Food is so much more than nutrition.

When we eat, our bodies don’t just absorb nutrients and move on.

The act of eating is a complex experience, and it involves a lot more than just giving our cells energy (although of course giving them *enough* energy is essential, otherwise you end up in this situation).

Food is also about satisfaction and socialization and community.

It’s about pleasure and flavor and tradition.

It’s about creativity and connection.

It’s about SO much more than the nutrients. In fact, nutrition is just one small paragraph in the story of how food has functioned throughout human history. 

But The Wellness Diet—the modern guise of diet culture that pretends to be all about “wellness”—looks at food only in terms of nutrition, of physical health.

That completely misses the major role that food plays in mental health and well-being.

This negation of the mental and emotional aspects of food belies The Wellness Diet’s claim to be about “holistic” health.

*True* holistic health means considering your mental well-being just as much as you do your physical health. 

If your mentality about food and movement makes you feel obsessive and anxious rather than nourished, then I don’t care how much kale you’re eating, you’re NOT actually supporting your health.

That’s what this week’s episode of Food Psych is all about.

It's a repost of one of our all-time fan favorites, in which religious scholar Alan Levinovitz and I discuss how diet culture turns nutrition into a religion, totally negating the mental and emotional aspects of health.

We also discuss why “food as medicine” prescriptions should come with a warning label just like medications, why you don’t need to listen to diet culture’s fearmongering about gluten, and so much more.

Check it out here to see why this is one of our most beloved episodes of all time, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Here’s to TRULY holistic health, 
Christy

P.S. If you’re ready to heal your relationship with food and your body, come check out my intuitive eating online course and community. It’ll help you break free from diet culture, so that you can care for your well-being in a real way—mind, body, and soul.