posted June 02, 2009 02:43 PM         

The Institute's Philosophy:

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Our Philosophy

Each one of us is a pioneer. What’s your special contribution?

The field of Nutrition is at a profound crossroads.

Medical science has finally recognized the important role of diet in optimal health and disease prevention. Yet something is missing.

Obesity, overeating, pain around body image, emotional challenges with food, digestive ailments, fatigue and nutrition-linked metabolic disorders are with us more than ever. Clearly, our collective approach to nutritional health and happiness isn’t working. It’s time for a new way of seeing things.

At the Institute for The Psychology of Eating, we teach that what we eat is only half the story of good nutrition. The other half of the story is who we are as eaters. That is, our nutritional metabolism is profoundly affected by our thoughts, feelings and beliefs. It’s directly impacted by our level of stress or relaxation during meals. It’s elevated by the amount of pleasure we receive with eating. It’s energized when we have compassion for our fears about weight and body image. And finally, our metabolism is enlivened when we experience a healthy relationship with the Earth, and with our inner spiritual life.

Most of us have been taught that good nutrition is about getting the right vitamins and minerals, enough protein, and the right amounts of fat and carbohydrate. Some foods are bad for you, while others are clearly the “good guys.” And all this is certainly true, yet is woefully inadequate in describing the fullness of our nutritional reality. It’s not always enough to tell someone what to eat or how much to exercise and expect instant and magical results. We are much more complex, more interesting, and more deep.

At the Institute, we see food and nutrition as a doorway into our personal world. We recognize that our challenges with food, weight, body image and health are not merely about faulty chemistry, but are linked to concerns around career, money, family, relationships, sexuality, our personal history, as well as our hopes, dreams and fears.

And this is what makes the Institute so unique: our focus is on the rich and ever-changing relationship that each person has with food and body – what we call Dynamic Eating Psychology. And, instead of teaching traditional food science, we have pioneered an understanding of the missing dimension of eating and metabolism that we call Mind Body Nutrition.

The skills that you’ll learn in these new fields deliver results, and will enable you to help inspire others to a new level of health, energy, and freedom…

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