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Nutritionism reduces food to nutrients, overlooking the broader context of health.

Social media and wellness marketing often fuel anxiety by promoting nutritional optimization.

Rigid food rules can contribute to anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and eating disorders.

Psychological flexibility around food is an important part of overall health.

Most of us have heard the message that food is medicine. Research has consistently shown that eating patterns can influence health. But somewhere along the way, many of us stopped seeing food as something that nourishes, satisfies, connects us with others, and brings pleasure. Instead, food has increasingly become a collection of protein grams, fiber targets, antioxidants, and micronutrients to optimize. This way of thinking has a name: nutritionism.

Coined by Australian sociologist Gyorgy Scrinis and later popularized by journalist Michael Pollan, nutritionism describes the tendency to reduce food to its individual nutrients while overlooking the complexity of how people actually eat and live. Health becomes something we believe we can achieve by optimizing nutrients rather than considering the whole picture. While nutrition science can absolutely inform our understanding of health, nutritionism often strips that science of context.

The Illusion of Control

Health is determined by much more than what appears on our plates. Sleep, stress, genetics, relationships,........

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