Mindful Eating Mindful Eating practices and tools can help pave - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

How to Incorporate Mindful & Here are the topics we will cover today... Intuitive Eating Into Your Practice ● The importance of mindful eating ● Elements of mindful & intuitive eating ● Tools to maximize clients success Gisela Bouvier MBA, RDN 
 Owner, Mindfully Intuitive Nutrition ● Case Studies: Incorporating mindful & intuitive eating with your clients Amy Sowards MS, RDN 
 Founder, Dietitian Institute Mindful Eating Mindful Eating ● Mindful Eating practices and tools can help pave the way for Intuitive Eating. Mindfulness is defined as the quality or state of being conscious or ● Encourage clients to make mealtime a distraction free environment aware of something. It is a mental state achieved by focusing on an (whenever possible), encourage them to sit at the table, and to make their individual’s own awareness in the present moment.** meals a sensory experience in order to set the groundwork for Mindful Eating. ● Others tools that may also help them stay more Mindful include: Mindful Eating means for an individual to become more aware of the ○ Food journal/logging positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through ○ Plate size method ○ Counting bites preparing and consuming food, by respecting their own inner wisdom. ○ How many colors on the plate It is the practice of being present during mealtime. ○ Anthropometric measures (**Not recommended for clients who struggle with body image or hx of disordered eating or Eating Disorder) ○ Limiting food triggers ○ Need for grocery list or recipes *Source: Center for Mindful Eating

Mindful Eating: Case Study #1 Mindful Eating: Case Study #2 ● 2006, 6-week pilot study called Mindful Eating and Living (MEAL) provided mindfulness training to 10 ● A case study examined a 19 year old college student with a BMI of 17.9, with daily caloric participants from the YMCA; mean age was 44 years of age, mean BMI of 36.9 kg/m2. restriction of 900-1000 calories/day, with 1 hour of exercise daily. ● Data was collected at baseline, at 6 weeks completion, and at 3-months follow up. ● Mindful Eating principles and practices were introduced, discussed and implemented over 15 ● Interventions included: 6 weekly two-hour group classes (with 2 monthly follow up classes), focusing on sessions with the participant. training in mindfulness meditation, mindful eating, and group discussion, with emphasis on body awareness ● By the end of the 15 sessions, there was an overall decline in food restrictions, BMI sensations, emotions and eating triggers. increased to 19.5, and her caloric intake increased to 1500-2000 calories/day. ● Participants showed significant decreases in weight, eating disinhibition, binge eating, depression, perceived stress, physical symptoms, and lower physiological marker of cardiovascular risk with decreased CRP levels. Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21181582 Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229910001044 The Elements of Mindful and Intuitive Eating 1. Be Kind to Your Body and Mind 2. Attunement to Physiological Hunger and Satiety Element #1: 3. Non Food Judgment and Acceptance 4. Nourishment Mindset Be Kind to Your Body & Mind 5. Joyful Movement 6. Find Your Balance 7. Discover Contentment with Your Nourishment

Be Kind to Your Body & Mind Be Kind to Your Body & Mind ● Teaching patients to be kind to themselves ● What does this element mean to your patient? ● Giving them tools to help with negative thinking, thought ● Many patients don’t realize they are being “unkind” to processes themselves ● Helping them connect (or reconnect) to their bodies ● What is the patient’s inner dialogue? ● How can we help them reframe? Attunement to Physiological Hunger and Satiety ● Cellular, physiological and emotional hunger ● Helping clients identify how hunger and satiety feels to Element #2: them Attunement to Physiological ● Managing clients who lack hunger and satiety cues Hunger and Satiety

Attunement to Physiological Hunger and Satiety Attunement to Physiological Hunger and Satiety ● Hunger and satiety is very specific to the person ● What motivates your patient to eat? ● Re-establish (or establish) these cues ● What motivates or dictates their choices? ● Mindful eating approaches are key ○ Foods ○ Timing ○ Location ○ Amount of food Non Food Judgement and Acceptance Element #3: ● Evaluating patients restrictions based on feeling “bad” or “unworthy” of certain food items Non Food Judgment and ● Guiding patients to base food choices on their preferences (i.e. taste, texture, health goals) Acceptance ● Help patients accept and not judge their food choices – or the food choices of others

Non Food Judgement and Acceptance ● It is important that patients do not feel bad or unworthy of Element #4: their food choices ● Their food choices should not be shamed Nourishment Mindset ● If patients are often judging their own food choices, make certain to ask why they choose the foods that they do Nourishment Mindset Nourishment Mindset ● Shifting from restrictive mindset to nourishment mindset ● Restricting foods may set us up for cravings and possibly ● Identifying client behaviors that limit the nourishment grazing or “binge” eating mindset ● Shift the mindset to “what’s nourishing?” ● Becoming a “food anthropologist“ ● Encourage patients to become their own “food anthropologist“

Joyful Movement ● Exercise vs joyful movement mindset ● “Exercise” may = sweating it out in the gym Element #5: ● Reframing the benefits (i.e. stress management, self-care, improved mood) Joyful Movement ● What movement makes your patient feel “better in their own skin?” Find Your Balance ● Managing the all-or-nothing mentality ● Helping patients find their balance between health, Element #6: nourishment and contentment with their choices ● Balance isn’t static, it’s fluid Find Your Balance ● Coming back to the elements of mindful and intuitive eating that resonate most with your patients can help them find their balance

Discover Contentment with your Nourishment ● Helping patients discover and accept contentment around Element #7: food Discover Contentment with ● Contentment vs perfection with your nourishment ● Finding contentment even when you can’t be fully present your Nourishment (i.e. eating on the go, eating while working) Focus on the Hunger Level Scale Asking the Right Questions The Hunger Level Scale can be one of the most fundamental tools in helping clients reconnect ● Using open-ended questions is a key component of a Mindful and Intuitive Eating approach. with their bodies - it is a ● There is no One Size Fits All approach and not all of the Elements may pertain to every Foundational tool toward client and/or group. ● Ask questions and then asking your client/audience what are the Elements and tools that Mindful and Intuitive speak most to them - what can help them at this very moment. Entice clients to find the tools Eating. that will work for them. Source: You Count, Calories Don’t by Linda Omichinski, RD

Be Mindful of Your Words ● Your words always matter and make an impact. ● Aim to use soft, positive, and kind words. Putting It Into Practice ● Focus on how you can help showcase self-care and a nourishing and positive mindset. ● Diet, criticizing, body-type analyzing, and food demonizing language can make clients feel uncomfortable and does not encourage a nurturing environment - Empathy is lost or broken. Putting it into practice #1 Putting it into practice #1 ● Kim, 45, married female ● Only 1-2 diets in her lifetime; both in her 20’s ● FT Nurse (3-12 hour shifts per week) ● Eating on the run in the morning, after work ● 8 & 11 year old son and daughter who both are engaged ● Work lunch is cafeteria or delivery in extracurricular activities ● Snacks (from home) fruit, nuts ● Life: Hectic mornings and afternoons, revolving schedule ● Lunch time is spent chatting with co-workers about the ● Overt Concerns: Weight, Fitness Level stresses of the day ● Underlying Concerns: Fueling her body in a way that gives ● Dinner is spent in front of the TV with husband, kids her more energy; being a role model for her children

Putting it into practice #1 Putting it into practice #1 ● Inner monologue ● Typical starting goals: Lose 20#, eat healthier, consistently exercise, reduce coffee intake, improved sleep “I have to do better for my kids” ● Goals reframed for the mindful & intuitive eating approach ○ Explore what foods nourish her “What happened to my body?” ○ Create overall “balance” with her choices “If I could just healthier, I would feel better” ○ Cultivate a joyful movement practice ○ Practice good sleep hygiene Putting it into practice #1 Putting it into practice #2 ● Alyssa , 28 ● Mindful Eating: Start with days off at lunch ● Multiple “diets” tried from age 16-present ● Be Kind to Your Body & Mind: Develop a response to the ● Current diet “avoid dairy, gluten and sugar” during the week ● Enjoys running and yoga; engages in one or the other ~5 times per “loudest” week ● Attunement: Put the hunger scale into practice ● Overt Concern: Weight fluctuates #10-15; wants a plan she can stick ● Joyful Movement: Client exploration what works for them to ● Find your balance: What choices nourish you (physically, ● Underlying Concerns: Wants to improve mindset and negative self-talk mentally and emotionally)?