On Tuesday, Feb. 19, registered dietitian Dania Matiation will conduct a workshop called Feeding Frenzy - can emotional eating be neutral?
Matiation said the workshop is the introduction of her Feeding Frenzy Toolkit for awakening from emotional eating."Feeding Frenzy Toolkit is an invitation to practice being our own catalyst. Everyone has emotional hunger, because from early on we learn to equate food with love and comfort," she said.
There is nothing unusual or wrong about sometimes eating for comfort or enjoying comfort foods; it's something most people do, Matiation said. Where emotional eating becomes problematic for some people is when we eat to distance ourselves from stresses or traumas, she said.
Matiation said over time this type of eating can become habit forming to such a degree that we're unaware we're addicted to the comfort that eating brings - or we're aware but totally stuck.
Matiation said she encourages people who think they might be emotional eaters to come to the workshop, because even though the subject can be intense, the workshop is not. Instead, it focuses on solutions and what people can do for themselves.
She said the point of the workshop is to learn and practise new exit strategies to awaken a natural relationship with food.
"By exit strategies, I mean things we can interpret into our lives that are internally driven and therefore are more effective than external things that never work," she said.
During the two hours of the workshop, Matiation said she will discuss eight straightforward practical strategies and offer people some tools to take away with them. She said the workshop will be useful for people who are already looking at their emotional eating and want support and direction or who are already learning coping mechanisms and want to increase the tools and information at their disposal.
The meeting tarts at 7 p.m. at the Sechelt Aquatic Centre. Fees for participants are $30 and pre-registration is required through the Sunshine Coast Regional District at 604-885-6801 or at www.activnet8.active/com.scrd.
If you miss the workshop or would like more information, contact Matiation at 604-740-6403 or email [email protected].
