Offered through the Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing, the Nourishment to Lighten Stress and Support Metabolic Health [is a CME/CEU course for any practicing health professional.] ??
While we are not able to control many of the sources of stress in our world, we can practice and develop skills to regulate the nervous system and the body’s response to stress. Food, along with the environments in which we source and eat it, plays a major role in our response to stress and our resilience. Through this series, we will explore themes related to mental health, metabolic health (how your body processes nutrients and food), food environments, and self-compassion. We will also work with seasonal flavors and foods to align our cooking and eating with the transition to warmer weather.
These online workshops will cover a wide variety of supportive strategies including:
Mindful eating
Practices to calm the stress response and regulate the nervous system
Reflection on your food story
Self-compassion in the context of food
Participants will cook virtually with Chef Jenny Breen, M Ed, MPH, and Kate Shafto, MD, who have been teaching together for 9 years. They share a passion for teaching about whole sustainable foods (and the folks who produce them), what to do with them, and why it matters for our health and the health of our planet.
Workshop 1: The Relationship Between Stress and Food
This workshop will unpack what happens during 'stress eating,' the food environment and stress response (neurologically), and intuitive and mindful eating skills. We will cook with seasonal flavors that support the transition from winter to spring.
There will be a brief centering practice to focus our attention and senses on the food we will be working with, and the workshop will close with a mindful eating practice.
Recipes will include simple greens and seasonal fresh herbs, including a sauce formula, roasted radishes and turnips, and pesto.
Workshop 2: Nourishing our Mental Health
This workshop will explore the concept of the gut-brain connection and how dietary patterns and stress impact gut health and mental health. We will practice mindful eating and engage in an exercise to calm the nervous system using our five senses.
Recipes will include a frittata with spring vegetables and herbs and/or a herbed-tofu scramble, as well as ways to use rhubarb, such as in a salsa and sauce.
Workshop 3: Metabolic Health is Mental Health
We don’t always learn that physical and mental health are one and the same. In this workshop, we’ll look more closely at how dietary patterns impact our metabolic health and discuss ways to reduce inflammation through food. We will continue to practice mindful eating and reflect on your food story during this session.
Recipes will include a simple spring stir-fry with a delicious sauce.
Workshop 4: Self-Compassion in a Complex Food System
Our food environment influences our choices and our health more than we may realize. We will discuss how to identify areas where we can take back some control while also increasing deliciousness and practicing self-compassion. We will close the series with a mindful eating practice and a summary of the skills covered over the four workshops.
Recipes will include a carrot-cashew spread, beet hummus, mushroom or miso sesame pâté, and crackers.
This workshop is offered as a 4-part series.
Thursday, May 14 | Workshop 1:
The Relationship Between Stress and FoodThursday, May 21 | Workshop 2:
Nourishing our Mental HealthThursday, May 28 | Workshop 3:
Metabolic Health is Mental HealthThursday, June 4 | Workshop 4:
Self-Compassion in a Complex Food System
Class time: Noon-1:15 PM CT