Heal Your Relationship with Food by Creating a Safe, Attuned, and Loving Kitchen

Welcome to the Satiated Podcast where we explore physical and emotional hunger, satiation and healing your relationship with your food and body. I'm your host, Stephanie Mara Fox, your Somatic Nutritional Counselor. I'm thrilled to be chatting with Callie Cavanaugh today. Callie is a trained chef, interaction designer, author and speaker. She is the founder of the private chef platform known as eats, where she brings people together with food through intimate dining experiences. Callie's pursuit of food started at the age of five, when she put on cooking shows for her friends and family. Her pursuit was turned on its head when she encountered health issues, until she brought her sense of design to discover The Eat In method, a whole new approach to food. Welcome, Callie.

Callie Cavanaugh 00:57

Thank you, Stephanie. It's so wonderful to chat with you and be on here. And thank you for the lovely intro.

Stephanie Mara 01:02

Yeah, well, I am fascinated by your work. I'm so excited to dive in with you today. And I first just want to get started with how did you get into this? Like, I'd love to hear a little bit more about your history?

Callie Cavanaugh 01:17

Yeah, most definitely. I started as a chef, you know, ever since I was really young, I've been really into cooking. And I originally went to business school and decided I needed to transfer pretty soon after that to culinary school. And being in the food industry, you know, I realize a lot of a lot of challenges kind of in the back, you know, back in the scenes for the chefs. And then also also for the consumers, me being one of them in terms of the quality of what was actually served in the, in the industry. And I found myself having some really challenging issues with my guts. And so that led me to really deeper relationship with myself and my food in terms of really understanding where it was sourced, where it was coming from. And also, you know, in the food industry, I myself, amongst many others, you know, it's a very fast paced environment. And there was very little sitting down to eat and enjoy my food. And it wasn't until I actually did that, that I took a lot of the stress out of my eating ritual and started to really enjoy it. And you know, that pursuit was really the beginning about flavor, right? Being a chef, like you're just trying to make something taste the best. But then I realized the most nourishment was actually like the feeling and the mindfulness of the actual eating and communing with others and, and really having this kind of holistic relationship with the land. And so I realized there is this kind of gap in the system, right, I found, you know, help from nutritionists help from therapists like yourself and all these other people. But there was, you know, I had the skill set with shaping the culinary school skills, right? And how can I help other people kind of cultivate in their own homes? Because, yes, it's wonderful to go to a restaurant, it's wonderful to get a meal kit service, you know, to support you in the kitchen, but how can we really empower ourselves to cultivate this really deep relationship in our own homes and, and so we feel kind of safe, right? And nourished at all times. So that's kind of how I got here.

Stephanie Mara 03:30

Yeah. Thanks for sharing that, and it's an it's so interesting that we go out to eat a meal. And I just think of like, putting myself in your shoes of here you are trying to like craft this amazing meal that tastes so delicious. And when we go out to eat, it's often we eat so quickly that we're not even tasting and experiencing the food.

Callie Cavanaugh 03:52

Most definitely. Yeah. And the atmosphere right of restaurants is curated. So it's really hard to hear other people. Right. So we're kind of already disembodied to a certain extent, right? So yeah, it's, it's not a curated environment for us to actually be relaxed. And yeah, through my journey, you know, it's I've found that that's the most nourishing thing really is first kind of being mindful in my space.

Stephanie Mara 04:19

Yeah. So from there, you kind of ended up creating this Eat In Method. And I'm very curious about, you know, what is it and what does that mean?

Callie Cavanaugh 04:31

Yeah, most definitely. So I should share that, I didn't mention this before, but I actually went back to school and I got a master's in interaction design, which is really design thinking, which really looks at you know, problems to deconstructing problems on a bigger scale and then reconstructing them in a way that actually works for every component of the system. And so I you know, through my journey in the food industry, I also did a lot of research in agriculture to understand really what food tasted the best but also really regenerated our land as well. So, I have this really big crazy picture of the food industry, and agriculture system, and then us as consumers and how our health kind of plays into that. And so from this user experience design perspective, I kind of deconstructed this whole huge vision of everything, and then kind of reconstructed it to see what is actually sustainable for us as, as consumers day to day people living in our lives, right, in this fast paced modern world, like, it's not sustainable to go out to a restaurant every day, it's not sustainable for any of these people, right. And so what it is, and I believe The Eat In Method really supports that. So it supports us to really get back into our kitchens and create a space and environment, our kitchens that we want to be in number one. So it's designed in a way that is easy to use, and we enjoy being there, right? Like, sometimes we don't take the time to really organize our spaces, so that we, we want to be there, right, but The Eat In Method kind of starts with that kind of clearing our slate in the kitchen to curate an environment that we really love. And like I said, want to spend time in. And then we work on, you know, building our personal pantries where we utilize, you know, highest nutrient dense foods that are typically local, typically seasonal, right, and really just starting to gain a deeper understanding and relationship with those foods around us. And then we work in planning, really planning out how to integrate those foods into our lives that that actually works with us in our schedules, right, like we all have different lives. And so you know, where we are today might be different for tomorrow as well. And so this method really provides you the skills and the tools to actually apply healthy eating habits to whatever wherever you are right now. Right? Whatever your schedule is right now. So it's really empowering. And then it's also really about creating easeful cooking, right, really a playful space, really elevating that experience, you know, you don't have to be a gourmet chef to enjoy your time in the kitchen. It could just be about play and experimentation and, and love and joy, right? And if you have those feelings as you're cooking, it doesn't matter if you're cooking for yourself or other people, right that that feeling is you feel that in the food as well, right? So you can make a really simple salad and feel that love and joy and play within that salad, right? That's just greens and lemon juice and olive oil. So it's really about kind of getting back to basics and simplicity, but really about, you know, injecting higher emotions throughout the whole process. And then also kind of getting into understanding obviously, mindfulness with food as we're eating it, but also curating an environment with other people and using food as a way to connect with with others and back, you know, to mealtime with their families and cultivating that. That nourishment, right? Yes, it's about the food, of course, and high quality, but it's also really truly about like, what are we most craving? Probably connection, right face to face, we've gotten really good at connecting digitally. But can we actually sustain that physically as well? So that's kind of The Eat In Method.

Stephanie Mara 08:13

Yeah, oh, my gosh, I love it. You know, this is a conversation that I find myself a lot in with those that I work with, as well. As if there was no one in our home growing up, that kind of cultivated a love for being in the kitchen and kind of starting to introduce okay, this is how we can interact with food, here's how we cut food, here's how we can cook food that the kitchen can actually feel incredibly scary, daunting place.

Callie Cavanaugh 08:44

Yes, most definitely. Yeah, I was I was lucky enough to have a mom who loved food. And my dad, you know, loves food, he doesn't really know how to cook anything other than, you know, make cereal. But he loves to eat anything. Right. And so that that was really an environment where we connected. And I feel very, very grateful for that. But yes. And today, in our modern world, a lot of us are working so much. So we don't have the time to cook and we don't, yeah, it feels intimidating, right. But this is not a place that has to be intimidating. And so this method is really about, yes, let's play. Let's try things. There's no failure here. It's just about it's just about experimenting, right? And we can have fun, kind of like a playground. And it might not taste amazing every time and that's totally fine.

Stephanie Mara 09:36

Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a lot of pressure when you're starting to potentially get into the kitchen that it's like, oh, okay, I have to make sure that this comes out good. And if we even just kind of take that pressure off of what if it was just getting into the kitchen to play like you're reminding me of like my first Easy Bake Oven. Just like bringing that real like childlike play into the kitchen. And I'm curious what has supported individuals you've worked with and starting to approach the kitchen with more of that sense of play and openness and freedom that you can't get it wrong?

Callie Cavanaugh 10:14

Yeah, most definitely. I think number one, it's actually just a kind of creating that deeper relationship with ingredients and interest in ingredients, right? So like going to a grocery store or the farmers market or finding, you know, a place where you can kind of play with different tools, right, meaning ingredients and food. And and what intrigues you what, what seems interesting, right? And kind of starting to build a palette, first and foremost, right? Like, what is your body actually craving? And what is the tool set that you want to play with first, right? And then from there, you know, it's really about playing with recipes first, right? What kind of lights you up in the sense of the soup sounds really good, right? To kind of tuning into your intuition, right? To understand what you're craving, right and not not craving processed foods and understanding the difference between those cravings, right, not craving an emotion, but what is your body craving, right, and it's typically seasonal foods, it's typically wholesome foods, right. And so then we have this palette of of different foods that we get to see. And I find that doing this with other people, too, we kind of light each other up, it's kind of this, like I said, again, like a playground, you know, where we feed off of each other's ideas. And there's no boundaries, right? It's like I don't, I don't know how to make pasta. Okay, that's fine. Like, let's Google it, you know, we have this incredible, incredible search engine now at our fingertips that we can utilize. And we can also utilize other people's experience too. So it's about really, not worrying about getting it wrong. But just trying whatever your gut is telling you, you know, you're craving and kind of starting from there. And each and every time we start these little experiments, as I like to call them, right, it builds and builds and builds, and we get more comfortable with just testing different things and trying things and, and all of a sudden, our meals actually taste wonderful. And to be honest, most the people that I work with, like, if we're listening to our gut, and our intuition, and an actually free, you know, letting go of the fear and the process and free and trying those tuning into that intuition and create a meal from there, most of the meals actually taste exactly like we wanted. And we didn't even know that we wanted it right, and you can't get it in a restaurant. It's just what you really want.

Stephanie Mara 12:44

Yeah, I think that's such a great suggestion of starting with just looking at recipes, because it gives you the opportunity to enter into a place of well, I'm not making this yet. And I can just slowly ease myself into this. And just notice what recipes light me up what looks interesting. And when you're talking about just like following your gut, I'd like to kind of describe that as just like listening to your bodily feedback. So there are some recipes where you might notice like a contraction happening, like, you might notice that there are some recipes where you feel really expansive, or your breath starts to get deeper. And just kind of noticing how your body responds when you are looking at different recipes. And it could be a recipe that you're like, wow, that is something that I would want to make. But wow, look at all of those ingredients and all the steps and that feels really overwhelming. And it's like, okay, you might not be there yet. That might not be a recipe to start with. But you might kind of like save it in your tabs and say, I'm going to come back to this at some point.

Callie Cavanaugh 13:46

An inspiration. Yeah, yeah. I love that. And, yeah, it really is about baby steps. And just I love the somatic approach in the sense of like, what is what are you actually feeling right? Because that is, as we start to really truly listen, like, everything just flows and those recipes that you put on the shelf or later, like all of a sudden, you're just gonna be making them right, because those foods are gonna, you're gonna be attracted those foods, you're somehow going to put them together. And it's gonna be at your table. Like, I know, that sounds like magic and kind of crazy. And there's no thinking involved here. Right? Like, we don't have to worry about how it comes together. It's, it's a process that that will evolve if we actually listen to those somatic feelings. I think that's, that's so onpoint I love it.

Stephanie Mara 14:30

Yeah. And your other suggestion of doing it with other people I think is so spot on. Because we are not meant to embark on new explorations alone. You know, it can make it so much easier, even if you're doing it with your kids. You know, you might look up different recipes, with your family, with your significant others with your kids and just say, okay, what are we all drawn to? And then you're getting everybody into the kitchen together to even start to pass this down to your younger generation have it safe to come into the kitchen, it's safe to play in here, it's safe to get messy, and it's safe to also get it wrong and burn it.

Callie Cavanaugh 15:09

It's safe to have some fun, no matter what that looks like. Exactly, yeah, and getting kids involved is such a rewarding experience. Because they I mean, they then create a really open relationship with food, right, that isn't based on fear, or restricting or something. You know, it's really about play. And I will just say, you know, part of my learning started, when I was in culinary school, I studied abroad in Italy. And that totally transformed my approach to food and understanding of it. Because in Italy, it's about I mean, there's a real intention, there's a respect for meal time, right? It's a it's an hour long process there. And it's about how, you know how they socialized. Right. And, and that is a sacred time for them every single day. And it's something that, I think that we've we had that here in our country and our culture, right, and it's kind of gotten lost a little bit, right, because we've, we're so focused on, you know, career or, or other things, right, moving fast. And that slow culture is, is really, truly I experienced it in Italy, and it was something that I walked away from being like, oh, my gosh, how do we how is this revolutionary? And at the same time, how do we not have this right? And it is the most, it's the deepest thing that I've felt. And I think, you know, they're they really, they harnessed that time in the kitchen, right? From multi generations. And I think it's really expansive and inspirational. And, and something that, yeah, we can we can look to for inspiration.

Stephanie Mara 16:48

Yeah, you know, I've experienced that a lot, just in my own Jewish family of recipes have been passed on from generation to generation. And, you know, it's something that this love of cooking also gets passed down of, Oh, I get to make this thing that my great, great grandmother, also made at some point in time, and you know, you may not have that experience in your own family. And so you can even start today, of creating your own traditions in the kitchen of these are foods that I like to make around these time of year. And also, it can be like, you can make those foods at any point in time. But yes, you know, there's something special about creating certain foods around specific time of years to kind of mark that transition in the year of, oh, we eat these foods, like you were talking about seasonally at this time of year, because what's in season, and that's what's growing right now.

Callie Cavanaugh 17:41

Yes, it's so beautiful, those those traditions and rituals, right, I mean, that that idea of food as celebration, I think is something that we can really start to bring back into our lives and is is very meaningful. To me personally, I have a story about a friend who she's actually of Italian roots, but she, you know, grew up in America and her her family came over here, and they were kind of big time farmers in California. And so they'd have, they had to eat seasonally. Because that was was grown right for them. So she speaks of this time, you know, come come March, where all she knows to eat is asparagus. Because that's really all they had, right? When asparagus crop came, they ate it kind of for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And, and that might seem overwhelming and kind of gross. And some people might not like asparagus, so especially gross. But for her, it's actually this cleansing and time of like, spring, you know, growth renewal, it really does mark like a whole new phase of the year for her every single year. And I think it is a really beautiful kind of depiction of, of what's possible with food, right? Learning to...our land is a really symbolic, you know, in terms of, of us and and the year and these this ebb and flow of seasons and lifecycle and, and connecting to that it's a very, I would say deep approach. Right?

Stephanie Mara 19:12

Yeah. You know, what I'm really hearing in that is yeah, what was available to her was just what was being grown. And it's really interesting, because there's foods that are available to us all year long, because of how we ship foods around the world and to different places. And so I just want to also name that when we're talking about like things that grow seasonally, it's fine to eat something that is potentially not in season at that time of year and you'll naturally start to crave different foods as the seasons change. It can be like this isn't something you have to work super hard at just you naturally start to crave like more root vegetables, more cooked foods when it starts to get to these colder winter weather and you naturally start to want more raw, crisp, cold foods when it gets to summer weather just because of what is happening outside and how we're interacting with that change.

Callie Cavanaugh 20:10

Yes, exactly. It's yeah. That your intuition, your gut, you know, if you're, if you're tuned in it will tell you what's in season. Right. And like you said, we we do have these amazing grocery stores that have, you know, a plethora of food that it can get confusing if we're, if we're not listening. And it is totally okay to eat something that's available that might not be in season, of course. But yeah, it's it's a kind of a cool process to start listening and realizing, oh, my gosh, what I'm craving is in season, right? It is a really beautiful web.

Stephanie Mara 20:45

Yeah. So something else that you named was kind of organizing your kitchen in a way that you want to be in it. And I would love for you to talk more about that of what has that looked like for you and for those that you've supported.

Callie Cavanaugh 20:59

Yeah, most definitely. It's it's relatively intricate process. But it really starts out with clearing different items, which also comes with a lot of emotion. But once we clear, there's kind of this clean slate, right, and there's an opportunity to free space, emotionally, physically, mentally, everything, right, but we hold on to a lot of items, right. And if we can take the time to get rid of some of those, we have space to breathe. And so we might not even realize that our kitchens are holding on to some emotions. And I don't want to say baggage, right? But it's just some items that we never use, right? Number one, we kind of look at first and foremost, what are the items that actually light us up, that we truly love? So tapping back into that somatic feeling that that intuition, right? What are those things? And can we have a goal, probably more long term, and that's perfect to have a kitchen that lights us up that has that feeling. And this is a process that can be in a day for some people, and this is a process that can be for a year. For some people, it's completely fine, whatever is your preference, but slowly or quickly, whatever you like, you know, it's it's really about identifying specific categories of items, and what, you know, what are the things that we actually use? And what are the things that we actually love? And the others, you know, the things that are not taking care of, right, that might actually be toxic materials, things that are we have multiples of and we really don't need or things that we really, truly never used, right? Can we actually get rid of those things? And once we do, then, can we organize, you know, our, our pantries and our drawers and our cupboards in a way that, you know, everything is just in its in its place, right. And so then this is kind of derived from my my time in the culinary world many years. And it there's this term called mise en place, and means everything in its place. And so you know, imagine like these chefs that are there on these kind of like assembly lines, they set everything up like an assembly line, because they're cooking, you know, hundreds of plates of food every single night, and they need to have everything in its place in order to put them out timely and orderly and beautifully, right. And so if we set our kitchens up like that, everything becomes incredibly easy, right? And it's like setting up that playground, we have all our toys in different places, they're all there for us to, to access, right? And then we get to play, right, when it's clear and free and there's space, right? It really is a playground that's set up perfectly with these different tools of ingredients are, you know, what have you to really cultivate space for for play. That's kind of the, the emotion that we we look to achieve and in terms of you know, setting things up you know, there's there's little tips like heavier things like a KitchenAid mixer for example, you know, you want to make sure to store that on a lower shelf right and a shelf that you're not you're not putting yourself in danger, right reaching and potentially hurting yourself and getting it down right. Or, you know, you're not cluttering you know, a shelf or a drawer where it doesn't close, right? That sounds frustrating and and while it might seem small, that small frustration does add up, right? So really small things like that. It's really about creating an environment that's easy to be in, easy to use, and and you just it's kind of creating a flow state while you're cooking.

Stephanie Mara 24:52

Oh my gosh, I am laughing over here because I'm thinking about how many drawers we have of just kitchen utensils. Like that drawer just like you open it and it feels so overwhelming to even look at that of, I don't even know what's in there that you just kind of close it. And so that even like thinking of I love this just description that you are diving into of just walking into your kitchen or even opening your drawers or your cupboards bring you into a relaxation response in your body. Because even if you don't kind of I talk a lot about the nervous system of like, you're able to be in the parasympathetic nervous system, when you walk into the kitchen, it's going to be hard then to be in a state where it feels manageable and doable to play, and cook yourself a meal and be in that space where it feels safe no matter what happens.

Callie Cavanaugh 25:49

Yes, exactly. Yeah, it's setting yourself up for success. Right. And, and I will preface you know,
it does feel like a lot of work to clear those items. You know, I know there's even just even the idea of like clearing a junk drawer can seem super overwhelming sometimes. But it is like a lot of this, you know, The Eat In Method really is derived in meditation and kind of getting back to that feeling right? Can you imagine, can you envision, can you ground yourself in that feeling of that play? Right? That ease and that ideal, that goal, right? And just take baby steps to get there. And it doesn't matter how long it takes you, right? It doesn't have to be overwhelming. And so this is, you know, I'm, I'm launching this eight week program in which people do this together, right? So you're not alone. And you have resources and new tools and tech, because it can it can feel super daunting. And you can be like, why is this taking me, you know, five weeks, and someone can be like, you know, it took me 10 weeks, right? And, and you don't feel alone, realizing that there is there's a lot of emotion through food, right? And, and through items and through even the idea of sitting down with their families brings up emotion, right. It's not the ideal scenario, maybe you know, we're recording, I don't know, when you'll launch this, but we're recording this soon after a holiday. And you know, coming together at the holiday, you have this ideal picture of us sitting around a family table with a family. And this time of year when the most stuff comes up. Right. It's, it's, it's I think it's very, very important to really have this collective experience and to be open and be able to share with other people and be like, you know, things come up in in this, this process, right, and we shoot for the ideal. And one day we get there, we feel that right? And along the way, it's okay to have little bumps along the road.

Stephanie Mara 27:48

Yeah, absolutely. I really appreciate you bringing that in. And if you're listening, you know, this could be an opportunity to even break out a journal and kind of explore like, What is my relationship with the kitchen? What was I taught about being in the kitchen growing up, you know, what was my parents relationship with the kitchen? And so you start to bring in this awareness of oh, this was what was passed down to me, and this is what I was taught. And so yeah, it makes a lot of sense why maybe I might go into a little bit of a fight or flight response, when I think about getting into the kitchen myself, or, you know, you might reflect on what were your experiences at family time meals? Absolutely, if they were disruptive, if they were upsetting, if they were overwhelming, like, why would you want to recreate that? And so yeah, and so it's kind of getting just curious about okay, so that's what was, you know, if I could enter into what is an ideal situation for me, what would I want a meal time experience to look like? And how might I take baby steps to start cultivating that in my life now?

Callie Cavanaugh 28:52

Most definitely. I love that. Exactly. Who knows what we experienced, right? And we get to really create and curate what what we want, right? And tiny steps to get there. We can get there. The interesting thing about food is, you know, typically the average person, right, it's three times a day, and that's an hour a day that we spend with food, we spend a lot of time with it. And so there is a really amazing opportunity to inject joy and love and play and whatever emotion you know, whatever lights you up in your day, through the simple act of eating, preparing, enjoying food. So yes, it could feel far off, but little baby steps, I assure you, it's worthwhile to get there.

Stephanie Mara 29:40

Yeah, it makes me think of just in your referencing of we're in relationship with this thing our entire lives every single day. And because of kind of the culture that we live in, that is so fast paced. That relationship doesn't really get a lot of attention. It's kind of like sitting down to a cup of tea with a friend and they're kind of checking their phone. And we have that experience kind of being like wow that didn't quite feel nourishing to be around that friend today, it didn't really feel like I was getting the presence that I was looking for. And that's how kind of we might leave every single meal. When that that mindfulness that slowing down doesn't get to occur. And I know you talk a lot about just mindful eating. And we'd love to hear kind of your thoughts of how you've slowly guided individuals into bringing in that more mindfulness with their food, because it is such a process.

Callie Cavanaugh 30:36

It is a process. Most definitely. And you know, it's actually kind of it's funny, my partner, you know, we eat together at least once a day, and he doesn't even know that I'm mindful eating. It's one of those things that can feel kind of weird, if you do it day to day and around other people. So I completely understand if it feels a little wonky. But even just taking one time to do an experience of just sitting down with your food. And I like to do this in a more silent environment. So sometimes that can be curated, you know, on your own. And if it's with other people, it can be great to do this with others in a, you know, five minutes of silence type of thing. But really, you know, just having a plate of food, it can be simple, it can be complex, whatever it is in front of you, and really taking a few moments to take a few breaths, and really, you know, kind of belly breaths to really ground yourself in this moment in time. And with a little bit of silence and stillness, I think that's a really nice way to start your experience of food. And then and then actually opening your eyes to see the plate of food, right? And what are the colors that you see what are the textures that you see. And for me, when I do that, there's almost a deeper relationship that occurs in the sense of we're looking at this food, like seeing where it grew being, you know, the farmer who cultivated the food, right, the lands, that where it was harvested, right. And then even having a deeper connection with the, you know, the person who prepared the food. And that's a kind of larger extent, obviously, you could be eating an energy bar and still have an interesting experience of thinking about how it was made, right. But even taking a moment to have just the gratitude of that of this food being on your plate and how it got there, to me is incredibly nourishing way to kind of start right this little, this little gratitude ritual. And maybe that doesn't even gratitude doesn't even look like how the food gets to your plate. But can you even just be like, thank you, for the safety of me being here right now, right, or thank you, for the others who I'm sharing this meal with, or whatever that looks like to you in that moment, and then bite by bite, taking the time to feel the food in your mouth, taste the food in your mouth, you know, taking probably a couple more bites than you normally would, right putting your fork down in between bites. And really just being with that, that food and that bite and experiencing it you can do, you can do that for a very long time. And your experience will change. And it's actually really interesting to see how the food morphs in your mouth which sounds a little bit, a little bit gross, you know, but the mindfulness of it is really interesting to kind of, you know, get to a more molecular granular level with food, right. And we're feeding ourselves right. And, and getting to a more intimate experience with that, of mindfulness right, you're in the present moment then. And so that process, it can look like two breaths, seeing your plate, and enjoying your first bite, you know, before a family meal, or it can look like a 20 minute experience with your friends and then sharing about that, right? Whenever it does, whatever it looks like is is perfect. But for me even that first couple of breaths, that gratitude and just that presence is enough to start a meal in a in a holistic way and really getting it tuned in myself. And I find myself if I start my meals that way, really listening to my body as well in terms of when I'm full right, in terms of when I'm satiated and satisfied and nourished.

Stephanie Mara 34:25

Yeah, such a great examples. It's really interesting. When I first started the practice of kind of more mindfulness eating, one of the things that I would also do is I would look at my plate and I would imagine where did this food come from? And back to like the little seed that had to be planted and the sun that had to be on this seed and the water that it needed to grow and like really realize how miraculous it is that that food is now on your plate with how much needed to occur. And I just wanted to add that if you are someone who like cooking for yourself right now sounds really scary, it doesn't happen very often, you could do this literally with anything. Like, even if you're eating a bag of potato chips, you can still get it from a potato. Like you can still imagine, like, okay, this crunchy, salty thing that I'm having this delicious experience with, same thing, you can do this with that as well that like that oil, and salt and potato, like all needed to be created and like mined, and like all those things to basically create that potato chip in that bag.

Callie Cavanaugh 35:33

Exactly. Yeah, it could be with anything, most definitely, yeah, and I love the idea that how much water it took to bring this thing to life, and bringing in the nature aspect of it to that creates an even deeper relationship with our purchasing habits, right, and who we're supporting along the way. And there's some amazing people who are farming, you know, regeneratively, and bringing the land to life, rather than stripping it away. And that's a more advanced way of looking at our food, right. And if you're not there, that's completely fine. But you know, every time we purchase food, we also have the opportunity of investing in, you know, really sound supportive people and land and, you know, regenerating our planet, right. And so that's a, that's a very deep way of looking at food as well. But if you cultivate this mindfulness experience, you get there a lot quicker, and all of a sudden, food really does create or take a different role. You know, in our, in our lives, it's it's much bigger than just feeding us, right, we're feeding the world almost right, in how we're choosing the foods that we eat.

Stephanie Mara 36:47

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, little small places that you can even explore to start is kind of even looking up like local farmers markets, just to even get to know the people in your area that are growing your food, or, you know, the different offerings that maybe your local community has, I think it's a really small, easy way to start. Because it's financially there's like nothing, you know, you can just go there and walk around and just see what's available and like get to know your community a little bit more and how they interact with food. It's just kind of a really just, you know, very simple way to start with, like, what does like my community doing around relationship with food.

Callie Cavanaugh 37:29

Totally, yeah, and that brings in gratitude for me, at least if I go to the farmers market, I know where my food is being grown, to that person who grew it. And then I look at my plate, and I have that food on my plate, or, you know, I cooked and brought it to life, there's a deeper gratitude that I feel, you know, for that thing being on my plate, because I can, I can see and feel the person, right, who really brought the thing to life that is such a deep connection, you know, with my community, and it's very, to me, it's very rewarding.

Stephanie Mara 38:00

Yeah, and I just really hear you bringing in this very different aspect of sometimes we can look at food and kind of see like, what is it giving us like emotionally, you know, a lot, I know that individuals here sometimes are navigating patterns of emotional eating or binge eating or just struggling in their relationship with food. And sometimes just even seeing this of like, okay, like, there's nothing wrong with this cookie, or this brownie or this thing that I'm having, like, whatever it is that you have labeled, like a quote unquote bad food, like even starting to see, these are just ingredients like you even call them tools like someone uses tools to, like, make this food that I'm having this emotional experience with right now. And it's okay to have that emotional experience with it. And you can even bring in the things that we're talking about today of okay, like, how did this piece of pie get to my plate to like provide this emotional grounding right now? There, you know, like, you can play with this in any particular moment.

Callie Cavanaugh 39:01

Yeah, yeah. It's almost bewildering, to think, sometimes for me to look at the plate of food and just see kind of the cycle to how it how it got there. And it may it's kind of to me almost like looking at the stars, you know, when you can see whole bright sky of stars and really like how small I am in relationship to the stars, and in a beautiful way, right? Just like wow, we're connected with this crazy galaxy. And I just, I still don't understand it and right, but almost, I know this is a really kind of weird contrast, but I feel like a plate of food can almost be similar, right? And just seeing the cycle of how it got here and how it's feeding us and we're feeding it at the same time and just the cycle of life is present and it's it's a very beautiful thing.

Stephanie Mara 39:52

Yeah, absolutely. Not out there at all. I mean when we think we are being connected to our surroundings. Absolutely, yeah, because like, there, there was rain and there was sun and there was all sorts, there was people and there was different hands involved in creating this food that is there that even if it's your own experience, that you're having a binge eating experience with that food, you know, sometimes even imagining why, like, what created this food for me to have this experience right now sometimes can even start to slow you down, to be in relationship with that food that even in a moment that it's emotionally supporting you, you know, can start to get you back into your body, to feel more of that calm relaxation response. So I think what you're suggesting lends itself to a lot of different areas, regardless if you are in a relaxed moment where you feel like, Oh, I really want to practice this mindful eating right now. Or you're in a moment where you're more in that fight or flight response, bringing in kind of that mindful eating can be sometimes a great place to start to start to slow you down to get back into your body of it's safe to connect with this food right now.

Callie Cavanaugh 41:01

Yes, most definitely. The other thing too, is if you're cooking your food, right, we talked about gratitude for the other people that brought the food here, but there's such a deeper connection, gratitude to yourself, right? And so there's an acknowledgement, right, you can actually sit and acknowledge yourself for providing the self care, right for this nourishment that you took the time for yourself. And I think that to me every day, is is incredibly rewarding.

Stephanie Mara 41:33

Yeah, I so love that you brought that in. I think that is also such a huge component of when you actually make yourself something or even if it's not you making it, let's say you buy a sandwich somewhere, you know, it could be like, oh, I want to appreciate myself that I took the time to make sure that my body was going to be nourished. And I did that for myself.

Callie Cavanaugh 41:55

Yes, exactly. Taking the time to even plan to have those healthy foods or nourishing foods, we'll just say right is a huge, huge step. You know, it's once again, those those little steps make us the best, right?

Stephanie Mara 42:10

Yeah, this has been such an inspirational conversation. I just am loving what you're doing in the world. And I want to make sure that we leave some time just for you to share, like, how can people keep in touch with you, you know, what are you doing in the world? Where can people find your offerings?

Callie Cavanaugh 42:27

Yeah, most definitely. Thank you so much. And thank you for taking the time. This has been wonderful. It's nourishing to me. So yes, I'm launching a series of eight week programs coming up this February 2023. So in those programs, we do digital and live small group experiences, you have a cohort, you're supported 24/7, you have one on one coaching calls with me where we actually work through these seven different components of The Eat In Method that I mentioned earlier, from theory on kitchens, organizing and building, planning, cooking, eating all together, right. And so we actually start to ingrain these healthy habits together. So that's one way that's it's really incredible, incredible way to kind of transform our relationship with food, right, and really be connected, doing it with others. But I also have a book that supports that, I have a podcast myself, I also have some YouTube videos, and we will actually be creating a place where, you know, The Eat In Method is kind of like the most advanced version, right? If you're eating at home every day, and having this beautiful, connected experience around food, meaning you've you've really gotten somewhere, you know, after probably a lot of years of work, but along the way, you know, as you as we mentioned, right, there's, there's other foods and other restaurants, right and other ways to support ourselves. And so we're also creating a place with such resources where we can really support our community and support ourselves with nourishing food, but maybe not, doesn't always have to look, you know, perfect, right? And so what are the other other ways that we can actually just create these healthy habits no matter where we are on our journey, so I still don't know what that looks like and where that will be. But if you find my my website, there'll be some beta testing throughout the year with with those kinds of resources.

Stephanie Mara 44:23

Awesome. Well, you're doing such important work in the world. And just thank you for sharing your wisdom today, just loved this conversation. And I will put all of those links in the show notes so individuals can find all of those. And as always, for those listening, you know, if you have any questions, reach out anytime, here for you every step of the way of this food and body adventure, and I will connect with you all again really, really soon. Bye!

Keep in touch with Callie here:

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Contact: callie@nonnaeats.com