Karoline Mueller has struggled with obesity and depression for decades while she obtained her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Houston. In 2011, she decided to start actively searching for help, to not only combat her struggles, but also to support a friend who had triple bypass surgery. In 2015, she acquired her certification as a Food for Life instructor, teaching plant-based cooking and eating for optimal health, cancer prevention, diabetes, and weight loss. Currently she’s a member of a plantpure community and teaches cooking classes at Lifestyle Docs. Today, she joins Carrie Miller to share her story and talk about a healthy plant-based diet from personal experience.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Food For Life: Going Plant-Based For Optimal Health With Karoline Mueller

I am so excited about our guest. I truly believe her story will be a blessing to you, maybe a family member or even a close friend. Our guest has struggled with obesity and depression for decades, while she obtained her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Houston. In 2011, she decided to start actively searching for help to not only combat her struggles but also to support a friend who had triple bypass surgery. In 2015, she acquired her certification as a Food for Life Instructor, teaching plant-based, cooking and eating for optimal health, cancer prevention, diabetes and weight loss. She’s a member of a plant pure community and teaches cooking classes at Lifestyle Docs. She’s originally from Germany. She has a great little accent that lives right here in Houston, Texas. Welcome to the show, Karoline Mueller.

Thank you for having me. It’s a real pleasure to be here with you.

How are you? It’s a great pleasure to meet you in person. I know we talked on the phone and all, but we’re happy you’re here because this is the first interview in the whole-foods plant-based series and I’m grateful you’re here to tell your story and share with our audience your expertise in this intriguing dietary lifestyle. We’re always looking for the key that unlocks the door for us individually.

There are many ideas out there and it’s getting a little tricky to sift through. I spent years trying to figure out what I should be eating, especially with being severely obese. At one point, I weigh 240 pounds and I’m only 5’4 foot. My thing was always, it feels like an addiction but if I was smoking cigarettes, I knew what to do. I knew that quitting would be the best thing to do. If I can do it or not, I would know that’s the best thing to do. I know several people spend time with them so their transition’s coming to that point of not knowing that quitting is the only thing. One of my friends in my childhood did it several times because it’s hard. I get how hard the addiction is, but there’s food I have to eat. What is this? What is going on? It took me years to finally understood that food that is more food-like substances and actual food is what triggers me into this addiction and because I have this very long history. For me, it started when I was three years old.

Let’s start out by giving the readers a glimpse of your world. What it was like to be in your shoes when you were struggling with this obesity and depression? I know it’s hard to go back and talk about it or think about it, but it can help someone else.

Even though it was my body and my experience, I was a baby. I have to go back to family law. The story was that when I was three months old, something happened and I kept vomiting. I didn’t keep any food in me, not enough and I lost weight.