Is Our Obsession with Healthy Eating Actually Healthy? All things Orthorexia, and the Food Stress + Nervous System Connection with Natasha Snapper
Is society's obsession with eating healthy, checking food labels, avoiding processed foods and stressing over ingredients actually healthy? Or could it be making us sicker? Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor (and social worker!) Natasha Snapper joins Savana for a fascinating episode where they discuss when healthy eating becomes orthorexia and the impacts of the healthy eating craze on mental health, physical health and the nervous system.
You won’t want to miss this episode, because Savana and Natasha discuss the research findings on the health outcomes of countries who have less dieting behaviour than those in North America (your mind will be blown!), where the research falls short on health outcomes and processed food intake, and the other factors that contribute to health that literally no one is talking about.
This episode covers:
* What is Orthorexia? And what’s the difference between making healthful food choices?
* My journey through cutting out foods in the beginning of my PCOS journey and what it did to my mental health
* Why America’s health outcomes and life expectancy are worse than other countries despite having the highest rate of dieting
* What happens to your nervous system when you label foods as “bad” or stress over food labels
* Fascinating studies about the stress and illness connection and how this relates to your relationship with food, and the flaws with studies on nutrition
* The one mindset shift you can make today to talk yourself out of your next spiral when you're stressing over the foods you eat
* The variables that aren’t considered when talking about health (it’s not just about the food!)
* Why we may not have to fear processed foods as much as we think... we tell you exactly what the research on processed foods is missing!
* The reason why we fixate on food when we’re worried about health
* The shocking statistic around children developing eating disorders vs diabetes
Want to connect with Natasha? Check her out on instagram @nourishwithnatasha [https://www.instagram.com/nourishwithnatasha/]
Research discussed in episode:
Rozin, P. (1993). Food and cuisine: Education, risk and pleasure. Journal of Gastronomy, 7, 111-120.
Rozin, P. (1999). Food is fundamental, fun, frightening, and far-reaching. Social Research, 66, 9-30.
Rozin, P., Fischler, C., Imada, S., Sarubin, A., & Wrzesniewski, A. (1999). Attitudes to food and the role of food in life: Comparisons of Flemish Belgium, France, Japan and the United States. Appetite, 33, 163-180. foodattfranceapp99 [https://web.sas.upenn.edu/rozin/files/2016/09/FoodAttFranceApp99-x9o75n.pdf]
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