In this week’s episode of Thrive Beyond Size, Michelle takes you to a tiny table in Canmore, Alberta, where a seven-course chef’s tasting menu becomes so much more than “just dinner.” After choosing the vegan “gatherer” menu, she’s guided through each course like a story—learning where the ingredients came from, how the flavors and textures play together, and what each dish is designed to awaken. Somewhere between the foraged mushrooms and a pot pie-level craving for something creamy and warm, Michelle realizes how present she feels: quiet mind, soft body, senses sharpened. From there, she unpacks why our senses aren’t decorative when it comes to eating—they’re biologically woven into digestion, satisfaction, and safety. She breaks down sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste as core parts of attuned eating, explores how diet culture has taught us to fear pleasure, and explains why satisfaction is a biological need, not an indulgence. Finally, she invites you to experiment with one meal this week where you let all five senses guide you, not as a performance, but as a way of coming home to your body.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Michelle’s seven-course tasting menu experience in Canmore and how it unexpectedly woke something up inside her
• How sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste are all biologically tied into digestion and satisfaction
• Why beautifully plated food, enticing smells, and even the clink of cutlery can change how nourished you feel
• The role of texture and temperature in attuned eating (and how “creamy and hot and smooth” led her straight to halibut pot pie)
• How diet culture makes pleasure suspicious and teaches us to distrust foods that taste “too good”
• Why satisfaction is a biological need and how lack of satisfaction fuels feeling out of control around food
• What happens in your body when you shift into “rest and digest” and eat from a place of nervous system safety
• A simple experiment you can try with one meal this week to engage all five senses and notice what softens and what awakens

If you try this five-senses experiment with a meal, Michelle would love to hear how it goes. You can connect with her on Instagram @wayzahealth or by email at [email protected].

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