The Star: September 15, 2016

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Thursday September 15 2016 31
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Learning the art of savouring food
• By Catherine Gaffaney
MICHELLE Holland used
to “inhale” food. A busy
professional, she would eat on
the go or while doing three other
things at once.
In February, the 48-year-old
Christchurch sales consultant
who had spent her adult life
on different diets and exercise
regimes decided to try a mindful
eating course.
Mindful eating teaches that
people should meditate before
eating, use all the senses when
eating, and listen to the body
when it indicates it’s full.
“I have an hour commute each
morning and night so I would
often eat in the car. At work, if I
stopped for lunch, I’d be on my
phone and reading a newspaper
while I ate.
“I’d done mindfulness before
and found it really helpful, and
I wanted to eat less and lose
weight so I thought I’d give it a
go.
“I’ve lost 4kg since doing the
course and have kept the weight
off without consciously dieting
or exercising.”
Holland took part in a fourweek
introduction to mindful
eating course run by Mindfulness
Works. The course was
designed by Dr Heidi Douglass,
a clinical psychologist who based
the course on an American
mindful eating programme
created in 1999 for treatment of
bulimia.
“In the first class, we were
given three minutes to eat a
sultana,” Ms Holland said.
“The experience is so heightened.
The flavour burst was
insane. Then in another class,
we did the same with a potato
chip. All I could taste were the
chemicals.”
Ms Holland doesn’t always eat
mindfully since doing the course
but says her eating has slowed
HECTIC: Michelle
Holland would often
eat doing three other
things at one.
down a lot.
“You need less because you
experience more. I definitely
slow down and as a consequence
eat far less and feel satisfied for a
lot longer.
“It can be hard with my hectic
lifestyle to stop but I try to. If I
speed up, I often catch myself
and realise.”
Mindful eating teaches people
to use all their senses when consuming
meals.
Dr Douglass began the course
in Hamilton in May last year. It’s
now also available in other centres
and has attracted hundreds
of Kiwis wanting to lose weight
or change their relationship to
food.
“Some courses have had a lot
of people who are overweight,
others have had people who are
of a healthy weight but have
negative associations with food
and their body,” Dr Douglass
said.
Binge eating was often associated
with depression and
anxiety. “Just telling people to
eat healthier and exercise more if
they want to lose weight doesn’t
work for everyone,” Dr Douglass
said.
“It gives some people terrible
self-esteem when they fail to
do that. Mindful eating teaches
people to tap into their built-in
natural systems. They don’t have
to calorie count; they just have to
listen to their body.”
– NZ Herald
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