Mindfulness is, of course, the foundation of mindful eating. Meditation offers a pathway to deepening our mindfulness. Therefore, both mindfulness and meditation practice are essential to the practice of mindful eating. This session will introduce  you to the skill of mindfulness, why it's important for clinicians interested in teaching mindful eating to have a personal meditation practice, and how to cultivate one and maintain it. 

Meet the Presenter

Lynn Rossy, Ph.D., is an author and health psychologist who specializes in offering mindfulness-based interventions for mindful eating and living. After spending much of her career at the University of Missouri, she became the Executive Director of Tasting Mindfulness, LLC.

In 2007, she developed an empirically-validated mindful eating program called Eat for Life which helps people have a healthy relationship with food and their bodies—decreasing binge eating while increasing body image, mindfulness, and intuitive eating. She teaches her class live online over Zoom to professionals and the general public. She also travels nationally and internationally to teach mindful eating. 

Dr. Rossy published the concepts from her program in a book entitled, The Mindfulness-Based Eating Solution: Proven Strategies to End Overeating, Satisfy Your Hunger and Savor Your Life (New Harbinger, July 2016). Her book was named one of the top ten books of 2016 by Mindful.Org. Her newest book is Savor Every Bite: Mindful Ways to Eat, Love Your Body, and Live with Joy (New Harbinger, May 2021). 

Dr. Rossy is also a certified Kripalu and Energy Medicine yoga (EMYoga) teacher who teaches locally in Columbia, MO, and internationally at Pura Vida Spa in Costa Rica. She completed a three-year Community Dharma Leader Training through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California in January 2008 and has been a student of Buddhist meditation since 1998. She completed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher training from the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare, and Society in Massachusetts in 2004.

Her greatest passion is helping people find delicious ways to eat and move their bodies, while discovering greater meaning and purpose in life. She loves to play the piano, do yoga, hike in nature, eat fabulous food, and celebrate life with friends. She can be found anywhere by listening for her infectious laugh.

Before learning how to teach mindful eating, one must understand what mindful eating is. This session will explore the principles of mindful eating and the research that support mindfulness and mindful eating practices as a pathway to better health and wellbeing. 

Meet the Presenter

Dana Notte is a non-diet dietitian and nutrition educator who aims to help people heal their relationship to food, body, and self through non-diet, weight-inclusive, and mindfulness-based approaches. She specializes in working with individuals seeking support to heal from chronic dieting, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Additionally, she actively presents at conferences and professional trainings on topics related to mindful eating and non-diet approaches to care.

Much of her training has been self-guided and on-the-job. She has spent years reading, researching, and attending trainings and conferences related to mindfulness, mindful eating, and weight-inclusive care. She is a former facilitator of the Am I Hungry® Mindful Eating Program and spent several years working for a non-diet, mindfulness-based wellness retreat, where she honed her skills as a nutrition educator, counselor, and mindfulness practitioner.

Dana is now the owner of ThrivInspired Nutrition, a Burlington, VT based nutrition counseling practice offering individual in-person and virtual nutrition counseling services, group workshops and retreats, and community, corporate, and professional speaking services. Dana is also part-time faculty at the University of Vermont where she teaches in the Nutrition and Food Sciences Department.

Recognized as an expert in the field, Dana has been quoted in several major publications including TIME, Reader’s Digest, Health, and EatingWell.

Outside of her professional work, you can find Dana in her kitchen experimenting with new ingredients and creating new recipes, with her nose in a Lonely Planet book planning her next international adventure, practicing staying present on the mat at the yoga studio, or enjoying all that the outdoors of VT have to offer.

Mindful eating is inherently a weight inclusive practice. This session will explain why mindful eating and the pursuit of intentional weight loss cannot co-exist and offer tools for supporting your clients in their body acceptance journey.

Meet the Presenter

Kimmie Singh is a fat Registered Dietitian based in New York City. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Physics from St. John’s University, her Master of Science in Nutrition at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her Dietetic Internship from The City University of New York-Hunter College. Kimmie is the owner of Body Honor Nutrition, a nutrition private practice that supports individuals to heal their relationships with food and body. Kimmie supports her clients with a fat-positive and anti-oppressive framework and has a special passion for working with people that have polycystic ovarian syndrome. Kimmie is also a sought-after speaker and has presented at several national conferences. She presents on the effects of anti-fat stigma in healthcare and nutrition. Kimmie is a believer in kindness, compassion, and the power of advocacy. Learn more about Kimmie at www.bodyhonornutrition.com. 

Twitter: @kimmiesinghrd

IG: @bodyhonornutrition

website: www.bodyhonornutrition.com

This session will introduce you to the basics of teaching mindful eating in practice. It will cover core tenants of a mindful eating practice including non-restrictive eating, non-diet mentality, hunger/fullness/satisfaction, the sensory experience of eating, and more. Plus, you'll gain insight as to how to introduce these tenants to your clients.

Meet the Presenter

Vincci Tsui (she/her) is a former bariatric dietitian turned certified intuitive eating counselor and body-liberation advocate. She is the author of The Mindful Eating Workbook: Simple Practices for Nurturing a Positive Relationship with Food. 

Vincci is passionate about helping people find freedom in their relationship with food and with their body, so that they can confidently step away from diet culture and live life on their own terms. Ultimately, Vincci is on a mission to make dignity, respect, and a better quality of life accessible to all bodies.

Vincci takes a collaborative and compassionate approach to nutrition counselling and coaching that is rooted in Health at Every Size®, intuitive eating, and mindful eating philosophy. She believes in helping clients attune to their inner wisdom when it comes to making decisions around food, eating, and overall well-being.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Calgary, Vincci received her Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Sciences from McGill University, and completed the school’s integrated dietetic internship program. She is an active member of the College of Dietitians of Alberta and Dietitians of Canada.

Find her online at www.VincciTsui.com.

Judgment, shame, guilt are experiences many individuals associate with the eating process. Self-compassion is a critical component of cultivating a mindful eating practice because it helps to release us from our inner critic. This session will introduce you to the practice of mindful self-compassion, how it supports a more peaceful relationship with food, and how you can help your clients cultivate a self-compassion practice.

Meet the Presenter

Dr. Haica Rosenfeld is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Eating Disorders Specialist and Approved Supervisor by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. She currently works in Private Practice in Aventura, FL. She also provides Telehealth or Online psychotherapy to residents in Florida, Vermont and Venezuela. Haica is dedicated to and passionate about helping clients heal their relationship with food, exercise, and their bodies, as well as disrupting the internalized messages they’ve received from diet culture.

Haica has worked for over 12 years in the field of eating disorders and body image healing. She is passionate about helping people make peace with food, whether that means overcoming eating disorders, disordered eating, living a life free of chronic dieting, or learning intuitive eating, finding pleasure in joyful movement, and practicing a body-positive approach to wellness.

Research supports mindful eating as a useful tool for helping individuals find a more peaceful relationship with food. Whether someone is struggling with chronic dieting or a clinical eating disorder, mindful eating can be an important part of the healing process. This session will explore the ways in which mindful eating can support our clients along the disordered eating continuum. 

Meet the Presenter

Alexis Conason, PsyD, CEDS is a licensed psychologist and certified eating disorder specialist in private practice in New York City. Her group practice specializes in the treatment of overeating disorders, body image dissatisfaction, and sexual functioning using mindfulness-based interventions. She is the founder of The Anti-Diet Plan, an online mindfulness eating program to help people stop dieting, start eating with more attunement to their bodies, and live lives filled with joy, peace, and pleasure.  She is the author of the book The Diet Free Revolution: 10 Steps to Free Yourself from the Diet Cycle with Mindful Eating and Radical Self-Acceptance (June 2021, North Atlantic Books).

She is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and writes the “Eating Mindfully” blog for their website. She has been widely featured in the popular press including Oprah Magazine, Elle, Teen Vogue, CBS News, The Washington Post, The New York Post, and many more. Dr. Conason is a fierce advocate for helping people recognize and question the societal norms that encourage feeling not good enough about themselves so that they can live their most fulfilling lives-- at any size! 

A deeper dive in meditation practice, this session will explore specific types of meditation used when teaching mindful eating clients including self-compassion, body scan, walking meditation, loving kindness, body loving kindness, RAIN, and more. 

Meet the Presenter

Jenna is a non-diet nutrition therapist, writer, and meditation instructor based in New York City. At her private practice, Eat to Love, she helps people struggling with chronic dieting, disordered eating, eating disorders, and poor body image to move toward greater peace, health, and wellness using a combination of Intuitive Eating, mindfulness techniques, and meditation.

"But what if I have [insert chronic health condition]?" is a common question from clients and clinicians alike, when it comes to integrating mindful eating into the clinical process. This session will explain why mindful eating is not only appropriate, but very useful, when working with clients with chronic health conditions and how to integrate principles of mindful eating into your work with these clients.

Meet the Presenter

Megrette Fletcher is a pioneer in mindful eating. She provides easy to use resources and teaching materials that are HAES compliant to build strong client relationships and promote sustainable wellbeing. Training tools and programs are designed for dietitians, diabetes educators, nutritionists, coaches, health care professionals, educational institutions and wellness focused corporations.

Megrette Fletcher became interested in applying mindfulness to food and eating after she began a daily meditation practice in 1999. Realizing the potential value of Mindful Eating, she teamed up with Fred Burggraf M.Ed, an author/publisher, and created Discover Mindful Eating, published in 2005. The concept of Mindful Eating was just beginning. Megrette began to dream of creating a multidisciplinary non-profit organization that would offer a clear set of principles to support professionals to include the concepts of Mindful Eating into new and existing health programs. In 2005, the conditions were right, and Jean Kristeller, PhD, researcher and creator of the MB-EAT program, and Dh. Amala, Director of Aryaloka Buddhist Retreat Center, gathered around a kitchen table to discuss creating The Center for Mindful Eating. With the help of founding board members Donald Altman, MA, Mark Blackwood, MD, Ron Thebarge, PhD, and Char Wilkins, LCSW, the Center for Mindful Eating launched its public website in January 2006. Today, The Center for Mindful Eating is an international non-profit that has brought the ancient wisdom of Mindful Eating to help address today’s eating concerns.

Megrette Fletcher M.Ed., R.D., CDE is a registered dietitian, diabetes educator, and Mindful Eating expert. She is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island and received her master’s degree in nutrition education from Framingham State College. She began working with diabetes in 1994 and in 2000 obtained her CDE. In addition to writing and speaking, she continues to work as a diabetes educator in Dover NH.

She has served many roles for The Center for Mindful Eating in the last 10-years, including 2013-2016 President. In 2016 Megrette gratefully passed this important role to Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD who is another pioneer in the mindful eating community.

Now, with a solid foundation of what mindfulness and mindful eating are, the research that supports these practices, and the ways they can be used to help individuals cultivate a more supportive relationship with food, we'll transition into discussing how to teach mindfulness and mindful eating effectively by focusing on the qualities of an effective mindfulness teacher. This includes qualities like practicing what you teach, being clear about your role, a commitment to continually strengthening your own practice, and more.

Meet the Presenter

Linn Thorstensson is a registered Nutritional Therapist, based in Co Mayo in the West of Ireland, with a special focus on helping people heal their relationship with food and eating, through a mindful eating and self-compassionate approach. 

Linn holds a three year PGDip in Nutritional Therapy, certifications in mind-body medicine, and Mindful Eating (MB-EAT). She is a past director for the board of Nutritional Therapists of Ireland and the current secretary of the board for The Centre for Mindful Eating.

When she is not found reading, writing or in her clinic, she tries spending most of her time in nature, with her dogs, with friends and in deep conversations.

You can connect with Linn online at www.straightforwardnutrition.com 

Facebook:  Straightforward Nutrition

Instagram:  @healing_relationship_with_food

Email:  linn@straightforwardnutrition.com