Katherine Lawrence grew up in Louisiana and joined the Air Force after graduating from college as an Aerospace Engineer.  She served in the USAF for 4 years at locations including Pensacola, Florida, Ft. Walton Beach, FL, Wichita, KS, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia and Kirkuk, Iraq.  She later moved to Ft. Worth, Texas to work as an engineer at Bell Helicopter.  She has always had a passion for cooking and food - she made weekly meals for her classmates, troops and friends.  She was well-know for her strawberry cream cheese pie and chicken & sausage gumbo, two staples in her diet.

In 2006, Katherine began to have severe abdominal pain.  After several misdiagnoses over 5 months, her doctor determined she had severe endometriosis.  It had spread beyond her ovaries and fallopian tubes, and formed adhesions around her intestine.   Typically, endometriosis can leave scar tissue on the reproductive organs, sometimes leading to infertility.  Her doctor told her there was no cure for endometriosis and she must have surgery to remove it.  Furthermore, she would have to take medicine to put her into early menopause in order to keep it from coming back.  He also advised that she would eventually need a hysterectomy.

Inherently, she wasn't comfortable with this plan of attack...a friend mentioned to her "have you thought about what you eat?"...no, of course she hadn't because "there was no cure".  She eventually went to see a natural doctor who talked to her about nutrition.  He taught Katherine which foods can damage the reproductive system and which foods can help heal it.  On his recommendation, she removed meat, dairy and sugar from her diet.  It was a difficult transition, but she felt it was her only hope at avoiding surgery.

After 5 weeks on the new diet, she went in for the laproscopy.  The doctor saw evidence of the scarring and the adhesion around her colon, but 95% of the endometriosis was gone.  He was amazed!  Katherine stayed on the diet and started to notice wonderful changes taking place in her body.  First, the abdominal pain was no longer there.  Then, she started to get new hair growth on her head and her skin became clearer.  Her cholesterol dropped from 178 to 128, too!  After several months, the seven fibroid cysts she'd had in her breasts since puberty had dissolved.  While eating unlimited plant-based foods, she lost 40 pounds!  There was no going back for her.

Katherine began studying nutrition profusely and obtained her certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from eCornell University.  She also studied at the world-reknown Kushi Institute in Massachussetts.  In 2008, she was accepted to become an instructor for The Cancer Project, a national, non-profit in Washington, DC.  In 2009, Katherine received the "Most Active Instructor" award, teaching over 1200 students in Texas.  In 2010, she began filming cooking videos for Delectable Planet and will participate in a nationwide study with Geico to introduce plant-based eating to its employees. Her passion is empowering people to improve their health, their perspective and their lives through plant-based eating.

UPDATE! Katherine became pregnant naturally in 2010 and had a wonderful, healthy, vegan pregnancy.  She gave birth to a 9lb, 14oz baby boy in the Fall of 2011.  Through breastfeeding and feeding him whole, plant foods, he continues to thrive!  He has renewed her passion for this lifestyle and sharing information with others.  He gets excited when she fires up the blender to make their daily green smoothies and his favorite foods are quinoa, black beans, sweet potatoes and eggplant :)

Katherine is currently pregnant for the second time and looking forward to expanding her family later this year!