Dr. Heidi's Intro. to Mindful Eating 4 Week Course Live on Zoom

“So honest and relatable. Great new ideas made simple. Made me feel that all my inner dialogue and disagreements around food was normal, just thoughts, and could be managed with mindfulness, time and kindness to myself. Thanks so much. ” Jenny D.

“The course was extremely informative. It was practical, insightful and useful for everyone. Heidi truly has the skill to put people at ease and able to deliver. I think it was great.” Sandnya F.

Are you tired of emotional eating or binging? Are you tired of having little control with foods like chocolate, cheese or potato chips? Would you like to feel positive about your body no matter what the scale says? Evidence based mindful eating strategies can help.

This course has been developed by New Zealand based Registered Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Heidi Douglass and is drawn from the scientifically-proven Mindfulness Based-Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) programme created in the USA by Dr. Jean Kristeller and colleagues.

This will be a small group with a strong emphasis on confidentiality. No content will be recorded. This 4 session program is an educational course and is not a therapy group.

Dr. Heidi Douglass – Course Designer, Facilitator,                                  & Mindful Eating Professional Trainer.

Dr. Heidi established, and is the lead trainer of, the Mindful Eating Program for "Mindfulness Works"; the largest provider of mindfulness training courses in Australasia.

This 4 session course (1 hour each week on Tuesdays) would suit people who have no experience with mindful eating, as well as, those people who would like a refresher course. Course starts Tuesday January 4th (5:30-6:30pm Auckland NZ time) and runs each consecutive Tuesday for one hour from 5:30-6:30pm (4/1/22, 11/1/22, 18/1/22 & 25/1/22) for four weeks.

THE MINDFUL EATING ALTERNATIVE

Mindfulness provides an alternative to diets. With mindfulness, you don’t restrict any food or food types, you don’t calorie count or weigh-in. Instead you learn to use the systems that you were born with.

With mindfulness, you eat whatever you want. You learn to stop eating when your taste buds tell you the taste is no longer as good. When you are mindful, you notice how the chocolate or chips don’t actually taste as good after the third or 4th bite.

“Mindful eating involves use of meditation and mindfulness practices to build our capacity to be aware and to direct our attention to the present moment. With mindful eating, we can better observe our triggers to overeating and eating when we are not hungry. With mindfulness, we can develop a new, flexible relationship to food and eating. The use of mindful eating techniques can help us, with regular practise, to reconnect with our body’s own systems for hunger and fullness and to start to identify the thoughts, emotions and behaviours that lead us to overeat or eat when not hungry. By listening to what our body needs, we can move toward a more positive relationship with food and with our body.” – Dr Heidi Douglass.

The Benefits of Mindful Eating

Reduce binge and emotional eating 

Reduce mindless eating

Feel better about yourself, your eating behaviour and your body image. 

Better understand sugar cravings and how to reduce them.

Learn how to leave shame and guilt related to eating choices behind.

What you learn during this workshop:

With lectures, small group discussions, guided meditations and hands-on food experiments you will learn the following:

• Ways to decrease mindless eating, emotional eating and binge eating.

• how to reconnect with your body’s own built-in systems of hunger and fullness.

• how to release yourself from negative judgments about food and your body.

• how to slow down, savour and more fully taste and enjoy food.

• how to become less reactive and more calm; especially when making food decisions.

What you will receive:

* Four, one hour weekly, confidential, group sessions with a registered Psychologist who is an expert in mindful eating.

Course starts Tuesday January 4th (5:30-6:30pm Auckland NZ time) and runs each consecutive Tuesday for one hour 5:30pm-6:30pm (4/1/22, 11/1/22, 18/1/22 & 25/1/22) for four weeks.

* Four -NEW-guided, mindfulness meditations for you to access online: Hunger Awareness, Fullness Satiety, Eating Triggers & Forgiveness meditations

* Four- NEW- insightful Mindful Eating readings emailed to you in pdf format

* Opportunities for questions and answers.

What the Workshop Covers

What is Mindful Eating?

• What is mindful eating and how can it be helpful?

• What evidence do we have that it works?

• How can we cultivate mindful eating behaviour?

Our Body and Our Thoughts: Internal and External Triggers to Eating

• We will look at internal and external triggers for hunger and eating.

• We will discuss how our patterns and habits of thinking can influence when we eat and how much we eat. These thought patterns can lead to mindless eating, emotional eating and binge eating.

• We will cover black and white thinking and behavioural chaining.

• We will discuss the benefits of taking a non-judgemental stance towards ourselves and the food choices that we make.

Chasing Taste: Mindfulness of Our Taste Buds

• We will demonstrate how mindfulness of how our taste buds operate can influence how much of any one type of food we consume.

• We will look at how we can shift our focus from quantity of food to quality of food: we can eat less yet feel more satisfied.

Cultivating Connection and Kindness Towards Ourselves and Our Body

• Many people with food issues make negative judgements about themselves and dislike their bodies. Guilt about food intake is common.

• We will discuss some ways to move away from this pattern and towards kindness and acceptance and a more positive relationship with food and with our bodies.

Who is this course suitable for?

This course is suitable for any of the following:

• Any adult who is overweight.

• Adults who struggle with emotional eating, binge eating or mindless eating.

• People who struggle with guilt over food decisions.

• People wanting to explore mindfulness and meditation in relation to relaxation, stress reduction and wellness.

• This workshop is aimed at adult men and women. It is not an appropriate workshop for children.

“Just telling people to eat healthier and exercise more if they want to lose weight doesn’t work for everyone; 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.” – Dr Heidi Douglass

What People are Saying about this course and Course Designer Dr Heidi Douglass

“So interesting! Heidi has a beautiful, friendly, kind and understanding personality. Awesome to be in a room with others dealing similar feelings. Loved the balance of meditations and discussion.” Kate U.

“Interesting, animated – fostered self-acceptance.” A.M.

“Made me really think about my actions and decisions that lead to over eating.” K Coulter

“ Warm, friendly, real instructor. Does make you think and notice the value of meditation to thoughts and behaviour.” Andrea E.

“It has been useful and enjoyable. It has been really nice to make time for myself and learn skills that I can apply to my everyday life.” Anna S.

“Heidi is absolutely lovely and explains everything thoroughly. She makes it interesting to listen and learn and love her accent.” Meena P.

“I have found your style to be very effective and informative and I have learnt a lot. I like your humour and your knowledge. I find you to be welcoming and down to Earth.” Elizabeth

SAFE, CONFIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENT

Enjoy the company, and support, of other adults who have eating issues similar to yours. Your privacy and confidentiality are fully respected.

Workshop fee includes:

* the 4, one hour each, group, weekly sessions LIVE on ZOOM with a registered Psychologist who is an expert on mindful eating & obesity treatment

* 4- NEW- Mindful Eating guided meditations from Dr. Heidi for you to access online

* 4 - NEW- insightful Mindful Eating articles in pdf format emailed to attendees,

Workshop price is $99 per person. Space is limited. Secure your ticket soon so you don’t miss out.

Secure a Ticket

To reserve your place in this workshop, and to purchase your ticket, please click on the green ticket link above.

Refund Policy

Since this is such a small workshop, refunds and/or ticket transfers are not possible. However, if you can not make it to the course, you can give your ticket to another person and they can attend in your place.

About Dr. Heidi Douglass

Dr. Heidi Douglass is an American-trained Clinical Psychologist with over thirty-five years of experience in the field of Psychology. This Scientist-Practitioner is an expert in the treatment of obesity, emotional eating, binge eating and behaviour change. She is the lead trainer of the Mindfulness Works Mindful Eating program.

Dr Douglass uses the power of scientifically proven behavioural strategies, mindfulness skills & talk therapy techniques to help her clients regain control of their eating behaviour & to feel more at ease in their body & mind.

Clients who work with Dr. Douglass get their eating behaviour back under control, increase self-compassion, self-care and motivation to exercise, while decreasing their negative thinking. Her clients also learn how to manage their weight safely; without dieting, without counting calories and without food restriction. Dr. Douglass is able to break down complex behavioural change into easy to follow steps and she delivers her training materials with an emphasis on science, kindness, compassion and fun.

Dr. Douglass understands that the mind and body are intrinsically linked and that the health and well-being of one impacts the other. Inspired by the research literature on how Yoga can help her clients keep weight off, decrease anxiety and improve body image, Dr. Douglass became a registered yoga teacher at the age of 50. She has now completed over 540 hours of Yoga Alliance approved yoga teacher training.

Over the years, Dr. Douglass has held clinical and research positions at some of the most prestigious American Institutions including: Harvard University, Columbia University, Boston University, Mt Sinai Hospital in NYC, Brown University and 3 Hospitals of the American Veterans Administration, and within New Zealand at the Otago Medical School. For two and a half years, she worked as an obesity expert for the public health system in New Zealand.

Dr. Douglass has a very thorough understanding of the scientific literature regarding the health benefits of a Whole Foods Plant Based Diet (WFPBD) and she is certified in plant-based nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell Institute at Cornell University in the USA.

Dr. Douglass is currently based in New Zealand and she works with clients online. drheididouglass@gmail.com

For further information about Dr. Heidi, please visit her web site https://www.drheididouglass.co.nz/ . Feel free to email if you have a question drheididouglass@gmail.com , 022 012 3781

Disclaimer:

Information offered in this Mindful Eating workshop is for educational purposes only. Dr. Heidi Douglass is not providing therapy through this educational workshop and the material should not be used as a substitute for seeking professional care. The potential risks associated with improper diagnosis or treatment can only be minimised by direct consultations with mental health professionals. For further information about a condition or a treatment mentioned, please consult your health professional.