About Karin Kratina

About Dr. Karin Kratina, RDN, LDN, SEP

Karin is a nationally recognized nutrition therapist, author and speaker who is known for her groundbreaking work with intuitive eating and eating disorders.  She is a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist with advanced degrees in exercise physiology, gender studies and cognitive anthropology. Karin also has extensive training in Somatic Experiencing and the Enneagram. She has lectured internationally and is well published, having written books, multiple book chapters and articles.

As a leader in the intuitive eating movement, Karin has trained thousands of nutritionists and other health care professionals to use this approach to heal eating and weight issues. Karin co-wrote one of the the first professional book published on this topic, Moving Away From Diets, in 1996, with a second edition published in 2003.

Her passion, for over 40 years, has been to help others break free of food issues and discover a sense of peace and freedom around eating. Learn about her experience and education, her writings and professional speaking, and also why she devoted her life to intuitive eating / nondiet work at those links. Short version below. 

More Knowledge Did Not Help Me

I've been helping those with eating problems since the 80s; however, I was well acquainted with eating issues before then. A Bachelors in nutrition and Master's in exercise physiology did little to heal my own eating problems. In fact,  it made them worse. Ironically, it was not until I turned my back on that education that I was able to end my food and weight struggles. (You can read about my story if you're interested.)

Because of my own struggles, and the struggles of my clients who have often been trying to follow traditional eating and weight management approaches, I developed and entirely different approach to healing eating and weight problems. Others were discovering the same thing and this approach was given the name "intuitive eating" in 1996, in the book of the same name. 

My Professional Path

It seems I always want to learn more, and have attended many  conferences and trainings over the years collaborating with experts in the field. I have lectured at many professional conferences, and have written numerous  books, book chapters and articles, including the first professional book on intuitive eating, Moving Away from Diets. 

I developed nutrition and exercise services at The Renfrew Center of Florida, one of the first eating disorder treatment facilities, and worked at 2 eating disorder treatment facilities prior to that, receiving extensive training and experience, for which I am forever grateful. Since that time I have been a consultant for numerous eating disorder facilities, including the University of Florida.

Always seeking new ways to help others (and myself), I have trained in numerous alternative therapies. One of the most powerful and helpful has been somatic therapy.

My PhD in Symbolic Anthropology focused on women's relationship with food and body in our culture. The resultant lengthy dissertation proved my theory that emotional eating and body image issues can be "decoded" to discover underlying issues. I use this decoding process in my work. 

With a strong background in psychology for over 30 years, I also spent 15 years studying the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. Then, in 2003, I found the Enneagram of Personality and have attended over 700 hours of trainings, becoming a Certified Enneagram Teacher. and I’m fascinated by how accurate the personality descriptions are, showing individuals motivations, fears and needs, and use information to help clients make the changes they seek.

On a More Personal Note

Although I refuse to "exercise," (click here to find out why), I love to water ski, folk dance, and am an avid mountain biker. Okay, well maybe it's really "trail riding" in Florida, but I also travel out west to ride.

My favorite mountain bike park outside of Florida is Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah. Here is a picture of a "singletrack" trail among the Quaking Aspen in Deer Valley. 

And here I am at Whistler in Vancouver taking a break from a downhill mountain bike camp called Summer Gravity Camp. 

Their motto: Never Too Old To Learn New Tricks. Hmmm.

I'm in the middle. On the right is downhill champion, and our coach, Katrina Strand. On the left is Megan, who flew in from China to attend the camp. 

And, here at my favorite Florida mountain bike trail, the Cross Florida Greenway Santos Trail System--with Logan in 2008. Santos is a wonderful network of over 40 miles of off-road trails just south of Ocala.

This picture was from an article published in the Ocala Star-Banner about the trails. 

My motto? Forget the exercise and go have fun!