Late afternoon sunlight pours through the glass windows of The Ludlow New York City hotel, illuminating Kimberly Odom’s high-rise suite.
She didn’t check into such luxurious digs, with a sweeping view of the skyline of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, for interviews because of her former job as a cheerleader for the New York Jets. She got here by building a professional and personal brand called The Beauty Fox into a force in her industry.
The Beauty Fox is built on the premise that everything you put into your body can either hurt or heal you – a lesson Odom learned the hard way.
When she turned 26, she realized she needed a life change, running low on energy as she split her time working as a cheerleader and a news reporter.
“I was really burning the candle at both ends. I was up at 12 A.M. to 1 A.M. to report on stories, if I was lucky,” says Odom. “I’d burnt myself out with my lifestyle, drinking sugar free Red Bulls every single day and not sleeping.”
During her burnout, she dealt with brain fog, cystic acne, hair loss, and falling asleep at the desk. The prescriptions she received from doctors weren’t helping. “It would be like, here’s that medicine for narcolepsy,” Odom describes. “Or, here’s more Adderall for more energy.’”
But her world shifted when she tried visiting an integrative medicine doctor. Using a more holistic approach, he detected her body’s imbalances and adrenal fatigue.
“Instead of looking at the problems, integrative or functional medicine looks at what was causing the problems — the underlying issues – [he focused on] the ‘mind-body-spirit’ of what was going on.” says Odom. “Versus just diagnosing you and not really getting to the bottom of what’s going on.”
Odom dove into nutrition research head on, fixing her condition through eating a plant-based diet and cleaning up her lifestyle over the course of about 6 months. She found a new invigoration and a new passion.
“Screw news, I want to let go and help people!” Odom says she thought. So, The Beauty Fox was born.
“The Beauty Fox is an extension of who I am and what I love teaching,” Odom writes on her site. On Instagram, she shares her health adventures of breaking up with coffee, drinking alkalized water, and making recipes with food that fuels her mind and body.
After spending five years honing her craft in the fields of nutrition, wellness and functional medicine, Odom shares her expertise on shows like Dr. Oz and Chris Powell. Off-camera, she treats clients ranging from country music stars, athletes, and businessmen to moms, but her promise is the same to all of them: Take her tools into your hands and she’ll transform how you look and feel.
But how do her principles hold up in the high-stress corporate world? RealClearLife put her philosophy to the test in a recent sit-down interview.
RCL: Do you see any common issues or any advice for people in rigorous office jobs?
KO: The number one thing I see is abusing coffee and stimulants. Shift the mindset from creating your energy by pouring caffeine and other stimulants into your body, to finding natural sources of energy.
RCL: How do you find natural sources of energy?
KO: So, that comes down to supplementation and carving out time in the day for exercise. Find time in the day for exercise, whether it’s taking 30 minutes during your lunch break to take a walk or taking a class before work. Working out goes back to producing those healthy neurotransmitters and endorphins. Endorphins are like a happiness drug. But the fitness aspect is only 10% of it. The piece of the puzzle that we really have to get behind is nutrition and eating to take down inflammation.
RCL: Any specific foods that you generally avoid?
KO: Whenever you start cutting out inflammatory foods like sugar, meat, and dairy, you’re immediately going to notice that you have more energy and your sleep is better. Maybe even your libido is back, because nothing dampers the fire more than steak and sugar.
RCL: When your clients are stressed, do you think they make poorer diet and wellness decisions?
KO: You can be eating completely healthy, but also be super stressed and notice that you’re still gaining weight. It’s a combination of your body not absorbing nutrients from food due to stress and storing it as fat, or from water retention. So yes, emotional eating and stress both cause problems.
RCL: What are some ways to curb stress?
KO: Meditation, prayer or exercise are the top things that are going to help balance your stress. I always chuckle when somebody says they have no time to meditate. You don’t have 10 minutes to meditate, but you have 10 minutes to watch TV or scroll on Instagram? Try meditation apps like Headspace or Calm.
Do yoga. We stare at our phones for the majority of the day, far more than we communicate and connect with people. I think your life is going to change a hundred percent if you spend 30 to 45 minutes being in your own body with your breath, focusing on that mental clarity and doing something positive for yourself. If you can just get your booty in a workout class or do yoga, that’s going to serve you long term in much bigger broader ways than staying at work for 30 more minutes. The world’s not going to end, it will be there when you get through!
At night time, something big I do to prevent my sleep cycle from being disturbed and help with getting proper sleep is to put my phone on airplane mode to block WIFI signals and free radicals.
Also CBD oil, which I use before bed every night for anxiety that comes about after work . Getting rid of stimulants, exercising, and using CBD oil all helps with anxiety. CBD comes in all different dosages, if any of your readers are interested in learning more they should DM me on Instagram.
What would you say your overall message is on social media?
KO: The #1 reason that I’m on social is to help educate and to help inform. There might be an occasional bikini photo on there, because yes, that’s part of my life too. I like being at the beach. But my main focus is creating content that feeds the soul, that helps people with whatever health issues they have. Expect accessible, easy to understand information when it comes to diet, exercise, and health.
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