Confused by all the diet advice out there? Me too! Seems like there's always a new fad telling us what to eat– or not. I'm a fan of the 80/20 principle and I’ve been wondering if that might apply to diet, especially if you’re using diet as a way to improve health.
I chew this over with acupuncturist and nutritionist Brenda Le and see if we can untangle some of the noise and drama around food.
We’ll discuss the intertwinement of food and emotion, dealing with shame, listening to your body's signals, and more. Brenda suggests just 4 key guidelines: eat close to nature, make it yourself, plan ahead, and chew well. We also get into what to avoid – like diet cults and over-researching isolated studies.
Listen into this conversation on age-old wisdom, self compassion, and making friends with food by finding your 20% for 80% success. Food should feel good!
In This Conversation We Discuss
- Food and emotions are thoroughly intertwined
- Two pillars
- Four Principles
- What to listen for your body
- People don’t like the way they look and how that contributes to issues with food
- We’ve been tricked into thinking if we looked a certain way, we’d feel different.
- Constitution is part of the 20%
- Learning from communities of vital elders and traditional cultures
- The 20% to avoid
- The problem diet groups and online communities
- Beware of articles on nutrition if they support your confirmation bias
On your health journey, let principles guide you like the North Star. Navigate by your body's signals, and make course adjustments as needed along the way.
Brenda Le, R.Ac
When I was in high school, I faced a personal health crisis that led me to discover the healing power of food. I became so fascinated with nutrition that I studied to become a dietitian. However, not long after graduating, I felt that there was a missing piece to the field of nutrition. I kept digging, and eventually came across Chinese medicine – it opened me up to a whole new way of looking at food.
I began to understand the cooling and warming nature of foods, their effects on organ systems, the balance of the five elements, and individual constitution types. Beyond nutrients or anything that can be measured in a lab, food has profound effects on the human body.
Currently, the main focus of my dietetic practice is Sasang Constitutional Medicine, a Korean tradition that tailors food recommendations to a patient's constitution. I may also incorporate principles of therapeutic diets to maximize the potential of food as medicine.
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