integrative dietitian & menstrual cycle educator
Krista King Larbi MS, RDN, LDN, IFCNP
Through my online practice, Composed Nutrition, I provide one-on-one coaching, online courses, and education to help you have better periods, symptomless cycles, and optimal fertility, naturally. I help you reconnect with your body’s wisdom for long-term symptom relief, without strict diet rules or complicated protocols. I am passionate about helping those who feel dismissed by conventional medicine find actual answers and solutions to their cycle and fertility struggles. My goal is to help you feel at home in your body again so you can pursue your dreams and passions without your symptoms and health issues getting in your way. My programs are designed to help those struggling with menstrual symptoms and hormonal chaos uncover their root causes and apply individualized healing strategies. You can find me on Instagram at @composednutrition, where I share simple nutrition and lifestyle strategies for happy hormones.
Reconnect with your cycle
I’m Krista, an integrative dietitian and cycle educator helping you have better periods and symptomless cycles through simple nutrition and lifestyle solutions!
I’m passionate about giving you the knowledge and tools to heal your hormones naturally.
Up to 90% of us are experiencing some sort of PMS or period symptoms. While you may feel like you’re suffering in silence, you are absolutely not alone.
But it can certainly feel that way when:
Our symptoms are written off as “normal”
We don’t feel like anyone is listening
We don’t think there is anything in our power that would make a difference anyway
We try manipulating our diets and workouts in a way that leaves us feeling restricted and defeated
All of the things we think we need to do in the name of “self-care” and “healing” turn into another stressful to-do list
I've seen the power of simple nutrition and lifestyle shifts on balancing your hormones and finally having symptomless cycles and I want you to be in on it too!
Let me support your journey to better periods!
1:1 PROGRAMS
HORMONE TESTING
ONLINE COURSE
“but how did you end up working with hormones and periods?”
I lost my mom to cancer when I was 18. I really don’t know what it would feel like to receive a breast cancer diagnosis right after a miraculous heart transplant recovery. Six plus years battling with a failing heart, a life-saving surgery, and then the dreaded word you never want to hear leave your doctor’s mouth: cancer.
The health and wellness world around 2008 was nothing like it is today, but she was always researching how to help her condition on all levels through food, mind-body practices, and spirituality. I learned early on the importance of being part of a connected community with like-minded people. That health is more than just our physical health.
Losing her fueled my passion to uncover and heal the root cause of chronic health conditions so that no one has to experience what she went through or losing someone too soon. I switched my major to dietetics and took my first step on the path to understanding the power of nutrition and lifestyle on our overall health..
You could say my passion for preventative and holistic health has always been my driving force in pretty much everything I do, but that’s not to say I haven’t had my own health detours along the way. When we go through something difficult in life we don’t always have the tools to know how to manage it. So we shove it down and hope it goes away.
I pushed away a lot of the pain of losing my mom away and plowed on through my early 20s the way a lot of us do - working hard and playing harder. Alcohol became a way to not deal with the pain, even though I didn't realize that's what I was doing at the time. It worked, until it just didn’t. We’re taught that pain is not meant to be felt.
On the outside everything seemed fine (that word we use when we’re usually not) - I had a good job, relationship, social life, apartment - but on the inside I just knew everything I wanted out of life was on the other side of drinking. The stress, blocked pain, lack of self-care, and not eating properly to support my body started showing up in my body as terrible anxiety, nutritional deficiencies, fatigue, heavy painful periods, and more. And I was done ignoring it.
Let me tell you, everything that drove you to your numbing tool of choice is still there waiting for you when you choose to stop numbing. There were a lot of things I had to work through and learn about myself.
At this point I was already a registered dietitian and had started a board certification program in functional and integrative nutrition to help combined the best of practices in the conventional health world with holistic and root cause approaches. I’m fascinated with uncovering the ‘why’. Why you are feeling this way or experiencing a health issue.
I quit my corporate job to start Composed Nutrition and working with 1:1 clients. I started seeing the same patterns over and over again: hormone imbalances, period symptoms, acne, hair loss, low energy, sleep issues, gut issues, fertility struggles, anxiety, and a strained relationship with food, body, and exercise.
And everyone had a similar story: their symptoms were written off as normal or “all in your head”, they were only offered medications or birth control, they felt like no one was listening or giving them actual answers, they were told to “come back if it gets worse”, and they were feeling frustrated and fed up with how conventional medicine was treating them and their symptoms.
This fueled my passion to specialize in hormone balance, menstrual health, and fertility.
At this point I was also navigating my own combination of seemingly disjointed and written off hormone and gut symptoms (caused by years of being disconnected from and not in tune with my body or symptoms, chronic stress, taking many rounds of antibiotics as a child, too much alcohol, cutting out meat for about 10 years, the list goes on).
Fascinated by all of the new functional and integrative health knowledge I was gaining I truly was my own guinea pig - trying all the supplements, diet recommendations, lab tests, products, you name it, to heal with a root cause approach. To my surprise - I was not getting better. In fact, I was feeling worse.
I was experiencing stomachaches after eating almost anything, chronic fatigue, heavy, painful periods. And with all of the diet recommendations to “cut this out for X and cut this out for Y”, my relationship with food was getting … not great. I was following complicated protocols, taking tons of supplements, and feeling like if I follow this perfectly then I will get better.
Why wasn’t I getting better? Well, I was a bit burned out from starting my business and on top of that I wasn’t focused on simple foundations or actually managing stress or regulating my nervous system. And I was symptom chasing, focusing too much on protocols, supplements, and wellness trends instead of the basics, how I FEEL, and what actually is helping me (versus what the protocol says should help).
And then… I got diagnosed with a possible endometrioma (a blood-filled cyst on the ovaries, can be seen with endometriosis) after experiencing some chronic pelvic pain. Why possible? Because endometriosis can only be diagnosed with a laparoscopic surgery and my doctor said the cyst was not big enough to recommend surgery, but based on the ultrasound it is likely an endmetrioma.
This was a turning point. At first I felt frustrated - I have this vague diagnosis and some next steps, but I’ve been doing so much for my health that I just felt d.o.n.e. But then something shifted. I knew I had to approach this differently and that the power was within me. I have the tools. I just need to focus on simplicity, nourishment, actual rest, versus a random protocol rooted in restriction and rigid rules.
This is why I’m so passionate about combining the best of conventional and integrative health while putting a heavy emphasis on getting back to basics, core foundations (food, movement, sleep, mindset & stress management), all with a focus on intuitive health and tapping into what work best for your body without strict rules, complicated protocols, and lists of foods you can’t eat.
you are the expert of your own body.
EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS
MS: Master of Science in Dietetics + Dietetic Internship, Loyola University Chicago
BS: Bachelor of Science in Dietetics + Health Promotion Specialization, Michigan State University
RDN: Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Commission on Dietetic Registration
LDN: Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist: Illinois, Florida, Maryland
IFNCP: Integrative and Functional Nutrition Certified Practitioner (IFNA)
NASM-CPT: Certified Personal Trainer, National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)
FEMM Teacher: female reproductive health & cycle charting, Fertility Education & Medical Management (FEMM)
