Happy Mondays
Leading life and happiness coach
SO HOW did your New Year New You weight loss resolutions work out? Yes, me too. There can’t be a woman on the planet who doesn’t know the calorific count of everything from a prawn to a poppadom – and yet we gain weight with a sort of “how did that happen?” feeling.
What if being happier was more effective in weight loss than extreme dietary restrictions and if we could develop a less stressful lifestyle and a friendlier relationship with food. Could we liberate ourselves from weight worry?
Welcome then to Meenal Savani, a health coach, who explains: “The subconscious mind is designed to find what it has lost so when you want to lose weight you will find it back again. So rather than ‘lose’ it my approach is to help clients ‘release’ weight.”
Meenal, who is also a dietician with over 18 years NHS experience, discovered via her own health issues that emotions and thought patterns impact on our health and attitudes to food and weight loss. “Although my clients want to lose weight there are often deep-rooted fears of actually losing it,” she explains. “It could be a fear of losing their identity, fear of change or of losing connections with family and friends.
“As I gain a deeper understanding about my clients’ fears I can help to empower thoughts that move away from negativity. Diets are full of rules and deprivations. The more you resist something the more you want it. I help my clients tune into their body’s wisdom to know when, what to eat and how much.”
Having done Meenal’s threemonth programme I was surprised to find feelings of guilt around food emerged and these are common themes among her clients.
Here Meenal shares some top tips for mindful eating:
Turn off distractions such as TV and phone so you can pay full attention to your meal.
Take a moment to look at your food, smell the aromas, really taste the flavours, feel the textures. Chew each bite at least 10-15 times. Put down utensils between each mouthful to really enjoy eating. For more information visit nowhealthcoaching.com