Lee Cotton

Cotton distinguishes eating disorders as diagnosed mental illnesses with among the highest mortality rates.

“It is one of the highest mortalities of mental illnesses. So it is something to take serious”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 18:26

Cotton advises small, realistic nutrition goals because they build momentum toward bigger changes.

“Because small changes are doable and they actually set the momentum to bigger changes”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 17:19

Cotton argues that parents' dialogue at the dinner table shapes children's relationship with food into adulthood.

“a dialogue that you have at the table really impacts your children and it will impact them until adulthood”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 10:11

Cotton says a common problem among midlife women is undereating, which can harm hormones.

“one of the things I do find a lot of people doing is not eating enough”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 32:20

Cotton reports seeing more restrictive eating among women in perimenopause and menopause who feel out of control amid life changes.

“they felt out of control in their life. So they started to look for food as their control”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 31:01

Cotton says she changed careers from public relations to dietetics because of her own struggles with food.

“I changed careers in my 20s, actually mid-30s, from public relations and PR to become a dietician because of my own personal struggles I had with food”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 6:19

Cotton recounts that as a teenager she restricted food because she did not feel she mattered.

“that word, matter, was something that I didn't feel like I mattered. So if I shrunk myself or disappeared, it wouldn't really matter”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 0:19

Cotton warns that cancer patients' over-the-counter supplements can be contraindicated with treatment and urges working with an oncology dietitian.

“just really wishing for that miracle in a bottle. And a lot of times some of these medications are over the counter”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 52:14

Cotton says people with trauma often turn to food as something they can control or use to cope.

“sometimes people that have trauma will look to food as something that they can control”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 47:43

Cotton holds that no single diet suits everyone, as some do better plant-based and others on carnivore diets.

“Some people do better eating more plant-based. Some people do better eating more carnivore diets. It's really that person and that constitution”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 42:37

Cotton argues that fear around foods like seed oils can be more harmful than the foods themselves, and that quantity and preparation matter most.

“I also feel like the fear around certain foods can also become more harmful in their own as well”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 41:24

Cotton states she does not promote fasting and instead advocates eating breakfast for sustained energy.

“I personally, just because of the way that my philosophy is, I personally do not promote fasting”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 33:41

Cotton believes the body-acceptance movement has backtracked because of new weight-loss medications.

“i feel like we've almost backtracked with a lot of the new medications for weight loss and it's really in the forefront again the shrinking society that we have”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 19:52

Cotton says research indicates the gut is central to mental health and wellbeing.

“they've done research indicating that the gut really is the powerhouse for our mental health and our mental wellbeing”

Passion Struck with John R. Miles: Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841 (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 13:56