Rebuilding Our Relationship with Food (Coursera)

Offered by Stanford University,
Rebuilding Our Relationship with Food (Coursera)

Have you ever made a conscious effort to change the way you eat (for health or other reasons) and then felt frustrated when your plans were derailed? You’re not alone. The best laid plans are often sabotaged by a food environment that makes it increasingly hard to make healthier food choices. This can leave many people feeling mistrustful of food or feeling that our relationship with food is somehow broken. In this course, we’ll explore the history of our changing food environment, the science behind cravings for unhealthy foods AND most importantly, you’ll learn some concrete strategies for rebuilding your relationship with food.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

You’ll learn to practice mindful eating and self-compassion (proven strategies for supporting healthier food choices) as well as designing a customized plan to protect your relationship with food and improve the health of your greatest asset - you! I can’t wait to start on this adventure together.

What You Will Learn

  • How to practice mindful eating or food mindfulness.
  • How to practice self-compassion and rebuild your relationship with food.

Course 2 of 3 in the Food Sustainability, Mindful Eating, and Healthy Cooking Specialization

Syllabus

WEEK 1
What Happened to Our Relationship with Food?
In this module, we’ll examine how the commercial food industry separates us from our food and how this impacts our long-term health. We’ll explore how attitudes towards food can differ across different global regions and different cultures and how our attitudes toward food can affect our health. Finally, we’ll examine the ways in which food can support our optimal performance at work or at play.

WEEK 2
Moderation, Balance, and Food
In this module, we’ll learn about why traditional, restrictive “diets” often fail us, how to begin reframing our thinking about food from “Am I allowed to eat this?” to “Is this food

WEEK 3
How to Practice Self-Compassion and Moderation
In this module you’ll learn about the components of self-compassion, a practice that can be used to support healthier food choices and eating behaviors. You’ll also learn about how our taste receptors respond to quantity vs quality and how we can use this knowledge to maximize our eating experience while protecting our health!

WEEK 4
Practicing Mindful Eating (Loving the Foods That Will Love You Back)
In this module, we’ll explore some of the ways in which we can rebuild a longstanding relationship with our food, by observing our own behaviors and developing customized strategies for letting go of habits that don’t serve us well. We’ll also learn more about the practice of mindful eating and how we can incorporate that practice into our daily lives.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

The New Nordic Diet - from Gastronomy to Health (Coursera) Coursera
University of Copenhagen

The New Nordic Diet - from Gastronomy to Health (Coursera)

The New Nordic Diet is a new food culture developed in 2009-13 with key emphasis on gastronomy, health, and environment. Major research in its effect on acceptability, behaviour and learning skills, and disease prevention have been conducted by the OPUS centre at the University of Copenhagen and the people behind the award-winning restaurant Noma in Copenhagen. This course will give the participants the opportunity to experience a healthy and palatable new food and eating concept diet “The New Nordic Diet” and an understanding of how food and diets can affect mental and physical health and ensure the foundation for a healthier life style for future generations with a regional based diet and food culture.

Aug 31st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Identifying Food Fraud (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of East Anglia

Identifying Food Fraud (FutureLearn)

An introduction to modern analytical science techniques and how they can be used to uncover food fraud. The food industry is one of the most important commercial sectors in the world. Everyone uses it, but how many people abuse it? As we witness the increasing globalisation of the supply chain, a growing challenge is verifying the questionable identity of raw materials in the food we eat.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Feeding a Hungry Planet: Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainability (edX) EdX
SDGAcademyX,SDG Academy

Feeding a Hungry Planet: Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainability (edX)

How do we create a healthy and sustainable diet for the growing world population? Agriculture is more than waving fields of wheat; our ability to grow food from existing natural resources – and without decimating those resources – is key to sustainably feeding the world. In this course, learn about food security worldwide, the effects of malnutrition, how we manage ecosystems that provide food resources and more.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Food and Mood: Improving Mental Health Through Diet and Nutrition (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Deakin University,Food & Mood Centre

Food and Mood: Improving Mental Health Through Diet and Nutrition (FutureLearn)

Explore the relationship between nutrition and brain health, why it matters, and how to work towards positive food changes. Learn how healthy dietary choices can improve your mental and brain health. Poor diet and poor mental health are the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. We now know that diet quality is a modifiable factor that is linked to mental and brain health across all stages of our lives. We will explore how our daily diets may affect our mental and brain health, including the role of our immune system and gut microbiome.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Introduction to Environmental Science (edX) EdX
DartmouthX,Dartmouth College

Introduction to Environmental Science (edX)

A scientific study of the natural world and how it is influenced by people. Major topics include: food, energy, human population, biodiversity and global change. Environmental science is the study of patterns and processes in the natural world and their modification by human activity. To understand current environmental problems, we need to consider physical, biological and chemical processes that are often the basis of those problems.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Unravelling solutions for Future Food problems (Coursera) Coursera
Universiteit Utrecht

Unravelling solutions for Future Food problems (Coursera)

Our society depends on the availability of food and accessibility to it. According to the United Nations nearly 800 million people are hungry and on the other hand, over 650 million people are obese. While many people in developing countries experience food shortage, in industrialized countries people are throwing food away. These facts show how paradoxical and complex the world’s food problem is.

Sep 6th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Food and Our Environment (Coursera) Coursera
Stanford University

Introduction to Food and Our Environment (Coursera)

This course is designed to help learners around the world become more sustainable eaters. Together, we’ll explore key topics, like how food production impacts the environment and why meat production and protein consumption are often at the center of the debate around sustainability. We’ll introduce the pros and cons of different kinds of agriculture, fishing and food packaging, with a focus on how we can make more environmentally friendly decisions on a daily basis. We’ll also look ahead and explore some of the technology innovations that could become increasingly important as we look at the future of food for a growing global population.

Aug 31st 2026
4 Weeks
Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems: the Nexus between Water, Energy and Food (Coursera) Coursera
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems: the Nexus between Water, Energy and Food (Coursera)

In this course you will become familiar with the ideas of the water-energy-food nexus and transdisciplinary thinking. You will learn to see your community or country as a complex social-ecological system and to describe its water, energy and food metabolism in the form of a pattern, as well as to map the categories of social actors.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Sustainable Global Food Systems (edX) EdX
University of Edinburgh,EdinburghX

Sustainable Global Food Systems (edX)

How do we feed 11 billion people? Discover the importance of sustainable food systems on a global scale. We are currently facing one of the biggest challenges worldwide: how to feed a growing population without exhausting global resources. This course examines food security from a food systems perspective and illustrates the major global challenges present, from the environmental impact of food production to the public health impacts of current and future diets.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Food Science and Nutrition: From the Farm to You (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Food Science and Nutrition: From the Farm to You (FutureLearn)

Follow food’s fascinating journey from the farm to your body and explore new food technologies and nutrition around the world. Discover the science of food and understand the value of nutrition in our diets. On this course, you’ll learn how food science and nutrition helps us to understand and study the fascinating world of food.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Designing Your Personal Weight Loss Plan (Coursera) Coursera
Case Western Reserve University

Designing Your Personal Weight Loss Plan (Coursera)

This 5 week course will guide learners through the essential steps in planning an individualized weight loss program. There is no guarantee of weight loss through completing the course; learners will have the framework and essential components for an evidence-based weight loss program. This course is intended for healthy adults who do not have any chronic disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease or any others. In addition, this course does not provide information for people who have food allergies or intolerances. Losing weight and keeping it off requires planning and goal-setting. Crash diets or fad diets are ineffective and can be dangerous. This course provides evidence-based information for planning a weight loss program that is safe and effective in producing a one to two pound loss per week.

Nov 20th 2023
5-12 Weeks