Springwell Mindful Eating
Springwell's Mindful Eating program is a 12-week journey of discovery toward the goal of creating a healthy relationship with food. It is for anyone who struggles with diets, weight loss, unbalanced or disordered eating. Based on Donald Altman's work, you receive a complete 260-page workbook, a CD, daily tracking sheets, skill inventories, an initial personalized assessment session, 10 weekly phone sessions and a final in-person closing session.
Springwell Tips for Practicing Mindful Eating
- Check In. When you sit down at the table, check in with your hunger. Be curious about whether you are eating because of your own hunger or for other reasons.
- Clear the space. While you are eating, just eat without reading, watching television, doing work, talking on the phone or “getting into” negative emotional discussions.
- Cultivate Gratitude. Choose to notice and appreciate the food and beverages before you.
- Breathe. Take a couple of slow deep breathes. Focus on relaxing your breathing and how you feel inside.
- Notice the temperature, aroma, color and arrangement of the foods and beverages at your table.
- Start eating one bite at a time. Chew each bite thoroughly and swallow before you take another bite.
- Listen to your body. Notice when you are satisfied or when foods don’t agree with you.
- Eat to the point of feeling satisfied. Eating slowly gives time for our body to let us know when we have had enough food to eat and which foods agree with us most.
- Drink your beverages between bites of food and not with them.
- Bon Appetite. Enjoy your food and the experience of eating. Eating mindfully can be one of life’s greatest pleasures and contribute to health.
"A firm defence of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose
the universal folly of fast life" - The Slow Foods International Manifesto
Resources:
For more information on mindful eating see The Centre for Mindful Eating www.tcme.org |
