Nourish and Nurture

Episode #93: Common Diet Myths

Sometimes our weight loss efforts are thwarted by popular diet myths. We get hung up on trying to follow all the diet rules and we lose sight of the fact that some don’t make any sense or are not supported by the latest science. We are not machines. Each person has their own metabolism, likes and dislikes, cultural backgrounds, habits and lifestyles. Do you need to count calories? Do you need...

Episode #92, Understanding the Impact of the Foods We Eat

In this episode explore the most important elements of understanding the impacts of the foods we eat. Miriam introduces her new course with the following modules:
1. Carb Clarity: Revealing Hidden Carbohydrates
2. Cracking the Code: Conquering Stubborn Belly Fat
3. But I LOVE Sugar: Demystifying Sugar and Baked Goods Dependency
4. Grains and Legumes...

Episode #91  Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind

In this episode I explore my new course, "8 Strategies to Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind.

These strategies are:
Strategy 1: Find your ideal eating plan and learn what compatibility means for you.
Strategy 2: Let Go of Perfection and Learn to Make Your Next-Best Decisions. Embrace Imperfection and Banish Shame
Strategy 3:  Home Base and Cou...

Episode #90: Setting Goals That Work

This episode covers how to successfully set goals suggesting either the SMACKDOWN way or the SMART way. Learn about what Forbes magazine says is the successful way to work on your goals, and also the difference between operational goals, performance goals, and outcome goals. Discover what you can do to make your walking goal achievable - and it might just start with a pair of socks!

Episode #89 Grains and Legumes Decoded – Friend or Foe

There is emerging evidence that the Standard American Diet, which is low in fiber and high in sugar and unhealthy fats, may initiate this process. In any case, staying away from an overabundance of grains and processed foods will help heal and maintain a healthy gut.

This episode examines many studies in the area of grain consumption and chronic inflammation in our bodi...

Episode #88: Carb Clarity

In this episode you will learn all about carbohydrates: What they are, what kinds there are, what do they do in - and to - your body, how they add up in a day, and how to count them. Learn about what carbs have to do with hunger, fatigue and stubborn belly fat. 

Even if you are eating extremely low carb, as in Keto, you will not be at zero - as you learn that even cheese, nuts, and some p...

Episode 87: Positive Self-Talk and Affirmations

In my book, Language of the Dance – Belly Dance with Amira Jamal, I have a worksheet entitled STOP THAT NEGATIVE SELF-TALK. It was one of the most important lessons in my classes and it is probably one of the most important things you need to learn to have a successful journey with whatever you are doing. 

This episode will walk you through how to talk to yourself an...

Episode #86: Slow Down and Feel Your Best

It really DOES take approximately 20 minutes for your gut to send the message to your brain that it is full enough - not full to the point of the feeling of bursting. I started to respect the practice of slowing down and paying attention to my food, and this went a long way to make me aware of my fullness cues. 

In this episode you will learn all the ways to slow down your...

Episode 85: Paleo and Primal

Paleo can be the next step after Whole30, but you can go straight into it, as I did.  Paleo is known as the “hunter-gatherer” diet but don’t worry – you don’t have to hunt and gather except, maybe, for the best food prices in town! It is named for Paleolithic which relates to the early phase of the Stone Age. Honestly, I think it is partly conjecture about how and what paleolithic people ate, b...

Episode 84: Whole 30

The Whole30 diet is a strict 30-day elimination diet that many people turn to for weight loss, sleep issues, or help with digestive concerns. It is considered a reset program to get certain problem foods out of your system. The program encourages you to cut out alcohol, sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, and additives from your diet for 30 days. Food reintroduction is very deliberate and measured, and even...

Episode #: 83.  Principle 8, Respect Your Body.

“Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectations with body size.”

This episode has more to do with accepting your blueprint, while wanting to improve on what you have to work with, than accepting a health conditi...

Episode #: 82.  Principle 9, Exercise: Feel the Difference.

What we have to watch out for is not to make exercise part of the dieting mentality. It will become drudgery and just another thing on the list that we have to do because we have to do it. What would be ideal is to look at it as movement that – although it might wear us out – actually invigorates us and gives us energy. Finding the right movement might take a lot ...

Episode #: 81.  Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition

Intuitive Eating states that you must “make food choices that honor your health and tastebuds while making you feel well. Remember you don’t have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It’s what you eat consistently over time that matters.” 

“Taste is important,...

Episode #: 80.  Food Facts

It’s important to learn what food does in your body

 There are two types of hunger. True physical hunger is one of them. The other hunger is driven by what is in your head. There are definitely mechanics that trigger this head hunger. These could be habits or feelings such as anxiety, loneliness and anger. I have covered head and heart hunger just recently in Episode 77.

In this episode I...

Episode #: 79.  Managing Emotions and Feelings Without Food 

Whatever eating style or plan you choose, and no matter what work you do with the other principles of Intuitive Eating, Principle 7 is perhaps the most important one that is going to make it or break it for you.

How often are you on plan all day or even all week, and then at night, you are tired and feeling overwhelmed from the day’s or week’s events? How often ar...

Episode #78 - Cravings and Urges

I promised you my PEEPS story, and here it is. Indulge me if you have already heard it because it sets the stage to explain the difference between urges and cravings.

Let me start by introducing myself. "Hello, I am Miriam Hatoum, and I am probably the most food suggestible person you will ever meet." So here's my story. Was it a food craving or an urge?

This episode ...

Episode 77 - Head and Heart Hunger

We all have triggers, habits and emotional connections with food. When we are "hungry" but not really physically hungry we know it as head hunger, heart hunger or, which covers both, emotional hunger.

In this episode I talk about disassembling triggers and habits and give you examples of my own efforts that I have shared with you in past episodes. I have found that they speak to ...

Episode 76: Discover the Satisfaction Factor

In this episode learn that it's not just lists of food, calories or macros. Feeling full and content with what you eat has a lot to do with the satisfaction factor in what you are eating. 

To sum it up: “The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of their goals of healthy living. In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most ba...

Episode 75 - Feeling Your Fullness - Part 2

This episode will take some of the mystery out of feeling your fullness and why the feeling fullness increases after you have eaten.  But before I get to that, I explore concepts such as feelings about food waste, your habit of finishing food, and how to get out of this habit using various methods, including "2 bites left behind," "the speed-bump method," and ...