Join us inside Empowered Surgeons Group here. What if your relationship with food had nothing to do with discipline and everything to do with your nervous system? In this conversation with Luis Mojica, we explore the connection between developmental trauma, chronic stress, and the way we relate to food. Luis shares his own story of using an eating disorder to cope with undiagnosed PTSD, and how that led him to question the traditional psychology model that focuses on behavior without getting curious about environment, physiology, or nutrition. His work in nutrition counseling revealed a pattern: people with unresolved trauma and chronic stress often struggle to stabilize their health in ways that have nothing to do with discipline and everything to do with their nervous system. We talk about food as a relationship. Not just something we consume, but something that becomes us. Our tissues, our skin, our blood. Food can stimulate, suppress, or balance the body, much like our relationships with people. Caffeine, sugar, and refined carbohydrates can activate the system. Rich, comforting foods can initially settle us but create downstream effects that dysregulate. Whole foods tend to support balance. This shifts the conversation away from good and bad foods and toward how different foods impact our internal state. We also unpack trauma as a physiological response rather than an event. The body mobilizes for fight or flight, and when that is not possible, it moves into freeze, collapse, or fawn. Many high achievers learn early how to override their own needs in order to belong. That override becomes a strength professionally, but it comes at a cost. Hunger signals, boundaries, and emotional cues all get muted, and over time there is a growing disconnection from the body. The same stress pathways that are activated in trauma can also be activated by the foods we eat. A big part of this conversation is reframing cravings. Instead of something to control, they can be understood as a signal. A compass pointing toward an unmet need. Luis shares examples from his work with patients, including how removing a coping mechanism too quickly can create more distress if we do not first understand what role it is playing. We talk about what it looks like to pause, get curious, and actually listen to what the body is communicating. We also go into practical tools. Tracking where tension or pressure lives in the body. Creating a sense of safety with simple physical cues. Working with numbness and understanding what is underneath it. For those of us in high intensity environments like surgery, this matters. The constant activation, sleep deprivation, and vicarious trauma create a baseline level of stress that most people never experience. In that context, food becomes more than fuel. It becomes a way to regulate. Meals and snacks can either amplify that stress or help bring it down. We close by talking about capacity versus desire. Many physicians love what they do, but their capacity to metabolize the constant input is maxed out. Without space to process, the system stays activated. Practices like pendulation, moving between states of activation and regulation, help rebuild that capacity. This is ultimately about returning to a more sovereign relationship with the body, supporting the microbiome, and understanding that even something as simple as fiber can play a meaningful role in restoring balance. Get Luis's book Food Therapy here. Follow Luis on instagram here.
