MODULE 4 LESSON 1

Whether you're familiar with Mindful Eating or not, it's important to define what it means. With a common understanding, we can understand the fundamental principles and apply them to our daily lives.

First, Mindful Eating is not about willpower. It's not about using the power of the mind to avoid certain foods at all costs.
Mindfulness teaches you how to ensure your diet is inclusive of the foods you love. It empowers you with the tools to avoid unnecessary restrictions that lead to binge-eating episodes, guilt, and shame.

During this course, you'll discover how to find the balance between eating the foods you love and achieving your goals.
You'll learn how to self-regulate your hunger, and use this newfound skill to establish control of your nutrition.

In the modern world, we rarely stop to savour the food we eat. Despite everyone claiming they are a "foodie", few people pause long enough to experience taste, hunger, and fullness. We have lost touch with how to experience food in an enjoyable way that also helps us to achieve our health and fitness goals.

So, we will tap into your inner wisdom and help you reconnect with your internal hunger cues. We'll explore your outer wisdom, helping you use evidence-based nutrition to influence the decisions you make.

But the process won't be easy.

Mastery of Mindful Eating will not happen overnight. Often, you'll be unpicking years of ingrained thoughts and behaviours. That said, you should enter into this process with the understanding that you are at the beginning of a journey--the start of a learning curve. Yes, you will falter. Yes, you will slip up, and that's ok.

Treat each minor digression as an opportunity to learn and progress. Think, "hmmm, that's interesting," rather than, "Oh, FUCK!"

With this in mind, start thinking about the things that may have tripped you up in the past?

What experiences, thoughts, and feelings are you bringing to the table (no pun intended)? Did your parents teach you to clear your plate at mealtimes? Do you have a fear of certain foods after following restrictive diets for years?

Are you fearful and anxious about eating out at restaurants and what that might do for your diet? Whatever your situation, be honest and list out these hangups. Once you're aware of them, it makes it far easier to manage them.

And before we move on to the next lesson, remember two important things:

There is no food police. No food is "bad" or off-limits. Believing this principle is the first step to freeing yourself from the shackles of restriction.

Second, try to move away from calorie anxiety. Yes, calories are king, but they don't rule with an iron fist. A few calories on either side of your target is not going to make the enormous difference you think it will.
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Now you're ready to get started. Skip on to the next lesson, and let's talk mindless and restrictive eating.