From Supporting Recovery to Gender Transition: The Importance of Nutrition in the LGBTQ Community with Lulu Cook

Healing Conversations for Men Who Have Sex with Men

Lulu Cook is a dietitian, counselor, and nutrition therapist. When one of her loved ones identified as transgender and began to transition, she looked high and wide to find food resources to help them through their journey and better fuel their body. She couldn’t find any information! Today, Lulu educates how the LGBTQ community is underserved in this area and some of the food concerns you need to think about if you’re in recovery or transitioning into a new body.

TAKEAWAYS:

[1:45] Are the nutritional/food needs of the LGBTQ community really that much different from the hetero community?

[5:30] Disordered eating and body dissatisfaction are huge in lesbian, gay, and trans populations.

[6:15] Gay men struggle with aging. They often feel invisible as they get older.

[8:55] The overall message you get as an LGBTQ member is that you’re not normal, and that’s not okay.

[9:40] When it comes to drug addiction and recovery, Lulu shares some of the challenges people might be facing when it comes to getting the right nutrients.

[14:45] What foods should you be eating when you’re in recovery?

[20:15] How can we speed up the healing of the dopamine receptors?

[23:15] Lulu couldn’t find any information about diet and nutrition for trans people undergoing a transition. However, she sheds some light into what health risks you need to think about when undergoing hormonal therapy.

[26:35] Unfortunately there’s still a lack of research on the health risks of hormonal therapy.

[27:30] What’s Lulu’s latest book about?

[29:45] Interested in queer health? Please consider signing up for a study conducted by the University of California at San Francisco.

RESOURCES:

Lulucook.com

Pridestudy.org

QUOTES:

• “When our dopamine receptors are inpaired due to substances, it impairs our ability to assess hunger and the reward value we get from eating.”
• “Some of the side effects of hormonal therapy are changes of body composition, weight gain, blood lipid values, bone composition is also likely to change.”
• “Trans men, F to M, are likely to have increased risks for lipid values/blood fat values, higher risks for cardiovascular disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.”
• “Trans women, M to F, who are on estrogen therapy, have higher risks of different kinds of embolisms and strokes, as well as high hypertension and type 2 diabetes.”