Eat Less, Weigh Less.
WITH ‘Whole Person’ Nourishment.
Discover the science-backed Whole Person Integrative Eating® dietary lifestyle that empowers you to overcome overeating and overweight by nourishing yourself physically, and also emotionally, spiritually, and socially.
WITHOUT DIETING.
Discover
A Re-Visioning Of Nutritional Health
The Whole Person Integrative Eating (WPIE)® program offers documented proof that it is possible to overcome overeating, overweight, and obesity by nourishing yourself multidimensionally each time you eat. The WPIE program, which is based on groundbreaking, scientific studies by nutrition researcher Deborah Kesten and behavioral scientist Larry Scherwitz, reveals how overeating, overweight, and obesity may be halted, even reversed, by replacing their newly discovered, new-normal overeating styles, with the antidotes: the ancient/new elements of their Whole Person Integrative Eating dietary lifestyle.
The paradigm-shifting, well-researched message in Whole Person Integrative Eating is that food influences not only the physical dimensions of health and healing, but also your emotional, spiritual, and social well-being.
Because it is scientifically sound, the WPIE dietary lifestyle can build bridges between the millions who struggle with overeating, weight issues, and other diet-related chronic conditions and the medical community. And it can inspire you to re-envision your relationship to food, eating, and weight, so that each time you eat, you are nourished…for life.
TEDx Talk: Make Weight Loss Last
By DEBORAH KESTEN
Founder, Whole Person Integrative Eating
Research
The Scientific Evidence
Our original research proves it is possible to overcome overeating, overweight, and obesity by nourishing yourself multidimensionally each time you eat.
The Scientific Foundation of Whole Person Integrative Eating
Nutrition researcher Deborah Kesten and behavioral scientist Larry Scherwitz’s Whole Person Integrative Eating® (WPIE) program is the first scientifically sound dietary lifestyle showing that overeating, overweight, and obesity may be halted, even reversed, by replacing the “new normal” overeating styles they have discovered with the ancient, perennial principles of their Whole Person Integrative Eating dietary lifestyle.
Ancient Food Wisdom, Modern Science
By tracing the role of food through the wisdom traditions and then validating ancient food wisdom with modern nutritional science, their Whole Person Integrative Eating program reveals that there is more to food than its ability to sustain us physically: it also nourishes us emotionally, spiritually, and socially. The end result: an integrative, “whole person” model and program that leads us back to a deeper, healthier relationship to food, eating, and weight loss.
Research Highlights
For more than 25 years, Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz have conducted research showing that food has a powerful influence on physical, emotional, spiritual, and social well-being (ergo, “whole person” integrative eating) and in turn, overeating, overweight, and obesity. Our Whole Person Integrative Eating® program is the first integrative dietary lifestyle for overcoming overeating, overweight, and obesity.
3 Key Components
#1. What’s Your Overeating Style? Self-Assessment Quiz
Our 76-item questionnaire identifies your unique food choices (what you eat) and eating behaviors (how, why, even where and with whom) that lead to overeating and to weight gain. The Quiz is statistically validated, meaning it dependably predicts overeating.
#2. The Overeating Styles
Our seven “new normal” overeating styles are scientifically validated patterns of eating that lead to overeating, overweight, and obesity. Each of the seven overeating styles strongly predict overeating and weight gain.
#3. Perennial Principles of WPIE
The Whole Person Integrative Eating dietary lifestyle is based on perennial food and nutrition themes that recur so often, they can be considered universal guidelines. These principles, which are the essence of the Whole Person Integrative Eating dietary lifestyle, are the antidotes to the overeating styles and ensuing weight gain.
Meet the 4 Facets of Food
The Four Facets of Food are the foundation of the Whole Person Integrative Eating program, because they provide guidelines for ‘whole person’ nourishment: biologically (what to eat for physical health), psychologically (how food affects feelings), spiritually (the life-giving meaning in meals), and socially (dining with others).
The 4 Facets of Food
With the discovery of the Four Facets of Food, we now know that food is a four-part gift: it nourishes us physically (Biological Nutrition), while also acknowledging the harder-to-measure healing dimensions of food, such as its link to emotions (Psychological Nutrition), spiritual well-being (Spiritual Nutrition), and community (Social Nutrition).
This four-facet way of eating makes connections between food and body, food and mind, food and soul, and food and social well-being. As the foundation of the Whole Person Integrative Eating® program, the Four Facets of Food make Whole Person Integrative Eating a holistic, integrative approach to food, weight, health and healing that addresses the power of food to heal multidimensionally.
CLICK on each facet to learn more.
Food Facet #1
BIOLOGICAL NUTRITION
If you’ve ever chosen a particular food after calculating its calorie, carb, or fat-gram content —perhaps with the intention of maintaining or losing weight—or selected a particular food for its health-enhancing nutrients, such as antioxidants, you’ve experienced the biological or physical facet of food. Biological Nutrition explores the power of balanced nutrients (such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, etc.) in fresh, whole food: the kind of food that our ancestors ate for millennia, that has the power to heal versus today’s new normal of fast, processed, denatured food, which can lead to weight gain and a multitude of ailments.
Food Facet #2
PSYCHOLOGICAL NUTRITION
Do you ever wonder why you crave carrot cake instead of a carrot when you’re, say, anxious? Psychological Nutrition is about the facet of food that is linked to positive feelings and emotional well-being. Psychological Nutrition is an emerging field of mind-body nutrition research, which explores how food affects feelings via hormones (chemical messengers) that are released in the brain when we eat certain foods; and conversely, how thoughts and feelings often affect food choices.
Food Facet #3
SPIRITUAL NUTRITION
The Spiritual Nutrition facet of Whole Person Integrative Eating explores three “ingredients” (mindfulness, appreciation, and loving regard) of awareness that we bring to the mystery of life inherent in food. The three elements of Spiritual Nutrition are the essence of the food-related wisdom espoused by world religions and cultural traditions for thousands of years, prior to the evolution of nutritional science in the 20th century. Eating with awareness of the three ingredients of Spiritual Nutrition has the power to lead to weight loss, health, and healing in a multitude of ways.
Food Facet #4
SOCIAL NUTRITION
Think of a favorite food experience. Was it sharing food with some friends, family members, and coworkers, or were you dining at a table for one? The Social Nutrition facet of food is about the health-enhancing—and weight-loss benefits—that food can bring when you’re dining with people in a pleasant psychological and aesthetic atmosphere.
The Takeaway: Food is a 4-Part Gift
The paradigm-shifting, well-researched message in Whole Person Integrative Eating® (WPIE) is that food is a 4-part gift. It has the power to influence the physical dimensions of health. Balance emotions. Satisfy the soul. And connect us with others. The WPIE program also tells us that when we eat with awareness of the 4 facets of food—and put them into practice—it may be possible to halt, even reverse, overeating and overweight.
In other words, the Whole Person Integrative Eating® program affirms the multidimensional healing power of food, and leads us back to a deeper, healthier relationship to food, eating, and weight…for life.