Emma Randall(Mindful Eating)MSc BA Hon DipPsych NT

I live in Lightwater, Surrey, and run my own business, Mindful Eating. I help people to improve their eating habits and relationship with food through one-to-one sessions (in person or via Zoom), talks, workshops, webinars and support groups. I help clients to build better self-awareness around their eating. I work with both overweight and normal weight individuals. Many people are emotional eaters, binge eaters, and disordered eating is not uncommon, so I help clients to explore the root of their food issues, and I also ask them what food might symbolise for them. Food and eating can symbolise different things to different people. For example, it can be a way to relax or have a break, it can be a way of connecting socially, it can have a calming, distracting or numbing effect when things feel difficult or overwhelming, it can be a way to reward oneself, a way to put things off (procrastinate), it can be something to do when feeling bored, lonely or unfulfilled, and it can even be a means of rebelling, ‘rule breaking’ or self-punishment. When I work with very busy people, including high achievers, eating feels like a good excuse to actually stop and have a break. Many of my clients have low self-worth, or had a difficult childhood, or even a history of trauma, and have a strong inner critic.

Addressing a person’s relationship with food is about looking at the whole picture, and I often say to people, to have a better relationship with food, it’s important to develop a better relationship with yourself. I also see a lot of all-or-nothing thinking, which often stems from a history of yo-yo dieting, being ‘on’ or ‘off’ a diet, or being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ around food. I encourage people to not categorise food as good or bad, and to embrace a ‘middle-way’ approach to eating.

There are a lot of weight loss 'solutions' out there offering a quick-fix, and there is big demand for quick results. However, based on my nearly twenty years of experience helping people with weight issues, if people do not address their relationship with food alongside a weight loss plan or treatment, they find that they re-gain the weight and even more, because the method they’ve used hasn’t helped them to address why they might overeat in the first place, so they tend to go back to their old eating habits. A person’s eating habits can be a reflection or symptom of their general mental health and well-being, which is why I address psychological issues to a considerable extent, alongside giving dietary advice.

With mindless eating there is usually little enjoyment, so I help clients to have more positive eating experiences, teaching them to pause and check in with themselves (to think and be present before and whilst eating), and to actually give themselves more permission around food, whilst adopting mindful eating strategies to help them savour food.