Beyond Nutrition: Our Relationship with Nourishment

Food is something we encounter every day, yet for many of us, nourishment can involve a great deal of thought, effort, emotion, and complexity.

In this conversation, registered dietitian and co-creator of Trauma-Informed Mindful Eating (TIME), Kristen Zappone, explores how our relationships with food and our bodies are shaped by far more than nutrition knowledge or willpower. Our lived experiences, nervous systems, relationships, environments, cultural messages, diet culture, and ability to connect with internal body cues can all influence how we experience nourishment.

Kristen introduces the role of interoception—our ability to notice and make sense of what is happening within the body—and explores how learning to “listen to your body” can be more challenging than it sounds, particularly when our connection with internal cues has been shaped by our experiences.

Through the lens of TIME, the conversation reframes many food-related struggles with greater context and curiosity, asking what may become possible when we move away from judgment and expectations about how we “should” eat.

Kristen explores how cultivating awareness, compassion, agency, and greater connection with our bodies can help us build resilience in our relationship with nourishment—not by finding a perfect way to eat, but by expanding our capacity for choice, flexibility, and self-trust.