced or heard about from your neighbour.

Its not your blood type, your metabolic type or which part of the world you were born in, nor the first food you ever tasted.

No, the single biggest factor in your joy and your pain around food is closer than you think, so close in fact that you couldnt even see it until now

It took me over a decade to figure it out.

After coaching and speaking globally with thousands of men and women about their eating habits, it finally hit me:

There are different types of eater.

Specifically, Im talking eating styles or personalities, if you will. The part of you that you might call you but really has simply become your modus operandi because of a whole host of contributing factors which have shaped the food choices that you make today.

Each of these different types has individual ways of thinking, feeling and acting around food, for a whole host of varied reasons reasons which may not always serve our best interests and that often bring as much pain as they do pleasure.

Pretty fascinating, Im sure youll agree.

Allow me to explain.

Imagine that you are sitting in a restaurant and you witness a party of 10 diners take their seats and pick up a copy of the menu.

If you could mind-read and were to listen in on the thoughts of each diner in turn, you would be quite amazed at the diversity of inner monologues going on.

What you would hear as you moved around the table would be something like this: Im going to get the pasta and not have dessert because I want to be out of here as soon as possible. Im going to go for the fish in white wine sauce with fresh garlic potatoes and crusty bread and have the chocolate torte for dessert because Im feeling really naughty! Now, which of these looks like the healthiest meal on the menu? Ive totally had enough today. Im going to eat whatever I want and get drunk to boot yeah! Hmmm what can I see on here thats carb-free and has fewer than 500 calories? Which of these do I most fancy today? OK, now, where are the vegan options? What havent I eaten before? Im going to have THAT! I dont know what on Earth to choose Ugh. Whats great for sharing? Whos going to share with me? Any of these sound familiar? Perhaps you hear yourself, or some version of you, somewhere in there?

By eavesdropping on this fun and diverse group, youve just been introduced to the 10 different types of eater:

1. The Functional Eater
2. The Sensual Eater
3. The Intellectual Eater
4. The Emotional Eater
5. The Focused Eater
6. The Intuitive Eater
7. The Conscious Eater
8. The Experimental Eater
9. The Confused Eater
10. The Social Eater

Over the next few pages you are going to learn something really fascinating about yourself. Youre going to discover what type of eater YOU are.

It might be something you already feel you have a handle on, having learned a little about each type just now maybe merely seeing the names listed above has got you thinking, or, just as possible what you are about to discover might be incredibly enlightening to you.