OKC doctor teachers women how to change their lifestyles for better health 

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• Tabatha Carr

As a child growing up in the Deep South, Tabatha Carr devoured bowls of cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream as an after-school snack. At the dinner table, Carr was served decadent Paula Deen-style meals. When her family moved from Georgia to Enid, Carr found her new Oklahoma friends also ate dishes dolled up with gravies and fried meats and vegetables. By the age of 16, struggling with weight and beginning to encounter serious health issues, Carr began taking blood pressure medicine. Years later, as a young woman with a desire to lose weight, she tried every fad diet from Atkins to cabbage soup. Around the first of the year, New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or exercise were made but broken a few weeks later. In her 30s, Carr’s physician gave her two options: surgery or medication. Carr finally told herself enough is enough.

“I said, ‘It’s up to me. I control my health. I control my life,’” Carr said.

No longer did she turn to fad diets or trendy workout routines. Her approach involved eating a variety of foods for daily nutrients, watching what types of fat she consumed, drinking plenty of water and other lifestyle changes. She also reflected on her past, forgiving herself for old decisions and trusting in fad diets.

“The changes didn’t happen overnight because it doesn’t work that way,” Carr said. “I got better. I didn’t have surgery. I wasn’t put on medication. That’s when I knew what my plan was.”

Although Carr had wanted to practice medicine when she started college, she pursued a master’s degree in business administration health care after her baccalaureate science degree. After her own health journey, Carr sought the practice of naturopathic medicine, which combines the wisdom of nature with the rigors of modern science. Naturopathic doctors teach clients to use diet, exercise, lifestyle changes and natural therapies to enhance their bodies’ abilities to ward off aliments, according to the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

Following her training, about three years ago, Carr began her practice, Bulivian Natural Resources. She is on a mission to transform the lives of women who suffer from weight management, hormonal imbalance, blood sugar imbalance, digestion issues and more.

“I help women that are stressed and don’t have the energy and the vitality they used to,” Carr said. “Often, we try to get better by losing weight, but we just focus on diet or exercise. A lot of my clients tend to lose 10 to 15 pounds, but they gain it back. It’s a cycle. That’s because they’ve missed the mental and the spiritual aspect, the holistic view.”

Carr’s love of helping women get healthy brings her to her next quest. This fall, she is conducting free monthly workshops focused on women’s health issues. The first, Living and Loving Life, begins 6 p.m. Tuesday at Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma, 6100 N. Robinson Ave. Participants can expect to hear about hormones, weight, energy and blood sugar, leaving with lifestyle tips they can be implemented immediately to improve health.

Education is the missing piece in health, said Carr, who explained many of her clients don’t understand the relationship between lifestyle factors and eating habits and various health outcomes.

“This is truly for women who have been struggling,” Carr said. “They’ve struggled all their life and it’s just not working. … I am talking to that person, the person who is ready, fed up and doesn’t know what to do. They don’t know what their next step is because they’ve tried it all.”

print headline: Passing knowledge, An Oklahoma City naturopathic doctor is teaching women how to change their lifestyles for better health.