COVER STORY
h a or b e D h g a t r u M
Deborah’s Sweet Truths WORDS VANESSA FINNIGAN PHOTO NEIL GUSSEY
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ave you struggled to lose weight and keep it off over the years? Internationally acclaimed researcher and ketogenic expert, Deborah Murtagh from New Zealand, has facilitated countless women all over the world to be empowered and create a new life with her famous Ketogenic Switch program. Deborah has lived experience with body image and weight issues. “I was dragged off to Weight Watchers at 13 years of age. And it’s part of why
I became an international women’s weight loss coach,” she said. Her early experiences were a catalyst for change and, in turn, she has become an inspiration for others. Deborah’s journey with the ketogenic diet began 25 years ago when she started studying the principles of nutritional ketosis, which had been around for over 100 years. Ketosis is when your body starts burning fat instead of carbohydrates, and she started using these principles in her clinic, working with women who were trying to lose weight. But it wasn’t
until her middle daughter was born in January 2000, suffering from food intolerances and petit mal seizures in her highchair while eating at 10 months old that Deborah really searched for solutions. That’s when she ramped up her research, discovering positive links between ketogenic living and epilepsy management in children. “That’s how I become an expert in nutritional ketosis, I was one of those obsessed mothers. Gluten and homogenised dairy were also having an impact on my daughter’s brain and health.” Today, Deborah and her three
