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Mindful Nutrition Practice, London (2025)

13/08/2022

At the ANZAED Eating Disorder Conference in Sydney Australia. Not only do I get to keep up to date with the latest research in eating disorders and learn from experts in the field, I get to do it with this view 😍
Attended training in the - an intervention that has great results in preventing eating disorders; and am looking forward to the morning session about and , and my workshop this afternoon in eating disorders and .
Hoping to bring this new knowledge and skills to help me improve the treatment I offer to my clients in their recovery.

05/01/2022

Just a little humour while we take a moment to consider all the diet talk that goes on in January, and just how difficult and damaging it can be.
Dieting is harmful to our physical and mental health AND it just doesn’t work. Many embark on a new diet and exercise regime in the new year, but as predicted, these eventually fail. Dieting is unsustainable and puts our bodies and minds into deprivation (check out our previous posts for more on this), which often triggers out of control eating, weight cycling (weight going down and up) and a decline in mental health.
So don’t let the pressure of the diet industry, that says you’re not good enough, to lure you in to something that will cause you physical and emotional pain. The truth is, you don’t need to lose weight. You don’t need to restrict your food. You don’t need to punish yourself with exercise. You don’t need to deprive yourself in any way. Listen to what your body is actually telling you, enjoy the food you eat without guilt, and know that you are good enough.
If you need help to address your relationship with food and your body, find an alternative to dieting and the pursuit of weight loss, or need support with an eating disorder / disordered eating, then please feel free to get in touch www.mindfulnutritionpractice.com

23/12/2021

After another crazy year in the world and this variant threatening to ruin another Xmas, it’s got me thinking about gratitude. I always find it helpful to think of one thing each day that I’m grateful for, especially in times where I’m feeling overwhelmed or anxious.
Today I’m grateful to have escaped London and to be in the countryside in France - enjoying this landscape, the fresh country air and a quiet moment drinking a cup of tea and reading by while bubs takes a nap.
In these crazy times, what’s on thing that you are grateful for today?

22/12/2021

What a brilliant idea! Cards at GP surgeries asking not to be weighed unless it’s (really) medically necessary. The number of times I’ve had clients who report feeling dismissed when seeking treatment because of their weight, when it is actually irrelevant the majority of the time.
One client’s experience has stuck with me. She had been dieting most of her life, her weight had yo-yo’d, and she was used to being stuck in a cycle of deprivation and bingeing in the strive to lose weight. She had had enough and wanted to be free of this torture. We had been working together for a few months where we addressed a few things and were having regular conversations about her experience with her body and with weight stigma.
She went to her GP because she had hurt her knee, and asked for help in what to do about this. The first and only thing the GP did was weigh her and tell her to lose weight. They didn’t ask her how it happened, they didn’t examine her, they didn’t send her for investigations. They didn’t treat her, they judged and dismissed her.
But she found her voice. She told them the reason she hurt her knee was that she was cycling to work and a car side swiped her, causing her to fall off her bike. Her knee was perfectly fine before this, at the weight she currently was. She asked the GP what they would have recommended to her if she were a lower weight. She walked out of there with advice on how to reduce swelling and a referral to a physio 🙌🏼
But what if she wasn’t able to advocate for herself? And what about the many others who don’t feel able to? This card could help so many feel heard and receive the treatment they need, irrespective of body weight and shape.
What do you think?

23/10/2021

To our clients and followers - past, present and future - YOU ARE AMAZING! Absolute rockstars thank parking on your recovery. We’re grateful to be a part of your journey 🙌🏼☺️

15/09/2021

This is a perfect example of how we (as women in particular) are conditioned at a young age to believe that how we look is how others value us.
It is therefore not surprising that many women battle with body image issues, feeling not good enough, not knowing their worth, and feeling judged.
These difficulties can then lead to feeling they need to change themselves, shrink their bodies, and control their food. This can contribute to chronic dieting, disordered eating and eating disorders.
So as this video says, it’s time we change the way we talk to children - talk about their strengths, their attributes, and their actions. This is also a great lesson for us adults! To not only value those things in others, but also in ourselves! Realising that the true beauty is in how we are as humans rather than what we look like. Know that you are enough! You don’t need to shrink your body to be worthy.

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15/09/2021

This is a perfect example of how we (as women in particular) are conditioned at a young age to believe that how we look is how others value us.
It is therefore not surprising that many women battle with body image issues, feeling not good enough, not knowing their worth, and feeling judged.
These difficulties can then lead to feeling they need to change themselves, shrink their bodies, and control their food. This can contribute to chronic dieting, disordered eating and eating disorders.
So as this video says, it’s time we change the way we talk to children - talk about their strengths, their attributes, and their actions. This is also a great lesson for us adults! To not only value those things in others, but also in ourselves! Realising that the true beauty is in how we are as humans rather than what we look like. Know that you are enough! You don’t need to shrink your body to be worthy.

16/08/2021

When speaking to my clients about pregnancy, we talk about their fears and anxieties about their bodies changing. Many feel they can accept this change because they are growing and nourishing their baby, but with the expectation that once their baby is born, their body will return to how it was.
BUT what I see time after time is the real struggle post birth. We are all told we should be “losing the baby weight” and that it’s achievable if we just work hard enough. We see this all the time with celebrities in the media, so when our experience is different, we might feel like we’re failing.
The reality is that your body post-pregnancy won’t ever be the same as it was pre-pregnancy. You might return to your pre-pregnancy weight after a month, a year, 3 years or 5 years, or you might not, and none is unusual. But even if you do return to your pre-pregnancy weight, your body WILL be different. You may find that you have loose skin, stretch marks or scars, that the shape of your hips, thighs or abdomen is different, that your abdominal muscles have separated and there is a gap in the middle, that your pelvic floor is weaker, or that your va**na (come on let’s call it by it’s name rather than a “cutesy” alternative!) looks different, feels different and has battle scars. Your body may feel like it’s not yours and that can feel really upsetting - probably because we are conditioned to believe that nothing changes, or that if it does, it won’t be permanent.
But I believe this is all about expectation and perspective. You’ve created a life from nothing and nourished it for 9 months AND you’ve brought this new life into the world through your va**na or abdomen - like OMG, how amazing is that?! You warrior! And instead of recovering for weeks from this physically and emotionally draining event, you’re feeding, carrying, nurturing and protecting this little life who is 100% dependent on you. Of course your body will change! How could it not?! These changes are a badge of honour we should wear for being so freaking amazing, rather than something we are ashamed and fearful of. It’s time to change expectations and perspective because we are f*% queens! 👸🏻

05/08/2021

I’ve been MIA from Instagram after having a baby in May 👶🏼 - what a crazy time it has been!
It has been amazing watching him grow and develop, but it hasn’t been easy with all family overseas and travel restrictions continuing because of - I now really understand the saying that it takes a village to raise a child!
Although I love spending time with my little one, I have really missed having and making time for my own self care. I always talk to clients about the importance of prioritising yourself and your wellbeing because you can’t pour from an empty cup, so I’m super grateful to have an hour to myself to enjoy a before my first class in months 🧘🏻‍♀️

03/07/2021

Yaaaassss Pinterest! 🙌🏼
This is exciting news that we hope other social media and media in general will follow suit. It’s time to make big leaps in changing the dialogue around body weight and shape!

04/05/2021

The other piece of the deprivation puzzle is that of our emotions i.e. when we deprive ourselves of our needs being met.

We can feel an array of emotions such as sadness, happiness, anxiety, anger, loneliness, stress or boredom. Some of these emotions may be difficult for us to feel, & so we may shy away from them or try to avoid them altogether. This is where food may become a way of coping.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we all do it! Who hasn’t come home after a stressful day & reached for comfort food to help make them feel better? Or who hasn’t been bored & found themselves opening the cupboard or fridge searching for food as a distraction? But if food becomes the only way of coping, then it can become a problem because 1) it becomes a crutch & stops us exploring what we are actually feeling & what it is that we actually need, & 2) food is not always the answer & it doesn’t necessarily help us get our needs met.

If this sounds like something you have experienced, these tips may help to resolve this sense of deprivation:
1.Notice the times when you are reaching for food but are not hungry - this could be a clear sign that something else is going on for you.

2.Take a step back & ask yourself “how am I feeling right now?” - it’s important to identify what you are feeling as this can then help you figure out whether food will help.

3.Ask yourself “what do I need right now?” If you’ve identified that you are sad, what do you need? Do you need to have a big cry? Do you need a hug from a loved one? Do you need to watch a a funny TV show or YouTube video? If you’re stressed, do you need to talk a walk in the fresh air? Do you need to carve out time to do some self care like have a bubble bath, meditate or get out in nature?

4.Ask yourself are you getting your basic needs met? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you feeding yourself adequately? Are you making sure you are hydrated? Do you feel safe and secure in your environment? These are our basic needs & if they are not getting met, then it’s really difficult for us to work on other things.

28/04/2021

When we actively try to lose weight & push our weight down to a level that our body doesn’t like, we are depriving ourselves of our natural healthy body weight.

Many people believe they need to fit in to a neat little box determined by BMI, & if we fall outside of this, then it means we are unhealthy & need to change our body. However, what we do know is that BMI is incredibly flawed & was never meant to be used as a diagnostic tool (it was actually developed to research big populations), yet our healthcare system has adopted this as a way of determining whether someone is healthy or not, & if your BMI is “too high”, you are told you need to lose weight.

What is not widely known, is that body weight is largely determined by genetics. Just like our adult height is mostly pre-determined at birth by our genetics, the same is true of our weight. So when we try to lose weight below our natural, pre-determined weight, our body is going to try really hard to correct this.

Imagine you have an inflatable ball & you try to push it down in the water. The lower you try to push it down, the harder that ball forces itself back up. This is similar to dieting & weight loss. The more we try to lose weight below our pre-determined weight range, the harder the body tries to push our weight back up. This is one big reason why dieting doesn’t work & why many people end up gaining all the weight back (plus more). The body tries to protect us from this deprivation by increasing hunger signals, increasing cravings, increasing thoughts about food, & decreasing our metabolism - all for the primary drive to protect our natural body weight & survive.

If this sounds like something you have experienced, these may be ways to try to resolve this sense of deprivation:
1.Stop dieting & trying to lose weight - your body has it’s own wisdom to know where your natural body weight is, so allow it to find it.

2.Stop using BMI as an indicator of health - it’s not! The research shows that people of all different body weights & shapes can be healthy, because health is not dependent on weight.

3.Research the science around weight & health & set point theory, listen to podcasts, read books

Mindful Nutrition Practice

13/08/2022

05/01/2022

23/12/2021

22/12/2021

23/10/2021

15/09/2021

15/09/2021

16/08/2021

05/08/2021

03/07/2021

04/05/2021

28/04/2021

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