Episode 46: Detoxing the Mind and Body, Principles of Food Combining, and Feeding Spiritual Hunger with Bonberi's Nicole Berrie
Nicole Berrie is best known for her wellness and recipe site, Bonberi, and as the founder of the popular NYC hotspot Bonberi Mart for all things health food. She is also the author of Body Harmony: Nourishing, Plant-Based Recipes for Intuitive Eating. Nicole helped make food combining mainstream, and is at the front of the intuitive eating movement, helping women everywhere heal their relationship with food. But Nicole has not always been so in touch with nutrition. In this episode, Nicole opens up about her history of disordered eating and addiction, and shares how she fed herself spiritually to find her way out and start using food as a tool to live her best life. She also shares how you can heal your relationship with food too, why we should be cleansing our minds and bodies (and how!), and the principles of food combining that has made her body feel amazing. At the end of the episode, you'll also hear a few of Nicole's go-to recipes, from a green smoothie that optimizes digestion to her go-to plant-based pizza recipe that's easy enough to DIY at home during your next Friday night-in.
SHOW NOTES:
Do you have questions about intuitive eating, food combining, or plant-based meals? This week on The Everygirl Podcast, Josie sits down with Nicole Berrie, founder of Bonberi and author of Body Harmony. The episode begins with Nicole explaining why she first got into food and cooking, before she dives into her personal history with having an eating disorder and a complicated relationship with food. She then discusses how intuitive eating changed her perspective about nourishment, intuition, and cravings. Josie asks Nicole to tell her story in more detail, and Nicole walks her through her coming to self-consciousness at age nine, her equation of certain foods with fear, her control issues, and her relationship to hunger. Josie and Nicole have a conversation about physical hunger and spiritual hunger, and how to discern the difference between the two. Nicole runs through some of her daily practices, including her journaling routine, that have helped her really understand her own spiritual cravings. She gives advice to those who might be struggling with eating disorders or addiction, specifically those who are feeling a disconnect with their own intuition. Josie and Nicole dive into the connection between our minds and our bodies; Nicole explains how important it is for us to experience a sort of mental or physical release in order to function. From there, the episode pivots to Nicole's perspective on plant-based eating, and why she used to feel insecure about posting recipes with animal products during the height of internet veganism. Then, Nicole gets into food combining: what it is, why she practices food combining, and how she incorporates food combining and intuitive eating together. She discusses the nuances between intuitively following an eating pattern that you know feels best with your body versus forcing yourself to follow a diet that is restrictive to what your body truly wants. The episode closes with some rapid-fire questions for Nicole, including her go-to pizza recipe.
Must-Listen Moments:
[6:33] Nicole's personal story, including her struggles with addiction and eating disorders, and how she came to trust her spiritual cravings
[19:15] The breath work exercises that get Nicole through stressful mornings and mild anxiety
[28:38]Journaling practices that can help you discern between physical hunger and emotional hunger
[38:54] Why does Nicole mostly create plant-based recipes?
[51:01] What is food combining, and how does food combining work together with intuitive eating?
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