Helping people get smart on what they eat
Champion of the gluten-free lifestyle, cookbook author walks the talk
OTTAWA — When she appeared on the Dr. Oz show a year ago, Kathy Smart wore a blouse she bought second-hand to keep herself grounded. No matter the accolades — and they are almost too many to mention — she never wants to forget where she came from.
Considered North America’s leading expert on gluten-free diet and nutrition, Smart, a pint-sized spitfire, is everywhere these days. The Ottawa-based woman just landed an on-air and writing job with Global TV and speaks constantly around the globe at health expos and conferences. Within the next month, she’ll launch her first line of gluten-free products. With almost 20 per cent of North Americans sensitive to gluten, the market certainly appears ripe for her products.
“People are often shocked to learn I’m from Ottawa. They think I live in Los Angeles,” says Smart, who went to a private Christian boarding school while her parents, who were ministers and missionaries, were off doing good deeds.
“My parents opened up a church to help alcoholics and single moms. Growing up, my vacation would be spent on the streets of New York City or Mexico handing out blankets to people.”
Smart was a sickly child, and when she was 12, her mother took her to a naturopathic doctor who diagnosed her celiac disease.
“My life changed in a week. Once I altered what I eat, I started reading everything I could. I knew this is why I’m here. This is my purpose.”
When she was 19 and working as an assistant manager at a national grocery store, she started placing orders for gluten-free products. From there, she became a holistic chef, nutritionist and personal trainer, opened her own private nutrition practice and started working for the city of Ottawa.
In 2006, she came out with her first cookbook called Smart Kitchen and updated it two years later. When she and her husband found out they couldn’t have children, she turned to producing a more substantial cookbook. She remortgaged her home and hired a food photographer and editor.
In 2011, Live the Smart Way Gluten Free Cookbook was published and became a bestseller in Canada. She landed her own show on RogersTV about gluten-free living and was named the “most powerfulwomanin2012”bytheNext Big Thing magazine, a sister publication of Time Vision.
“All sorts of things were happening at once. I was named the national health activist in Canada and won a leading women’s award in Ontario. One Saturday morning, I got a call out of the blue from a producer with the Dr. Oz show. They asked if I could appear with him on Monday! I flew down the next day.”
After the appearance (where she got to do yoga and hug him), cookbook sales soared. She came out with a second edition almost immediately, adding 50 more pages with detailed recipes and photos within a week.
“It was crazy. I was named CTV’s most amazing person. I took a difficult situation and turned it around.”
Smart hopes her line of bars, breads and cereals will one day line store shelves across North America. All the products are made in Ottawa at a manufacturing plant owned by the Natural Food Pantry.
Smart has
also
just launched an online course called Live the Smart Way, which includes all of her recipes, hours of video and nutrition courses on the basics of healthy eating. The course is $500 and details are covered on her website livethesmartway.com.
“I offer free webinars all the time. I can’t believe that I’ll have more than 1,000 people tuning in from around the world to take part. I do it in my pyjamas from home.”
Smart makes all of her recipes. “I grew up on secondhand clothes and don’t have a fancy kitchen marble countertop. I keep things real. Anyone can cook and change their lives — you don’t have to be super rich.”
She has more than 14,000 Twitter followers and constantly posts basic exercise regimens to get people moving.
“I’ll do 10 squats while talking on the phone. The plan is not to overwhelm people. The better you eat, the more energy you’ll have.”