Katy Clark hosts cooking classes for kids. Photos courtesy of Fit Chef Katy.
By Jack Mapes | The 17th Century French poet Jean de La Fontaine once said, “a person meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”
But Katy Clark is special in that she has avoided nothing, and yet has still met her destiny as a practical, solution-oriented health and fitness expert.
Known to many as Fit Chef Katy, the Long Beach native, former Ms. Long Beach and proud mother of three blended her expertise to include both nutrition and exercise, thus producing her own unique brand.
In addition to preaching the part, living the part and looking the part of a health and fitness coach, Clark has, for some time been sharing the part through her Fit.Whole.Beautiful program that helps women obtain self-confidence by changing the habits that hold them back.
“The concept is living fit, eating whole, and being beautiful,” Clark says. “The program is in essence a community of women choosing health for ourselves, our families, and each other.”
Clark’s interest in exercise started early, dating all the way back to her 3rd grade year when she began running 5ks. Her passion for running continued through high school, earning her a track-and-field scholarship at the University of California, Irvine.
After graduation, Clark’s ambitions continued to grow and stretch. In fact, they stretched 6,515 miles—all the way to Kumming, China, where Clark completed what she considers to be her greatest accomplishment—opening her own restaurant specializing in gourmet American fare.
Back in the States, however, Clark is not only a restaurateur, but also a personal motivator for women like her who juggle family life with staying healthy.
“Being a busy mom of three, I understand how hard it is to keep health a priority for ourselves and our families. That’s why busy women and children are so dear to my heart,” she says.
And the honoring of this family lifestyle with the aim of being a role model in health and fitness makes Clark an authentic lifestyle and fitness coach.
Clark thrives off working with women. And in her opinion, a woman’s success has nothing to do with the outside environment and has everything to do with internal work.
“I feel I understand a woman’s body and the pressures and stresses they face. I love to motivate them to taking responsibility for their health, and guiding them to succeed,” she says. “With fitness, no tuck, suck, or 1-800 number is going to help you earn the self-respect that you need to get the pounds off and keep it off. Hard work is what works.”
Clark also works with children, tackling the hard-to-reach issue of childhood obesity by bridging the gap between what many schools teach about nutrition and what the real world really presents.
“I have offered catering, meal planning and cooking classes, healthy shopping lists and lessons on the dreaded kitchen ‘crack-down’. I am also a certified personal trainer and love to create a ‘can-do’ personalized workout for all my clients.”
When asked how she could influence health and fitness city wide, she explained why schools should be open to letting outside experts teach cooking classes.
“It’s amazing the kind of influence kids can be to their families when they are educated in a fun and inspiring way to make healthy choices,” she says.