See five ways to add joy to your meal

This season of the “Chasing Life With Dr. Sanjay Gupta” podcast, CNN's medical correspondent explored the topic of Weight : What it really says about your health, why it's so hard to lose weight, how new ones work medicines for diet and its connections with the menopause .

Whether you're satisfied with your body or not, following a special diet, or eating whatever you want whenever you want, the basic fact of life—inescapable, inescapable, non-negotiable—is that we all need to eat. If we are privileged, up to five times a day, all of them.

How you choose to eat can make a big difference to how you feel, not just about your body, but also about yourself and the world around you.

“I had a nanny who was a chronic dieter,” said Dr. Linda Shiue, a medical intern and trained chef. “She ate this colorless, aromaless food, and she was always sad.” That's not Shiue's style.

She is the first director of culinary medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. It was there that she founded “Thrive Kitchen,” a teaching kitchen for patients, with the goal of doing more than just prescribing medications for chronic conditions.

She wanted to create a place where she could teach them how to make healthy food taste good. “They think it's deprivation, loss of joy and even penance,” said Shiue, who is also the author of “Spicebox Kitchen: Eat Well and Be Healthy with Globally Inspired, Plant-Based Recipes.” “It’s colorless, it’s bland, it’s textureless, it’s flavorless and we shouldn’t like it.”

Similar to her cookbook, Shiue's classes show patients how to use spices and herbs to flavor seasonal cuisine while following an eating pattern that supports their health.

“As a lifelong food lover and a doctor who has seen the negative effects of chronic dieting, I encourage people to reframe their relationship with food as sources of pleasure, cultural connection, and well-being, regardless of weight. This can be a difficult task given the pro-diet message that surrounds us,” Shiue said in an email.

What can you do to get out of the diet mindset and actually enjoy your food? Shiue has five tips.

1. Stop defining foods as good or bad

Food isn't intrinsically good or bad, so there's no need to feel bad about your food choices. “Many of us have experienced shame or guilt around food, and much of this is a product of our culture, what the food industry has taught us, and what the fad and diet industries have created,” said Shiue.”

“Even though we as individuals may think we don't care that much about this message, it has reached all of us — it's in our subconscious,” she said. “I think at some point people have felt like, 'Oh, I shouldn't eat that. This is bad for me. It could affect my weight.”

Shiue wants to help people stop thinking this way. “There is no room for shame on the plate,” she said, carefully choosing her language around food.

“In diet culture, people talk about 'cheat' days (but) I prefer to celebrate 'treat' days. Everything in moderation, and that means there is room for the occasional excess,” she said.

2. Don't go on diets

Restrictive diets are counterproductive because most of us will not be able to follow them perfectly and forever. “Study after study has proven that the best eating plan is one that anyone can stick to — a sustainable lifestyle change,” said Shiue.

“Instead of restricting, add more of the foods that science shows us are best for our health: lots of leaves, legumes and whole grains. This will improve your health even if you're not eating 'perfectly' all the time, and even if you don't lose weight,” she said.

Shiue admitted to not always eating properly and having a sweet tooth. She said she allows herself to enjoy her favorite snacks — just not all the time.

3. Listen to your body

Feed intuitively.

“That means several things,” Shiue said. “First, are you really hungry or are you fulfilling an emotional need, such as anxiety, sadness or fatigue?”

“How does food make you feel after eating? Do you feel comfortably full, or do you feel stuffed? How is your energy level after ingesting it?” she said. “When you pay attention to these feelings, your body will guide you to make the healthiest food choices for you.”

Additionally, eat mindfully, which, according to Shiue, doesn't mean meditating on your food. “It means when you're eating, just focus on the pleasure of it,” she said. “Eat slowly. Chew your food. […] Also pay attention to when you are full.”

4. Recover your culinary heritage

Healthy diets can come from a variety of ethnicities and customs, and can contain an abundance of flavors and ingredients.

“Many people have been taught that so-called 'cultural food' is unhealthy,” Shiue said. “People are told, 'Oh no, no: The food you eat, that's why you have diabetes. You have to eat this kind of standard diet, the healthy American diet.'”

However, she said that many people from different backgrounds either don't want to switch diets, or don't know how, or it just doesn't work — and, Shiue said, they really don't need to. “The traditional diet of each culture contains healthy foods and should be celebrated, with pleasure,” she said.

5. Think beyond calories

Remember that food is more than just a way to simply stay alive.

“Nutrition and sustenance — that’s just a small part of food,” Shiue said. “Food is, for me, mainly pleasure. It’s a connection with myself, with my loved ones, with my culture.”

She added that food is also an expression of love and care. “Enjoy your food,” she said.

CNN Audio's Jennifer Lai contributed to this story