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Having deeper understanding of the brain and gut processes influencing eating behavior is fundamental to the study of Nutritional Psychology
Imagine this: You’re not hungry, but you find yourself reaching into the fridge. A stressful day, a memory, a habit, a moment of emotional fatigue—and suddenly, the snack feels inevitable. You’re not just responding to hunger; you’re responding to a complex network of cues wired deep into your brain.
What drives our eating behavior beyond hunger?
NP 320 helps decode that moment, not with blame, but with insight. In doing so, NP 320 invites you to rethink what it means to choose food. It reveals how our eating habits often reflect the adaptations of our brain and gut to modern environments, where stress, reward cues, and emotional patterns silently shape our decisions and food-related actions.
By tracing eating behavior through neural pathways, hormonal feedback, emotional regulation, and gut-brain communication, the course equips you to see food choices not as isolated decisions but as outcomes of integrated brain-body processes.
Understanding how nutrition influences the brain, and how the brain, in turn, shapes eating behavior, is the focus of this course. Through this lens, food becomes more than fuel—it becomes a modifiable input into the brain’s regulatory systems, opening new pathways for insight, intervention, and change.
NP 320 examines the neurobiological foundations of eating behavior through a deeply integrative, science-based lens, offering a comprehensive investigation into what and why we eat. Moving beyond simple hunger-satiety models to examine how interconnected systems, such as reward processing, memory, interoception, stress reactivity, executive function, and gut-brain signaling, shape eating behavior at both conscious and unconscious levels. Learners develop a deep understanding of:
This course is fully online, self-paced, and text-based, with figures/diagrams, powerpoint presentations, and short animated videos. This course has a syllabus, four modules, quizzes, one final exam, and a course evaluation. The pace with which you complete this course will depend on your personal reading, comprehension, and learning style (see the Course Flyer: APA/NBCC/CDR, or CAMFT).
Once enrolled, Learners have full online access to this course for 3 months (90 days). This course and evaluation must be completed to receive course credit and an NP 320 Certificate of Completion. No partial credit is given. This course is not downloadable. However, for each module, Learners may download a Module Download Kit containing all of the terms & definitions, figures, evidence-based factoids, and APA-formatted references.
OPTIONAL DOWNLOADABLE WORKBOOK Available! This course offers a companion, optional downloadable workbook that provides an interactive learning document with an answer key, designed to reinforce key concepts. Purchasing this workbook provides an additional 3 CE for 49 USD and serves as a valuable learning tool. Learners complete and return the workbook for approval and an award of 3 CE.
This course examines the neurobiological mechanisms that drive eating beyond hunger, focusing on how pleasure, memory, emotion, and cognition interact with biological signals and environmental cues. Learners will be introduced to the Dual-System Model of eating and examine five key brain mechanisms that explain how eating behaviors can be reinforced, dysregulated, or redirected. The following learning objectives outline what you will gain from this course: Upon successful completion of this course, learners will be able to explain and define:
This course builds upon the foundation established in NP 110 and NP 310, which together form the Theoretical Foundations (NP-F) Certificate in NP. While there are no prerequisites for this course, it is recommended to take NP 110, NP 310, and NP 320 in sequential order to complete the NP-F.
CNP is approved to sponsor Continuing Education (CE) for professionals through:
This course provides 7.5 CE for Psychologists, RDs, DTRs, LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs, and 6.75 CE for National Certified Counselors (NCCs). For NCCs, the National Board of Certified Counselors excludes learner time spent on syllabi, quizzes, and the course final. Please get in touch with the NBCC should you have questions.
CNP maintains responsibility for this program and its content. CNP, the organization offering this course, is committed to ethical standards, resolving conflicts of interest in its programs, and ensuring unbiased, evidence-based education. Registering for NP 320 indicates that you have read and agreed to CNP’s Course Policy. CNP is committed to identifying and resolving potential conflicts of interest in planning, promoting, delivering, and evaluating its continuing education curriculum and programs. As an APA-approved continuing education sponsor, and consistent with concepts outlined in the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, no individual involved in the planning, promotion, delivery, or evaluation of CNP continuing education has any personal, professional, legal, financial, or other interests that could reasonably be expected to impair his, her, or their objectivity, competence, or effectiveness.
While there are no prerequisites for this course, it is recommended to take NP 110, NP 310, and NP 320 to complete the Theoretical Foundations Certificate in Nutritional Psychology (NP-F). The NP-F can be applied towards the completion of the Micro-Degree in Nutritional Psychology.
This course presents evidence, knowledge, and conceptual learning (psychonutritional education) for understanding how biological and psychological processes influence eating behavior within the context of nutritional psychology. This course is not designed to provide diagnosis, nutritional, or therapeutic intervention outside of one’s existing professional scope of practice. This course does not provide the following:
This course does provide the following:
A: Yes, this course is taught fully online through the CNP educational platform and can be completed at your own pace. Note: once enrolled, each course must be completed in 3 months.
A: Yes, NP 320 has open enrollment, and you can begin any time.
A: NP 320 is estimated to take 7.5 CE hours to complete, depending on your learning style and previous experience in nutrition and psychology and whether you've taken previous CNP courses. If this information is new to you, or you are a deep learner, it may take more time to complete.
Behairy, S. (2025). Neurobiological Foundations of Nutritional Psychology [Online course]. The Center for Nutritional Psychology. https://www.nutritional-psychology.org/np-320/ In-text citation: (Behairy, at al., 2025)
A: Yes, a brief description of nutritional psychology is published in: Stroebele-Benschop, N., Hedrih, V., Behairy, S., Pervaiz, N., & Morphew-Lu, E. (2025). Conceptual Framework for Nutritional Psychology as a New Field of Research. Behavioral Sciences, 15(8), 1007. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081007
"This course will definitely help me in my study and practice. I have an interest for the subject and understood the key role and importance of our dietary patterns and mental health. I now know specifics to integrate in my life and practice, to help clients, patients, students, family and friends. It validates my values and desires to learn and support others with this information, helps me help people to have conscious and awareness of their dietary intake and how much it affects their lives."
Shereen is a clinical researcher with a degree in Clinical Research from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. candidate in Neuropharmacology. Her work explores how nutrients, drugs, and brain chemistry shape cognition, behavior, and mental health—translating complex science into practical strategies that can be applied in everyday life. With a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences and foundational studies in nutrition and psychology from Stanford University and Yale University, Shereen bridges disciplines to uncover innovative ways to understand and improve human health. An active member of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) and the Harvard Medical Alumni Association (HMAA), she remains engaged in advancing clinical and pharmacological research. As a course author, she is passionate about empowering learners with evidence-based tools that transform knowledge into action.
Nabila is a life science researcher with a Master’s degree in Biotechnology. She works as a research intern at the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR). She is interested in studying the intricate relationship between microbes and the human body, as well as their impact on individual health and well-being. Her research specialization is in health microbiology, primarily focusing on E. coli, where she identifies and documents the emergence of virulent E. coli genes responsible for Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) in women. By presenting her groundbreaking research findings, Nabila aims to educate young girls and women on the importance of personal hygiene, the latest trends in antibiotic resistance, and the significant impact of microbes on both physiological and psychological states. Nabila is the biological illustrator for all figures and illustrations included in NP 320.
Ephi Lu developed and taught the first nutritional psychology course for mental health professionals through JFK University in 2008. She co-founded The Center for Nutritional Psychology (CNP) in 2015 to begin systematically identifying, consolidating, and displaying the world’s evidence base in the diet-mental health relationship. She is committed to fostering the development and inclusion of evidence-based psychonutritional education within the psychological and nutrition sciences.
Ryan Butler is a psychology instructor with experience teaching dozens of university-level developmental and health psychology classes. He holds a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Human Development from Ball State University. As an Education Specialist at CNP, Ryan leads the expansion of CNP’s professional curriculum for higher education and contributes to the creation of instructional resources, as well as the direction of CNP’s academic programs. His work equips students with an integrative framework for understanding mental wellness, advancing the academic foundation of nutritional psychology, and preparing future professionals to incorporate evidence-based, nutrition-informed approaches into the field of mental healthcare. He maintains a particular interest in the gut–brain axis and is continuing his formal studies in nutrition and functional medicine to support this work further.
Dr. Mihaela Beloreshka is a health psychologist and nutritionist. For the past nine years, she has been leading educational and experiential classes on nutrition, healthy cooking & eating, physical and mental health, and well-being. She is passionate about cultivating a strong and healthy relationship with food, utilizing it as a powerful tool for health, creativity, and self-expression. Her doctoral research explores the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on eating behaviours in adulthood. Mihaela is an NP 320 course contributor and has provided the clinical corner discussing how stress affects eating patterns through disturbed interoceptive awareness.
This course provides 7.5 CE/CPEU for Psychologists, Registered Dietitians (RDs), and Dietetic Technicians, Registered (DTRs), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFTs), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCCs), and Licensed Educational Psychologists (LEPs), and 6.75 CE for National Certified Counselors (NCCs). To receive credit for this course, learners must complete the course in its entirety and the course evaluation.
NP provides university-level, evidence-based Continuing Education (CE) for professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of the relationship between diet and mental health.
By integrating the latest research in nutritional psychology, CNP ensures that its courses are rooted in scientifically validated principles, offering a comprehensive and credible foundation for practice. This commitment to evidence-based education empowers healthcare providers, mental health professionals, nutritionists, and educators to apply cutting-edge insights to their work, bridging the gap between nutrition and psychological well-being.
CNP is approved to sponsor CE for psychologists, mental health professionals, counselors, dietitians, nutritionists, and other professionals whose licensing bodies accept CE from APA, CDR, CAMFT, and NCC. CNP maintains responsibility for this program and its content. If finances are a barrier to accessing our curriculum, see our NP 110 Scholarship Program. Scholarship Program
CNP is approved to sponsor Continuing Education for:
The information in this course is not meant to, nor should it ever be used, to treat, mitigate, or cure psychiatric illness. This information should never be used as a substitute for sound medical advice. This course is educational in nature and is designed to introduce professionals, students, and interested individuals in developing their understanding of the connection between diet and all aspects of psychological functioning and mental health. Best practices for how to integrate this information professionally, ethically, and within the standards of practice will be covered in upcoming courses. While this information can be incorporated into one’s practice within an educational framework, it cannot be used to provide dietary advice, any form of dietary intervention, or to treat any psychological or mental health issues.
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