Wellness Coach Teaches ‘Ending the War’ With Unhealthy Diet

Last Monday, Machon L’Yahadus hosted the “Ending the War Inside” event for one of its alum of over 20 years ago, Chana Gorenstein.

Chana, a shlucha, writer, teacher and food and wellness coach living in Eretz Yisroel with her family, presented the community with a look into the world of unhealthy relationships with food through the lens of Torah, the paradigm of war and modern psychology.

Quoting Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Chana set the tone of the evening: “The story of the Yidden, in general… is a story of recovery and healing, growth and maturity. The journeys, trials and travails of the Jewish people are a template for us on how to live our lives. A guide and path to discovering our truest and deepest selves.”

Regardless of whether a woman’s relationship with food is based on her nature or nurture, Chana showcased a novel approach to leaving one’s food constraints.

In addition to sharing her personal story as a recovered food addict and her professional coaching experience, she discussed what she considers her spoils of war – the tenets to Inside Out Eating. “This approach includes a system and framework based on the Torah on how to integrate Tools for Living Consciously-TLC- starting with the food.”

“The approach promotes boundaried living as the path to one’s healthiest self. It teaches tools that foster Inside Out Eating- eating that reflects one’s higher self. It empowers a woman to reclaim her power in the face of temptation, overwhelm, or in a moment of defeat, instead of turning to food,” Chana says.

As a professional coach interested in sharing the goal of food freedom “one step at a time,” Chana provided the audience with the ammunition which she calls the “Freedom 4 Framework” to address the issue. She showed the audience how “לחם” is a “מלחמה”. By applying the 4 stages of leaving golus as outlined in the Torah to 4 different war strategies, through the 4 dimensions of the self one can find lasting freedom from the constraints one’s unhealthy relationship with food.

“Self Care is Soul Care,” Chana posited, illustrating how eating in a way that nourishes one’s highest self (which can look like and feel like a diet) is actually a derech leading to optimal and “Soulistic” living.

The crowd also partook in a mini journaling workshop. As a Creative Journaling teacher for Machon Alte and Chaya Mushka Seminary in Tzfat, Chana uses journaling as a self reflective tool to process and achieve integration.

“A person knows themselves best. I offered the ladies guided prompts to pull out their own inner clarity on this issue. The feedback was amazing. Just as no two faces are alike, no two battleplans, as I like to call them, are alike. All I do is help them find it, bring it out and integrate it,” Chana said.

“For some women, eating is a war, and it doesn’t have to be. Whether she is cleaning up disorderly eating, breaking bad eating habits or quelling a food addiction approaching the problem through the lens of the Torah with an extensive battle plan allows a woman to be victorious against her golus within,” Chana says.

To listen to the recording of the event, click here:
https://soul-care.co.il/recording/

Stay tuned for the upcoming Shuva Podcast where Chana is interviewed about her life and her upcoming Coaching Course.