🎙️ Dr. Pedram Shojai addresses one of the most pervasive issues in modern wellness: the food fear pandemic. Are you spending 20 minutes reading ingredient labels? Avoiding social situations because you can't control the food? This isn't about real food sensitivities—it's about the crippling anxiety that's turning food into the enemy. Dr. Shojai reveals why the stress of restriction might be more inflammatory than the foods you're worried about, and shares a practical framework for shifting from fear-based eating to body wisdom.

🎯 What You'll Learn:

Why "healthy eating" becomes obsessive and how to recognize orthorexia patterns
The Four Phases of Restriction Failure—and why you're stuck in phase 4
How over-restriction creates MORE food sensitivities through reduced microbial diversity
The science showing restriction stress can be as inflammatory as the foods themselves
Developing sophisticated interoceptive awareness to distinguish true reactions from anxiety
The 80/20 principle for both nourishment and psychological resilience
Building digestive resilience through variety instead of constant protection
The "Yes Foods" framework that transforms your relationship with eating

🔑 Key Insights:

"Food isn't the enemy. Fear is."

"The stress and anxiety that we create around food might be more inflammatory than the food you were worried about."

"You want a robust, resilient digestive system that can handle a variety of foods, not a fragile system that requires constant protection."

"When you learn to listen, and I mean really listen, with sophisticated interoceptive awareness, you end up becoming your best nutritionist."

💡 Action Steps:

Practice the three-part interoceptive check-in: before, during, and after eating
Shift from asking "Is this allowed?" to "What information does my body need right now?"
Create your personal "Yes Foods" list focusing on what you GET to eat
If recovering from elimination diets, start GI map testing and systematic reintroduction
Build digestive resilience with bitter foods, thorough chewing, and parasympathetic eating states

📚 Resources:

GI Map Analysis for microbiome testing
176-food sensitivity testing
Gut health coaching programs
Google, ChatGPT, Claude for "Yes Foods" recipe inspiration

#FoodAsMedicine #IntuitiveEating #GutHealth #BodyAwareness #MindfulEating #FunctionalMedicine #FoodSensitivities #DigestiveHealth #Orthorexia #FoodFreedom #HealthyEating #WellnessJourney #MicrobiomeHealth #AntiInflammatory #HolisticHealth

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