Show #255 – The Alchemy of Nourishment with Esther Cohen

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And on this week’s show!

Ever wanted to develop a deeper understanding of food and ourselves through the foods we eat? Today we explore intuitive eating with nutritionist and herbalist Esther Cohen and I promise you, you will feel less anxious and doubtful in your relationship to food if either of these is currently in your psyche. We talk:

Growing up with the wrong nutritional start
Social pressures from media and culture in our teens and young adulthood
Disordered eating – warning signs, ways to move through and beyond it
Intuition and knowing when it’s the ‘good kind’ and not cravings from dysbiosis
Eastern philosophy and food and what the west can learn from the 4 directions
Energetics of food and how we can look at physical symptoms and the foods we’re eating, make tweaks and help the body find balance.
How the gratitude we bring to food can ensure it’s well received, even when not ideal.
Cultural foods and how the answer lies in traditional cultures to find our road back to health.
Card carrying eating – how our diet orientation and labels stop us from eating for the planet and deep healing and health in the body and mind
The key things that will bring us back into balance and regeneration, body and planet.

It is such a rich conversation about food and Esther imparts so much wisdom. I hope you love it.

Questions I asked Esther:

What has your personal relationship with food looked like over time before settling into what it is now and how you support your clients?
Why do you think we look for the answer about what to eat ‘out there’ so much? Is it a disconnection from nature/the natural world in urban areas so we are a bit lost and seeking answers? Something else?
When it comes to the psychology of eating – what do you see as some of the major challenges out there these days for people?
You co-wrote Colorado’s first disordered eating program – what are some of the earliest warning signs that this might be a problem for people? How as parents can we implement a preventative strategy when it comes to food psychology to mitigate the risk of disordered eating developing?
Talking about intuitive eating, with so many people experiencing gut dysbiosis or, say, fungal overgrowths such as candida or mould, having parasites and not knowing… often we’re eating what all of those things are telling us to if we listen, and those guys pretty much all want sugar and carbs so what needs correcting before intuitive eating can really become a healthy, loving connection to seasonal, whole foods?
How do we know when we need to address a craving or whether it needs to be tough love and cracking down on pantry browsing?
What are the top reasons people overeat or eat too often?
What are we tapping into when we switch from ‘available all the time’ to truly seasonal eating?
How can we develop a loving connection with food instead of a ‘this is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ shame label and unhealthy self-talk around food?
What do you think of calorie restriction, elimination diets, choosing a ‘type of diet’ ie vegan, paleo, keto, macro etc?
Are food diaries useful in some cases on the road to building a healthier connection to food?

About Esther:

Esther’s mission is simple: to give you the tools you need to heal yourself, or stay healthy, and to live the life your soul longs to live. She has over 30 years of experience, helping thousands of clients understand how the consciousness held in the body and organs influences physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. Esther is the author of Alchemy of Nourishment: The Art, Science, and Magic of Eating as well as many nutritional guides and articles and has taught extensively at numerous colleges and universities including Naropa University, University of Colorado, and Southwest Acupuncture College.

As a pioneer in the field of the psychology of eating, she spent years working with eating disorders and addiction, and co-designed the first eating disorders program at Kaiser Permanente, Colorado, and is the founder and director of the Nourishment Education Foundation(501C3), and the Seven Bowls School of Nutrition, Nourishment, and Healing.

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