The Research Story...

…about how we discovered our Whole Person Nutrition and The Enlightened Diet programs, begins in New Delhi, India, where we had been invited to present at the First International Conference on Lifestyle and Health. Many esteemed scientists from throughout India had presented, but one of the most charismatic and intriguing was Hindu cardiologist Dr. K. L. Chopra, father and mentor of the well-known author Deepak Chopra.

The “spiritual” ingredient
After his presentation, I (Deborah) talked with Dr. Chopra in the cavernous auditorium, interviewing him for a magazine article I was planning to write about yoga and diet. When I asked him about his opinion about food, his response was immediate: “Prana is the vital life force of the universe, the cosmic force…and it goes into you, into me, with food. When you cook with love, you transfer the love into the food and it is metabolized…”.

Eastern wisdom, Western science
Sometimes you have to go backward before you can go forward. As a nutritionist trained in the scientific method, it seemed incredible to consider that how we think or feel could actually “flavor” food, but because Dr. Chopra’s comment captured my imagination, I began what I call my “nutrition journey around the world”; my search through what philosopher Huston Smith calls the world’s “wisdom traditions,” religions and cosmologies that serve as guides for how to live, for their teachings about food. But I didn’t stop there. I also studied the nutrition guidelines of Eastern healing systems (such as India’s Ayurveda, traditional Chinese Medicine, and Tibetan Medicine); cultural traditions (yogic nutrition, the Mediterranean diet, Native American food beliefs, etc.); and state-of-the-art Western nutrition science. And then, to glean still more insights, I interviewed and spoke with more than 45 religion, spirituality, and scientific experts. And then I wrote about my insights in my award-winning book, FEEDING THE BODY, NOURISHING THE SOUL

Whole Person Nutrition
When we assimilated their “pearls of wisdom” with all my other research and reading about the history and philosophy of food and optimal eating, we were thrilled to discover the FOUR FACETS OF FOOD—meaning that food holds the power to enhance more than your physical health, it also heals your emotional, spiritual, and social well-being. With this wisdom, our WHOLE PERSON NUTRITION PROGRAM was born. So, too, was my second book, THE HEALING SECRETS OF FOOD, which reveals six optimal eating guidelines (PDF). These six perennial principles, which have served humankind for millennia, became the core of our Whole Person Nutrition Model and Program—and the discovery of THE ENLIGHTENED DIET and its “ingredients”: our newly identified EATING STYLES linked with overeating, overweight, and obesity.

The Enlightened Diet
How did our research reveal new EATING STYLES and their link to overeating and weight gain? To assess whether our WHOLE PERSON NUTRITION PROGRAM—which is practiced instinctively and naturally by normal-weight cultures—could make a positive difference in what and how people eat, and in turn, peoples’ weight, we conducted two studies: one using lectures and slide presentations with students at San Francisco State University (SFSU) (article, PDF); the other in the form of an 18-lesson e-course on the Spirituality & Health website, in which more than 5200 people participated; each study included a comprehensive 80-item Whole Person Nutrition questionnaire that assessed all aspects of eating. What we discovered was groundbreaking: those who practiced WHOLE PERSON NUTRITION overate less often and were more likely to be normal weight; conversely, the less a person practiced Whole Person Nutrition, the more likely s/he would overeat, and be overweight, and/or obese.

A Paradigm Shift
Because our research was both solid and groundbreaking, when it was published in the peer reviewed medical journal Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, Editor-in-Chief, David Riley, MD, wrote in his editorial that “these results provide a fresh perspective on our epidemic of overeating, overweight, and obesity…that…could signal a paradigm shift in the field of nutrition.” And what is that shift? Our all-encompassing new view of nutrition not only gives us new insights into why we overeat, like a beam of light from a lighthouse, it also provides “grounding” and direction about what we can do to turn the tide of our growing girth.

We are especially excited to share YOUR ENLIGHTENED DIET PROGRAM and our book, THE ENLIGHTENED DIET—with you, because it is based on our evidence-based, comprehensive program—one that we designed for the long-term—so that you can turn weight gain into weight loss that stays off.