Food Fear Pandemic: Break Free from Food Anxiety
The Urban Monk podcast with Dr. Pedram Shojai
Release Date: 10/31/2025
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The Urban Monk podcast with Dr. Pedram Shojai
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The Urban Monk podcast with Dr. Pedram Shojai
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info_outline🎙️ Dr. Pedram Shojai addresses one of the most pervasive issues in modern wellness: the food fear pandemic. Are you spending 20 minutes reading ingredient labels? Avoiding social situations because you can't control the food? This isn't about real food sensitivities—it's about the crippling anxiety that's turning food into the enemy. Dr. Shojai reveals why the stress of restriction might be more inflammatory than the foods you're worried about, and shares a practical framework for shifting from fear-based eating to body wisdom.
🎯 What You'll Learn:
- Why "healthy eating" becomes obsessive and how to recognize orthorexia patterns
- The Four Phases of Restriction Failure—and why you're stuck in phase 4
- How over-restriction creates MORE food sensitivities through reduced microbial diversity
- The science showing restriction stress can be as inflammatory as the foods themselves
- Developing sophisticated interoceptive awareness to distinguish true reactions from anxiety
- The 80/20 principle for both nourishment and psychological resilience
- Building digestive resilience through variety instead of constant protection
- The "Yes Foods" framework that transforms your relationship with eating
🔑 Key Insights:
"Food isn't the enemy. Fear is."
"The stress and anxiety that we create around food might be more inflammatory than the food you were worried about."
"You want a robust, resilient digestive system that can handle a variety of foods, not a fragile system that requires constant protection."
"When you learn to listen, and I mean really listen, with sophisticated interoceptive awareness, you end up becoming your best nutritionist."
đź’ˇ Action Steps:
- Practice the three-part interoceptive check-in: before, during, and after eating
- Shift from asking "Is this allowed?" to "What information does my body need right now?"
- Create your personal "Yes Foods" list focusing on what you GET to eat
- If recovering from elimination diets, start GI map testing and systematic reintroduction
- Build digestive resilience with bitter foods, thorough chewing, and parasympathetic eating states
đź“š Resources:
- GI Map Analysis for microbiome testing
- 176-food sensitivity testing
- Gut health coaching programs
- Google, ChatGPT, Claude for "Yes Foods" recipe inspiration
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