Your Relationship With Food Is Really a Relationship With Yourself | Lee Cotton - EP 841
Episode of Passion Struck with John R. Miles · November 3, 2026 · 57 min
Host John R. Miles and dietitian Lee Cotton discuss how self-worth, childhood messages, trauma, menopause and mindful eating shape people's relationships with food.
Summary
In this episode, which opened the show's November series The Art of a Life Well Lived, John R. Miles spoke with registered dietitian Lee Cotton about her book A Nourishing Perspective. Cotton explained that she left a career in public relations to become a dietitian after her own struggles with food. She described how she restricted her eating as a teenager because she did not feel she mattered.
The conversation covered how childhood food rules such as the "Clean Your Plate Club" stay with people into adulthood, the distinction between disordered eating and diagnosed eating disorders, and the gut-brain connection. Cotton argued that new weight-loss medications and social media had set back the body-acceptance movement. She also said she was seeing more disordered eating among midlife women going through perimenopause and menopause. Miles shared his experiences with intermittent fasting, front-loading meals, antibiotics and gut health, and losing his sense of taste during COVID.
Cotton consistently stressed individualized nutrition. She said she does not promote fasting, advocates eating breakfast, and is wary of instilling fear around foods such as seed oils. She said she had personally studied many diets before settling on her own approach. She also discussed mindful and intuitive eating, her LOVE framework, the role of trauma and stress in eating, and nutrition during cancer treatment. Her central message was the affirmation "you are worthy of nourishment."
Chapters
- 0:43
Introduction and series launch
Miles introduces the November series on living well and his guest, dietitian Lee Cotton, author of A Nourishing Perspective.
- 5:39
Self-worth and food
Cotton explains why her book opens with a woman questioning her worth in the mirror and how self-worth ties to eating and appearance.
- 8:07
Childhood food messages
The pair discuss the Clean Your Plate Club, family table dynamics, and how childhood food language persists into adulthood.
- 10:38
Gut health and the mind-body-spirit connection
Cotton discusses the spiritual aspect of honoring hunger cues and the gut microbiome's link to mental health, and Miles describes how antibiotics affect him.
- 15:20
Goals, disordered eating and body image
Cotton stresses realistic goals, distinguishes disordered eating from eating disorders, and argues weight-loss drugs have revived a 'shrinking culture.'
- 20:57
What food represents and food memories
They explore food as reward, comfort and love, with Miles recalling Little League ice cream and his grandfather's barbecue.
- 29:45
Menopause, fasting and meal timing
Cotton describes disordered eating in midlife women and the risks of undereating, and the two discuss fasting, breakfast and front-loading meals.
- 37:41
Nutrition education, diet myths, seed oils and diet choice
Cotton covers lifespan nutrition, the history of diet culture, her non-fearful view of seed oils, and her individualized approach to diets.
- 42:55
Mindful eating, inner voice and trauma
Cotton explains mindful eating, her LOVE framework, the inner voice, and how trauma and stress drive food choices.
- 49:10
Mattering, control and invisibility
Cotton recounts restricting food as a teen because she felt she didn't matter and urges people struggling to seek help.
- 51:08
Cancer nutrition and closing advice
Cotton advises working with oncology dietitians, shares her favorite affirmation and career-change advice, and Miles previews the next episode.
Key points
What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- 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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- John R. Miles
Miles says intermittent fasting worked for him for years but later left him with lower energy, moodiness and weight gain, which improved when he front-loaded calories.
“I was getting moodier. I was getting hangry. And then I was putting on weight and I couldn't figure out why”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
- Lee Cotton
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”
People
In the conversation
- John R. MilesHost of the Passion Struck podcast and author of The Mattering Effect
- Lee CottonRegistered dietitian and author of A Nourishing Perspective
Discussed
- Chris PalmerHarvard psychiatrist who studies links between metabolic and mental health
- Morley RobbinsWellness author who discussed seed oil production on Passion Struck
- Gabrielle LyonPhysician known for muscle-centric medicine
- Terry WahlsPhysician known for diet-based approaches to chronic illness
- Steven GundryPhysician and author known for microbiome-focused diet advice
- Carly BodrugCreator of Plant You and author of Plant You Quickies, the next episode's guest
Topics
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From the publisher
On Episode 841 of Passion Struck, John R. Miles and Lee explore the emotional stories, childhood messages, cultural pressures, and personal experiences that influence how we eat.
Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on November 4, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.