From engineer to nutritionist: a science-backed approach to wellness.
By Selen Gulbahce
6 min read
As featured in Hip & Healthy
I didn't set out to become a nutritionist. I trained as a computer engineer. The method that thousands of women now follow began as a problem I was trying to solve for one person — me.
The diet advice that made me worse
I grew up in Turkey's Mediterranean region, on fresh, whole, simple food. Then, at twenty-one, I went to study in the United States — and the standard Western diet took a real toll. I gained weight quickly, my digestion fell apart, the bloating was relentless, and my confidence went with it.
So I did what everyone is told to do. I cut carbs. I skipped meals. I counted calories. And the harder I restricted, the worse I felt — lower energy, the same bloating, no results. That was the moment it clicked: the conventional advice wasn't just failing me, it was making things worse.
So I treated my body like a system
I went back to the one thing I knew how to do: I treated my body like a system to be understood, not a problem to be punished. I researched, I tracked, I optimised. I read into biochemistry, gut health and inflammation, and instead of cutting things out I focused on balancing pH, calming inflammation, and supporting digestion with alkaline and Mediterranean principles.
Within two months I lost thirty pounds, my energy came back, and the gut issues that had followed me for years simply disappeared. For the first time, I felt in control of my own body.
Friends noticed. Then family. Then strangers. I qualified as a nutritionist while still working in corporate, and the coaching quietly grew until it out-earned my salary. So I left engineering behind — and never looked back.
Balance is strategy, not restriction
Most diets fail for the same reason: they rely on cutting food groups and white-knuckle willpower, which leads straight to cravings and the exhausting yo-yo cycle. Balance is the opposite. It runs on strategy, not willpower — you work with your body instead of against it.
That's the foundation of the Alka-Terranean® method. Instead of eliminating the foods you love, you balance them with alkaline, anti-inflammatory foods that ease digestion and support your metabolism. A more acid-producing meal isn't a failure; it's a cue for what comes next.
Gut health is the foundation
Gut health is everything. It underpins metabolism, immunity, energy, skin and mood — almost nothing in the body is disconnected from it. The fix is rarely to subtract. More often it's to add: more alkaline, anti-inflammatory foods to counterbalance the acidic ones, so digestion stays smooth and steady.
What intuitive eating really means
Intuitive eating, to me, is self-trust — listening to your body, understanding what it needs, and feeding it in a way that supports both how you feel and where you want to go. But there's a catch people miss: if you constantly feel sluggish, bloated or inflamed, that isn't intuition. That's imbalance. Real intuition pulls you toward the foods that help you thrive, not away from them.
It's also why I don't believe in rigid, restrictive diets for most people. Keto, veganism, fasting — they each have their place, but most of us can't sustain them, and so they quietly become just another diet to fail at.
The method I built for myself, now in your pocket.
For years my method lived in a coaching practice and a Turkish platform with thousands of members. alkaterra is the next step: the same Alka-Terranean® principles, as a coach you can talk to every day. No rules, no tracking, no guilt.
Get alkaterra on iPhoneAdapted from Selen Gulbahce's interview with Hip & Healthy. Wellness coaching, not medical advice — results vary, and you should consult a healthcare provider for medical questions.