Mindful Eating Training
Group Program
Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT)
Open to new patients
What is it?
For whom?
The therapeutic program
The foundations of Mindful Eating
Practical information
Request registration
Contact us or register for the program.
Start the registration process for the program or request more information about Mindful Eating Training.
Mindful Eating Training
Certified Program
Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) IN GROUP
What is it?
For whom?
The therapeutic program
The foundations of Mindful Eating
Practical information
Request registration
Contact us or register for the program.
Start the registration process for the program or request more information about Mindful Eating Training.
Reconnect with your body's nutritional wisdom.
MB-EAT is a scientifically validated program which allows you to cultivate a better relationship with food and reduce the frequency of disruptive, impulsive and/or unsafe eating.
It is based on the principles of mindfulness, mindful eating, self-awareness, and self-regulation, and focuses on a an inclusive approach to weight and body-centered practices.
MB-EAT aligns nutritional knowledge (outer wisdom) with the reconnection with internal physiological signals (inner wisdom), enabling improved eating habits and health, so that individuals can nourish themselves with agency and autonomy, in a sustainable way.
This program is for you if:
Looking for a healthier and more sustainable relationship with food?
Do you feel that you frequently disrupt your eating habits due to stress or emotions?
Do you have difficulties managing your body weight?
Do you want to stop dysfunctional eating cycles (e.g., stop going on "weight loss diets"; go from "all out" to "all the time")?
Eating mindlessly, "without thinking," or compulsively.
Do you want to learn how to nourish yourself properly, with agency over your food choices?
Initially studied for people with Binge eating disorder (Binge Eating Disorder) and, later, to People with depression and living with obesity.The MB-EAT Program can help people with various types of eating disorders.
Meet the therapist:
Isabela Sousa
Nutritionist (CP 5401N) with a postgraduate degree in adult mental health, currently pursuing a master's degree in neuroscience, and with experience in clinical nutrition and eating behavior. Qualified Instructor in Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT-QI).
Contact us or register for the program.
Start the registration process for the program or request more information about Mindful Eating Training.
What will you cover or learn throughout this program?
Mindfulness practices through guided meditation adapted to different realities.
Training in interoceptive awareness, which allows one to feel and identify the body's internal signals and self-regulate the response to hunger, satiety, and satisfaction.
Nutritional knowledge that allows you to relearn how to nourish your body with sustainable choices.
Theoretical knowledge about the multiple dimensions of food, the different senses in the food experience, and the understanding of stress and emotions in food and health.
Journaling to identify food triggers and response patterns, allowing for appropriate and conscious adjustments to the reaction.
Mindful eating practices with sensory activation, using foods from different food groups and simulating different eating contexts during the session.
The rediscovery of movement, of the body in motion, and of the body as a safe and reliable place (body scan).
Self-soothing and self-regulating eating abilities
What will you have access to with the program?
Mindful Eating Training?
10 in-person group sessions (2x/week) and 1 follow-up session (1 month after the program ends)
Support community between sessions via WhatsApp.
Support materials for the sessions and support materials for the participant's daily life.
Group sessions with different themes for each session.
Dynamic sessions, with moments of sharing, theoretical training and practical training (hands-on with food, in session).
Practical strategies for everyday life, starting from the first session.
A program based on scientific evidence with people-centered sessions.
Internationally certified and specialized group facilitator in MB-EAT (MB-EAT-QI), nutritionist, postgraduate in adult mental health, researcher and master's student in neuroscience.
The foundations of Mindful Eating
The Foundations and Origin of MB-EAT
Mindfulness-based eating training was initially developed for the treatment of binge eating disorder (Binge Eating Disorder, BED)1,2 and related problems3,4.
BED is characterized by the use of food as a form of coping (coping with, managing) emotional suffering, along with a dysregulation of interoceptive awareness (in other words, dysregulation of the processing and identification of internal signaling and the respective appropriate response), of appetite and satiety mechanisms, and of reactivity to food stimuli.2It is possible that this dysregulation is also present in people who do not live with BED.
Food mindfulness training (Eating awarenessThis aims to enable greater regulation of these phenomena, which are fundamental for adequate food intake, metabolic improvement, and a healthy eating lifestyle.
The Three Theoretical Pillars of the Program
To address this deregulation, MB-EAT was designed based on three theoretical approaches.1:
Models of food intake regulation that emphasize the interaction between psychophysiological processes.
The theory of self-regulation
Neurocognitive and therapeutic models of mindfulness practice.
In this program, in addition to the classic neurobiological perspectives on hedonic imbalance, the combination of these approaches led to considering the alternative perspective that individuals "disconnect" from their internal experience, creating "unconscious" eating patterns.1.
Thus, the theory of self-regulation argues that the body's internal regulatory processes depend, to a large extent, on its ability to self-observe its internal states.1Therefore, cultivating self-awareness of internal signals (interoceptive awareness) can mobilize and readjust regulatory systems more effectively and maintain homeostasis with little difficulty.1.
How Mindfulness Transforms Your Relationship with Food
In parallel, at MB-EAT, mindfulness practice is conceived as a way to train attention to increase non-judgmental awareness of internal experience and automatic patterns related to eating, emotional regulation, and self-acceptance.1This awareness is important to break dysfunctional cycles such as binge eating, self-blame, and excessive restriction.1.
In this program, the guided practice of mindfulness also focuses on the processes of food intake itself, training awareness of hunger and satiety, specific sensory satiety, emotional factors and other triggers for eating, working on food hedonism and food reward mechanisms.1,2.
Dietary change based on listening to the body and self-awareness.
The sessions in this program were designed and studied so that dietary change can be effective and efficient, helping participants to identify:
Internal and external triggers that influence your food choices.
Dysfunctional food intake cycles (with or without binge eating, overeating, restriction, among others), guilt, and excessive food restriction, interrupting them.
The natural physiological processes of food regulation (reactivating them)
The different and necessary dimensions of food, including the relevance of the hedonic dimension – the pleasure of eating – and the nutritional dimension – the act of nourishing oneself.
More sustainable and person-appropriate dietary patterns
Program Structure and Objectives: What will you learn?
Based on this theoretical foundation, and in summary, MB-EAT was designed to increase mindfulness of eating-related experiences and to decrease unconscious or habitual reactivity through specific exercises regulating physical hunger and satiety signals, overall food intake, and body awareness, integrating physical, cognitive, social, environmental, and mental aspects.2 related to food.
The program comprises a total of 10 group sessions, with follow-up session(s) one to two months after the program's completion. Throughout the sessions, participants will learn to...1:
Cultivating the ability to apply mindful eating to the complex processes involved in food choices, the decision to start eating, and the decision to stop eating.
Reactivating the innate abilities to utilize hunger and satiety signals (interoceptive awareness)
Understanding the different dimensions of food, including the hedonic dimension, with the pleasure of eating, emphasizing the quality of food (nourishing oneself).
Developing body awareness and awareness of emotional experiences related to food.
References:
- Kristeller, J.L., & Wolever, R.Q. (2011). Mindfulness-based eating awareness training for treating binge eating disorder: the conceptual foundation. Eating disorders, 19(1), 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/10640266.2011.533605
- Kristeller, J. L., Wolever, R. Q., & Sheets, V. (2014). Mindfulness-based eating awareness training (MB-EAT) for binge eating: A randomized clinical trial. Mindfulness, 5 (3), 282-297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-012-0179-1
- Daubenmier, J., Moran, P.J., Kristeller, J., Acree, M., Bacchetti, P., Kemeny, M.E., Dallman, M., Lustig, R.H., Grunfeld, C., Nixon, D.F., Milush, J.M., Goldman, V., Laraia, B., Laugero, K.D., Woodhouse, L., Epel, E.S., & Hecht, F.M. (2016). Effects of a mindfulness-based weight loss intervention in adults with obesity: A randomized clinical trial. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 24(4), 794-804. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.21396
- Kristeller, J., Wnuk, S., & Du, C. (2018). Mindfulness-Based Therapies in Severe Obesity. In S. Cassin, R. Hawa, & S. Sockalingam (Eds.), Psychological Care in Severe Obesity: A Practical and Integrated Approach(pp. 175–198). chapter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Carrière, K., Khoury, B., Günak, M. M., & Knäuper, B. (2018). Mindfulness-based interventions for weight loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity reviews: an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 19(2), 164-177. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12623
Practical information
Format / location:
In-person at Liminal Minds
Duration:
Cycles of 10 sessions up to 2 hours each, twice a week for 1 month.
Dates:
Tuesdays and Fridays after work hours
Values:
Phased value: €340 + €340
Full program: €680
- 10 MB-EAT group sessions
- Foods/meals used in the sessions
- Follow-up WhatsApp community
- Support materials
- Practical, specialized, and evidence-based strategies