Do you enjoy spending time in the kitchen? Then you will love this week’s episode of the Wake the F*** Up. Our guest Laura Lea Bryant is a certified holistic chef and breakup coach with more than 10 years of expertise in the wellness industry.Laura Lea and Alix kick off this episode by discussing their mutual love for cooking and the way food has been a major theme in both of their lives. For Alix, it goes back to her first husband Carl and his career as a chef and restaurateur in New Orleans. For Laura Lea, it started with culinary school and a cooking career that has led her to write three cookbooks.Keeping on the thread of food and emotions, Alix and David delve into the challenges of blending two different families at the dinner table, especially when it comes to different relationships with food. Finding common ground through preparing meals did not come easily at first! David’s family typically ate a lot of meals in a hurry, rather than seated around a dinner table. One of the first meals Alix prepared for David and their children were 10-hour braised cheeseburgers with about 15 sides. Needless to say, they had to find a middle ground. Eventually they did, and now their family has frequent sit-down dinners together. Alix highlights this as a great tool, especially for blended families, to create stability amidst change.The conversation then shifted to grief, divorce, and breakups. Laura Lea shares some of the grief lessons she took from her divorce and a difficult breakup, while Alix and David reflected on how divorce can be just as difficult as losing a spouse, with ongoing grief and societal pressures to move on quickly. They also touch on attachment theory and how that framework can help you better understand relationships and navigate heartbreaks. Alix and Laura Lea also talked about their shared understanding of personalized grief and recognizing that everyone's grief journey is unique. Laura Lea talks about how she works with clients using a form of cognitive behavioral therapy inspired by the work of Pia Melody, and Alix shared that she has been studying similar strategies for breaking negative thought patterns and codependence. There’s a lot to learn here, from reframing thoughts, to incremental changes, repetition, self-regulation, co-regulation, and daily practice.We wrap up the conversation talking about food as a holistic healing tool for people going through acute grief and loss. Stick around for the end of the episode as Laura Lea shares some specific foods she recommends for people going through grief, heartbreak, or a really challenging season of life, and the science behind why they work.
