Rebuild Your Relationship With Food Through Psychology-Led Mindful Eating

Start Changing The Way You Think And Behave Around Food

Welcome! If you’re tired of all-or-nothing cycles of restrictive dieting, or you have a difficult relationship with food, I’m here to help. I offer more than a weight loss solution, delving deeper than diet programmes that don’t address the complexities of food psychology- the psychological, emotional and social factors that influence what, how, and why we eat, alongside the physiology and neuroscience that explain how the body responds to the foods we eat and how it uses the nutrients from food to support health and well-being. I can help you to set up new, sustainable eating habits and confidently let go of calorie counting, diet rules and food guilt. You can read more about me.

Much More Than Just A Weight Loss Solution

The reason many weight loss diet plans are hard to stick to isn’t just due to lack of willpower- it’s because they’re often too restrictive, and when you combine this with an impatience for quick results and a lack of knowledge of mindful eating, emotional eating and nutrition, many diet plans inevitably don’t work. It can be a complete waste of time and effort trying to rigidly stick to a diet plan if, once the weight has come off, the person goes back to their usual eating habits. This is the problem with methods that provide a weight loss solution only, without considering all of the other key elements that might need addressing too.

Read more about my one-to-one sessions, or take a look at frequently asked questions below.

1. What exactly is mindful eating?

Mindful eating focuses not just on what you eat, but how, and why you eat. By engaging the senses to savour food, and tuning in to your hunger and fullness cues, you can cultivate eating habits that are in your own best interest so that when you’ve finished a meal, you have a good sense of well-being, even peace, knowing that you’ve made an enjoyable, satisfying and nutritious food choice without feeling stuffed. It’s not about perfect eating, but approaching food with a flexible, curious and relaxed mindset. Eating mindfully is about giving yourself choice and permission around food- contrary to common belief that this might lead to overeating, it can actually help you to feel more in charge of the food environment. My blog post ‘Principles of Mindful Eating’ illustrates some key concepts.

2. How can you help me with emotional eating or binge eating?

I regularly support clients who are emotional eaters or binge eaters. Tackling food issues such as binge eating requires getting to the root of the problem, not just simply trying to stop the behaviour through rules or willpower. Food and eating can symbolise different things to different people. For example, eating can be a way to relax or have a break, it can be a way to connect socially, it can have a calming, numbing or distracting effect when things feel difficult or overwhelming, it can be a way to reward oneself, a way to put things off (procrastinate), it can be something to do when feeling bored, lonely or unfulfilled, and it can even be a means of rebelling, ‘rule breaking’ or self-punishment. 

Mindful eating can help a person to start distinguishing between physical hunger and emotional hunger. It enables a person to develop emotional regulation skills, to help them respond to stress or other triggers, where their usual knee-jerk reaction might be to turn to food. The issue with emotional eating is that it doesn’t solve problems- it can distract a person from addressing their true needs. It can put a delay between something they don’t want to do or address, or be an escape or relief from discomfort. As people start to problem solve and address their needs, they often find that their compulsive eating diminishes. Read my blog posts ‘How To Stop Emotional Eating’  and ‘How To Fix Your Relationship With Food: The Inner Child‘.

3. Will I have to give up my favourite foods if I work with you?

Definitely not. Mindful eating places an emphasis on avoiding labelling foods as good or bad. The goal is to learn how to enjoy all foods in a balanced way, without guilt or loss of control which is often associated with ‘forbidden’ foods. Permission, rather than restriction, opens up a whole new approach to managing the food environment, and can help tackle food guilt.

4. How can mindful eating help me to lose weight? How will your approach help me to achieve long-term success?

Yes, it absolutely can help with weight loss, and I have helped many clients to lose weight. Mindful eating is not a specific type of eating plan or diet. Mindful eating coaching can help you to break the diet mentality and liberate you from yo-yo dieting cycles. Whilst weight loss can be a by-product of implementing new mindful eating strategies early on, building a firm foundation first is key, for long term success. I support people in improving their relationship with food, which puts them in a better position for weight loss and, crucially, long-term weight maintenance.

Mindful eating encourages you to move away from restrictive, unsustainable food rules which can lead to overeating, and helps you to embrace the idea that a more moderate, balanced approach to food will be in your own best interest long-term.  Not only that, but it can help to put an end to cycles of rapid weight loss and weight re-gain. When you trust yourself more around food, you’ll be able to manage the food environment with confidence. ‘Data-driven’ eating (constant calorie counting and tracking) tends to only lead to short-term results.

Instead of avoiding food temptation, you learn to manage food temptation, so that you feel in charge of food, rather than feeling at the mercy of external food cues. I call it ‘managing choice’. Mindful eating teaches people about a more ‘middle-way’, flexible approach to eating, to help them escape the yo-yo dieting trap and reduce feelings of guilt around food, which can result from categorising foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Relying on willpower alone doesn’t work, and food rules and restriction can lead to bingeing, which is why mindful eating teaches a more middle-way approach.

5. What qualifications and experience do you have?

I hold an MSc in Health Psychology and a Diploma in Nutritional Therapy, and I’ve completed additional training in areas such as obesity, food addiction and eating disorders. I regularly update my knowledge through CPD events and specialist webinars.

I’ve been supporting clients, running groups and delivering talks since 2007, giving me nearly two decades of experience in helping people to change their relationship with food.