What is Eating Psychology?

Eating Psychology is a specialist field of study relating to all aspects of who we are as eaters. It is an exciting and cutting-edge approach developed by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating.

It is a positive and empowering approach to food and eating issues. As an Eating Psychology Coach, I’m not just focused on what you eat but I want to know who you are as an eater and all of your individual challenges around food. I don’t see your eating challenges as a sign that there is “something wrong with you” – but I look at and explore some of the personal dimensions in life that impact your food, weight and health. I will let you in on a little secret and that is that often our weight and food challenges aren’t about food.

 

Who we are in life, the challenges that we have faced and the environment in which we were brought up all influence our relationship with food and our body. Weight and Food challenges often are the outer sign of things that aren’t working so well for us these could be areas such as work, money, relationships, family, intimacy, life stressors and so much more.

Your weight is often an outer reflection of your life. By working in the places that are most relevant to you, success is more easily achieved. I support, encourage and assist in making real shifts in your relationship with food, eating and body image using principles that are nourishing, doable and sustainable to create both inner and outer changes.

What sorts of things does Eating Psychology assist with?

Anything really….anything that is related to your eating choices, eating habits and behaviours, compulsions, disordered eating anything that involves you…the eater.

I use practical coaching techniques, results-oriented psychology, hypnotherapy (if you choose), clinical nutrition, body-centred practices, mind-body science and a positive and compassionate approach to all challenges with food, health and body…

Some of the areas in which I often work are:

How my approach is different?

Well for starters I have been there, I had struggled with my weight for years and years going from one diet to the next looking for the next quick fix the next thing that was going to fix my weight, so it is also from that personal experience that I partner with my clients, absolutely no judgement no matter what it is, I don’t think that there is anything that anyone can tell me that either I didn’t do myself or I have helped other clients through.

For too long, we have spent years being inundated with negative messages about food, diet, weight. We have been told or it’s been implied that we are all just “willpower weaklings” and that if we just use willpower, more self-control we would have the bodies we want….this implies that we are wrong, we are all useless, uncontrollable food addicts. The truth…diets don’t work, it’s not us that is failing, it is the system, a system that has been created for us to fail. Weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry all promising the next magic pill, potion or system but all creating failure after failure often it’s a failure before you have even begun because the system is inherently flawed in some way eg – it completely goes against our human biology. The research tells us that 98-99% of people that lose weight on a diet will put all their weight back on plus more within 2 years….that’s crazy…it’s probably the only thing we, as a society continue to do over and over and over again with the knowledge that it won’t work and if it does work it will be the relatively short term. Let’s look at it this way, imagine if, at the end of year 12, 100 students were sent off to university knowing full well that out of those 100 people only 1 maybe 2 would actually get their degree – wouldn’t that be the end of the university system. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over expecting a different result well that is what dieting is, yet I see clients every day that have been dieting for 10 years, 20 years even 40 years… it’s crazy but it’s all we know. I dieted in some way or another since the age of 14 years and when I wasn’t dieting I was binging on everything in sight….that all or nothing approach to food. Feast or Feminine.

The majority of nutrition experts promote conflicting advice, there is more information out there from unreliable sources than ever before. We have created a very confused society with no idea anymore on what to do, what to eat and how to have a happy balanced relationship with food, a healthy metabolism (what does that even mean), or any idea on how to accept themselves let alone their body. In my practice, I see clients every day who just want to figure it out just want to get on with living their lives within food and body taking up every waking moment. In my practice, I combine many of the best strategies from nutrition science and eating psychology. By eliminating all of the “should and shouldn’t’s, I focus on what’s right for your body and your personal life. As we work together in this way, eating/health and body issues become a place of exploration. Instead of seeing such challenges as the enemy, we explore the ways in which we can create change and real self-improvement…I help clients reach their highest goals NOT by strategies that punish but through strategies that nourish them. There is no one size fits all approach, every client I see and every session I do is different as I tailor make every session based upon what you need taking into account your unique and individual challenges around food and body.

What is Mind – Body Nutrition?

Mind-Body Nutrition is a relevantly new field that advances the practice of clinical nutrition by exploring the psychophysiology of how our thoughts, feelings and beliefs impact our nutritional metabolism and health. Originated by Marc David, founded by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, it goes far beyond classical nutrition by focusing on the connections between brain, body and behaviour.

Simply put, what we eat is only half the story of good nutrition. The other half is who we are as eaters. Mind-Body Nutrition reveals how stress physiology, the relaxation response, breathing, awareness, mindfulness, appetite sensitivity training, pleasure, meal timing, and much more powerful influence our digestive system and our calorie-burning capacity. It offers practical and results-oriented strategies for the most commonly seen eating challenges and health issues.

Eating Psychology & Mind Body Nutrition techniques are incorporated into the Virtual Gastric Band Program with all of my clients. However, if you would like to explore this work as a coaching client separately without the use of hypnosis that is not a problem.

CONSULTATION:

Eating Psychology & Mind Body Nutrition Sessions are set also in a program of 4 sessions totally
1st Session – 3hrs &  3 sessions of 90min – 4 Session Program Package of $750.00 (discounted for upfront payment – total value $915)

** PAYMENT PLAN – DIRECT DEBIT PACKAGE – $260 upfront on 1st session & 6 easy D/D payments of $99.00pw)
Subsequent Sessions are 60-75mins and are $145.00

Contact Us to organise your session