Keren Chen on standing out and staying healthy
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Young Women in Business Toronto (YWiB) aims to provide our diverse community of young, self-identified women with genuine career advice, encouragement, and examples of local role models. That's why, for the next few months, we’ll be interviewing both career professionals and entrepreneurs our community can be inspired by and learn from.
Hi, Keren! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your career path?
My name is Keren (pronounced like Corinne) and I operate Keren Chen Wellness - a nutrition practice geared towards mindful athletes who are looking to improve performance in and out of their training.
The term “mindful athlete” can sound a little pretentious, but I mean for it to be inclusive - it is just referring to anyone who is using fitness as a form of personal development and self-care. I think this can apply to people of different demographics and sports but what they share is this pursuit for growth and mindful living. I have worked with all kinds of athletes, from the busy corporate professionals to new moms to competitors in CrossFit, Powerlifting, Triathlons, ultramarathons, etc.
I went to school for dietetics in an accredited university program. However, I decided to break away from the public health system and registered dietitian title to build an independent practice. This has allowed me to incorporate elements of holistic nutrition and functional medicine into my research and science background to create a truly authentic approach to nutrition.
It has been about 5 years in the making and I absolutely adore what I do. I can’t imagine dedicating my life to anything else right now.
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It’s so good to hear you adore what you do. Sounds like you made an excellent career choice when you opened your own business! What advice would you have for other young self-identified women who are looking to get into the nutrition sector?
One of the most common questions I get from newer nutritionists is, “how do you stand out in such a saturated field?” The best advice I had ever received regarding that is from Tom Bilyeu who said “there is always room at the top for the best”. This pertains to everything.
Tom Bilyeu […] said “There is always room at the top for the best.”
Every industry is saturated; clothing, food, entertainment, apps… so the best way to stand out in nutrition is to constantly work on your ability to help other people with their nutrition. This could mean educating yourself on the latest science and research in nutrition, practicing interpersonal skills, learning how to empathize and how to listen, reading up on the psychology of food or the issues of food security… there are endless ways to be a better nutritionist. If that feels tedious and awful to you, then you may be in the wrong field.
Find a career path that makes endless learning feel exciting.
Some may say they are too busy to eat healthy/workout, or that they'll focus on these things later in life. What would you say to these women?
This is quite common, especially in big cities with fast-paced lifestyles. The hustle and bustle often take precedence over self-care and being present in the moment. It’s built into the systems and cultures we live in so I completely understand why this mentality exists and persists.
I often have to remind myself that, “if I don’t have health, then I don’t have anything”. It’s one of the top 7 lessons I mentioned in the first episode of my podcast because it is the foundation of my outlook on life. It doesn’t matter if I am traveling in a beautiful place or if I live in a beautiful house or if I am making lots of money if I am ill or feeling like hot garbage. The absence of health puts a damper on all the material and even emotional wins in your life.
If I don’t have health, then I don’t have anything. [Because] the absence of health puts a damper on all the material and even emotional wins in your life.
Think about a time where you had the worst food poisoning or a terrible flu and how hard it was to think about anything else outside of how awful you feel. I think poor health can show up in more insidious ways that we have grown to accept as part of our “normal”, such as indigestion, skin issues, headaches, low energy, or intense sugar cravings.
How does nutrition and taking care of our bodies impact our careers?
Well, to put it simply, you are literally what you eat. Your cells, your tissues, your organs, your bones... everything is made of chemical substances and most of these are acquired through your diet. The protein, carbs, and fats that you eat are broken down and absorbed to be used as building blocks for all the things that make you, YOU.
When you choose nutritious, healthful foods, you are choosing to build a strong, energized, empowered body that can carry out impactful and meaningful work.
Our bodies are our vessels to change the world. Most of us business people value our phones and our laptops (I would die if I lost my phone or broke my macbook), but our most valuable business asset is our brain/body. Why wouldn’t you want to take good care of it?
You also host a podcast and have a YouTube channel. What is the content you've created there that has resonated the most with other young professional women?
I am fortunate to be surrounded by incredibly smart and inspiring women. I know from them that professional women appreciate knowledge when it comes to making changes in their lives. They don’t follow advice blindly, they want to know the whys and hows. They believe in long lasting change and wisdom rather than try yo-yo diets or extreme and misinformed nutrition advice.
The content I make on my podcast and YouTube channel are meant to educate and empower critical thinking in nutrition, self-care, our sense of selves, and our worthiness as human beings. I also make an effort to present the psycho-emotional connections between our food choices and how we approach everything else in life. For instance, if you are feeling out of control around certain foods, in what other ways do you feel a lack of control? How can you take back control of your nutrition and other areas of your life?
Connect with Keren: Instagram Website Podcast
Keren Chen is a nutritionist in Toronto, Canada who graduated Nutrition and Food Science from Ryerson University's accredited Dietitians of Canada program. She incorporates elements of holistic nutrition and functional medicine with her science background to help mindful athletes overcome physical and mental hurdles to improve their performance in and out of the gym.