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Mindful approaches to positive nutritional change

Right before holiday I attended Katie Sheen’s truly brilliant course on Mindful approaches to positive nutritional change. It was six and a half hours of light bulb moments and metaphorical jumping up and down in agreement with a resounding series of internal “yes, yes, yes-es!” It was a wonderful continuation of my mindfulness journey.

The course made a big impact and allowed me to have one of my most enjoyable holidays yet. A week of treating myself, a week of next to no guilt, a week of thinking about and appreciating every mouthful of French deliciousness that passed my lips. Here are just some of the culinary highlights from our week in France:

Mindful_eating_collage

 

Katie is wonderful; an honest, open character who brings bagfuls of personal and anecdotal experience to her sessions as well as the confirmation that she’s no purist and can’t be left alone with a box of Fondant Fancies.

Here are just some of the takeaways from Katie’s session that helped me really make the most of my recent holiday

1. There is no right or wrong way to eat – just varying degrees of awareness surrounding our experience of food

2. Everyone’s eating experiences are entirely unique

3. A lifetime of disordered eating can so often block our efforts towards nutritional change. We need to reconnect with our bodies, our emotions, our perceptions and beliefs relating to food

4. So much of what we are eating is associated with either punishment or reward – stop that

5. Ask yourself how hungry are you? Do you really need to eat something right now?

6. That said, get a little bit ahead of yourself. Keep on top of your hunger so you’re not left totally ravenous and subsequently ploughing mindlessly through a small mountain of food

7. Start to get a handle on what being truly satiated actually feels like

8. Take your watch off. Don’t let the clock govern your appetite

9. Develop a continued sense of gratitude for every mouthful of food you are presented with

10. Replace ‘then I will this’, ‘then I will that’ with now, now, now! It’s about this very precise moment / mealtime and nothing else

I strongly urge everyone to take a look at the brilliant resources Katie shares via her website Soul Nutrition.

Do you have any other mindful approaches to eating you can share?