Food, lifestyle, and travel journalist Stephanie Zubiri introduces “Soulful Feasts,” a podcast dedicated to holistic nourishment—encompassing well-being, relationships, and personal growth. In this series, Stephanie holds meaningful conversations around health, mind and movement, and family and connections together with experts and resources well-versed in their respective fields.
Spread across 10 episodes in its initial season, the podcast offers food for the soul and practical bite-sized advice— whether you're looking to reduce stress, improve your sleep, or deepen your spiritual connection. After every few episodes is a meditation session, offering calm and tranquility to overwhelmed minds, bodies, and spirits.
Stephanie shares, “I entered into this project with one goal in mind—to be as authentic as possible and to share with a broader audience what I've learned from my own personal journey as well as the wisdom of experts and other inspiring people. By making small changes and focusing on being kinder, gentler and more compassionate– especially to yourself– you can `have a big impact.”
Soulful Feasts is for anyone who feels like they want to spark positive change today. At the end of every episode, Stephanie and her guests will give "one thing you can do today" to take that step to feeling better, whether physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. “Once you shift your perspective that in fact, body, mind and spirit are all one, it's incredibly empowering,” Stephanie assures.
THE ROAD TO HOLISTIC WELLNESS
A life rooted in a love for food and yoga as well as major life events led Stephanie to take on holistic wellness as a lifestyle. “Food is such a pillar of my life. I started my career as a food writer, host of a food show, chef and restaurant owner,” she shares. Her research on provenance eventually translated into exploring food’s nutritional value and how it can really help change lives in terms of health, emotions, and overall well-being. “I have always used food as part of my wellness journey, along with a lifelong yoga practice. I’ve been doing yoga since high school and always keep coming back to it.”
She intimates, too, that leaving her marriage in 2019 and raising her two children through the pandemic were big turning points in her life.
“I decided that I wanted to take charge and that I needed to be the most healed version of myself for my children and loved ones. I need to spend time and dig deep into my psyche and tackle all my past trauma so I can move forward in the best way possible.”
It was then that Stephanie embraced therapy—beginning with Jungian Psychology and then as a yoga practitioner, with meditation and breathwork. She recalls just “diving deeper and deeper into the different ways she could reach her full expansive potential!”
THE PODCAST AS PART OF THE HEALING PROCESS
The conversations within “Soulful Feasts” hold deep meaning and are very personal to Stephanie. “Part of this journey is honing my own intuition, tuning into our own internal wisdom, reminding myself and others that all the light we need is inside us,” she shares.
In the first episode, “Raising a neurodivergent child,” Stephanie sits down with renowned journalist Karen Davila and her son David to discuss the challenges and rewards of raising a child on the spectrum. In the midst of discussing stigmas surrounding neurodiversity, dietary approaches, educational options, and practical advice for families and caregivers, Stephanie publicly shares for the first time about her son, Max, who is also neurodivergent.
“It has been an incredible journey to watch Max bloom! We hope to encourage people to become proactive in addressing neurodiversity as early as possible. I feel like these podcasts are all therapy sessions for me and hopefully for our listeners! It's actually been scary but liberating to put myself out there and not have a curated or edited filter!”
THE PHILIPPINES AS A MARKET FOR WELLNESS CONTENT
Mel Lozano-Alcaraz, head of ANIMA Podcasts, shares that the demand for wellness content across platforms has been on the rise, and the Philippines is no exception.
“A recent study found that the Philippines is the second-largest consumer of wellness content in the world, after the United States. Podcast-wise, mental health is one of the top 3 genres in the Philippines. So when Stephanie approached us with her idea, it was a no-brainer,” he said.
She shares a number of reasons for the growing demand for wellness content: “One reason is that people are becoming more aware of the importance of physical and mental health. They are looking for ways to improve their health and well-being, and wellness content can provide them with the information and support they need. Another reason for the growing demand for wellness content is that people are looking for ways to live more fulfilling and meaningful lives. Wellness content can help people to identify their goals, develop a plan to achieve them, and overcome challenges along the way.”
Mel adds, “Working with Stephanie on Soulful Feasts was a true collaboration that did not compromise her advocacies and our creative decisions. I’d like to think of this podcast as that healthy snack that you love to munch on because you know it's good for your body, mind, and spirit.”
New episodes of Soulful Feasts are released every Tuesday beginning October 3rd. Follow the show today on Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) and start filling your soul with only the good stuff.