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Culinary medicine is focused on helping people make personal decisions about how to access and eat high-quality meals that help prevent and treat disease and restore well-being. Culinary medicine for mental health can be as simple as gathering and preparing fresh, tasty, and satisfying foods and as complex as addressing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‑5) criteria for eating disorders using innovative, personalized culinary strategies.
Self-nourishment in all its forms—especially with food and nutrition—is the foundation of integrative medicine and the key to improving mental health. Diet is just as much a contributing factor to poor mental health as it is a method for improving it.
Since the taste of a good meal can bring people joy, it’s easy to engage clients of all ages in shared learning that includes gathering and preparing food and enjoying the ritual of a meal together. Clients also find it empowering to learn how they can improve their mental health by making relatively simple changes to their diet.
In my book, The Brainbow Blueprint, I provide a variety of exercises and handouts to help therapists and other clinicians explore their or their clients' relationship with food, goals, obstacles, and ways to start engaging in culinary health activities.
Of course, just because a change is straightforward doesn’t mean it’s easy to make and maintain. A variety of factors can impact someone's ability to change their diet, including past and present family dynamics around food, how easily they can access healthy foods given their location and finances, and food allergies and sensitivities. Any discussion of nutrition and mental health must also address two issues that people tend to avoid acknowledging: eating disorders and body size stigmatization.
Eating Disorders and Culinary Medicine
One of the most common imbalances we see when exploring culinary medicine with clients is the variety of eating disorders that they may present with. Eating disorders, in general, may be understood as a response to trauma, cultural oppression, or nutrient deficiencies that affect eating behaviors, including binging, purging, restrictions, and orthorexia.
As you explore culinary medicine with clients, it is important to keep in mind the spectrum of attitudes about foods and culinary practices, as well as the latest fads and changing science. Your goal is to reduce your clients’ suffering and to help them define and engage in empowered choices that enhance their well-being.
Understanding the biology of eating disorders—and integrating specific foods, nutrients, and herbs based on this knowledge—enhances treatment and reduces relapse.
Addressing Body Size Stigmatization
People experience a lot of shame around their food choices for a variety of reasons. When you talk about food with clients, you want to emphasize that it isn’t about an ideology or a belief system but simply about fueling their bodies.
Conversations about food, diet, and body weight can be triggering, especially for those with body dysmorphia or disordered eating or who hope to gain or lose weight.
If someone is struggling with body image, it is important to discuss the relationship between eating for their health and the social mores, beliefs, and judgments about body size, fat levels, and what a healthy body “should” look like (including the dreaded and specious measure known as the body mass index, or BMI, which is not a reliable indicator of health).
Explain to your client that there is no one “right” body size for everyone. Drawing on the concept of bio-individuality may be helpful here. It is also important to clarify that the work you will be doing together in culinary medicine is not about changing their weight or their body size but nourishing their body, mind, and spirit. I usually give the following explanation to the client within the first few minutes of our discussion:
Culinary medicine and nutrition for mental health isn’t about losing weight, gaining weight, or working out to change your body shape. It’s about connecting with your deepest needs and finding the foods that nourish you, energize you, and help you feel good in your mind, body, and spirit. That’s our work, and my goal is to support you in feeling your best. This is about letting go of preconceived ideas or what anyone has ever said to you—professionals, family, or otherwise—and discovering for yourself the joy and wellness that is your right.
