Parents who participate in an Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating Program often say, “This approach has changed everything about the way I parent my children around food and physical activity!” We will offer a program for families in the future, but in the meantime, when parents learn to eat mindfully, the cycle is broken. If you’d like to hear about mindful eating for families, please leave your email address in the box on the right!
Articles About Mindful Eating for Families
As a family physician and mother, and more important, as a person who struggled with food from a young age, Michelle May, M.D., the founder of Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating Programs and Training, is passionate about sharing mindful eating for families to prevent and treat disordered eating and health problems. Here are a few of her articles:
What My Kids Taught Me About Eating Mindfully
As parents, we’re supposed to teach our children healthy habits. But as I marveled at my children’s instinctive ability to regulate their fuel intake according to their needs, I realized we were all born with these innate skills! I decided that my job wasn’t to teach my kids when and how much to eat – they already knew that. My job was to provide them with a variety of nutritious, delicious foods and support their natural skills so they could thrive within the current food-abundant environment.
Read more…
You’re Not The Boss of My Body! How to Support Healthy Habits in Children
Although meeting the basic nutritional needs of children is critical, it’s important to provide meals and snacks in a way that respects their hunger and fullness cues and teaches them that while eating should be enjoyable, food is primarily for nourishment.
Read more…
Download handout: You’re Not the Boss of My Body: Support Healthy Habits in Children
7 Things Parents Say that May Contribute to Eating Issues in Kids
As parents, we sometimes forget that we are raising adults, not children. The goal is to provide them with the skills and increasing responsibility for managing their lives without our constant vigilance. One key life skill is the ability to navigate our abundant food environment while maintaining optimal well-being.
Read more…
Download handout: Seven Things Parents Say that May Contribute to Eating Issues
Michelle Goes on a Diet… That Lasted 20 Years
Michelle Goes on a Diet, a poem and video by Michelle May MD, was inspired by the controversial and misguided children’s book, Maggie Goes on a Diet. The real story is that millions of us started dieting at Maggie’s age or earlier and spent the rest of our lives dealing with the consequences: yo-yo dieting, weight cycling, poor self-esteem, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Dieting hasn’t worked for adults and it won’t work for kids!
Read more and watch the video…
