How Mindful Eating Helps Clients Overcome Internalized Weight Bias

Your client is crying. What do you say? Your client is frustrated by dieting. How do you unpack unsustainable diets and plans? Your client feels confused and conflicted by weight-centric care because, after years of dieting, they have come to accept and endorse derogatory and discriminatory cultural depictions of people who are classified as higher-weight/overweight (i.e., as irresponsible, gluttonous, and lazy).

Diabetes care is challenging, and internalized weight bias makes it more complicated. You want to know what to do. This course explains how mindfulness and mindful eating help. Mindfulness works by unleashing the power of nonjudgmental awareness and cultivating curiosity by incorporating Motivational Interviewing. Find your go-to counseling approach as you expand your skills to compassionately explore ways to unpack internalized weight bias and stigma surrounding the care and treatment of diabetes. 

Learning Objectives:

1. State 2 Features of internalized weight stigma 

2. List how these features impact people with diabetes

3. Participants in two mindful eating activities for diabetes

4. Participate in a role-play to talk with peers regarding the impact of internalized weight stigma in diabetes care.

This is a level 3 activity

Speaker: Megrette Fletcher M.Ed., RDN, CDCES

1-10 minutes: What are two features of internalized weight stigma.  

11-20 minutes: Review the impact of internalized stigma in research

21-30 minutes: How to use Mindful Eating to respond to stigma in diabetes

31-40 minutes: Hunger/Fullness scale Activity

40-49 minutes: Case study: Meet Paul

50-55 minutes: Review of helpful research and websites

55-60 minutes: Q&A

References:

• Wu, K., & Berry, D. C. (2018). Impact of weight stigma on physiological and psychological health outcomes for overweight and obese adults: A systematic review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74(5), 1030-1042. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13511

• Williams Oli, Annandale Ellen, Weight Bias Internalization as an Embodied Process: Understanding How Obesity Stigma Gets Under the Skin. Frontiers in Psychology 10 2019, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00953 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00953. ISSN=1664-1078   

• Pearl, R. L., and Puhl, R. M. (2018). Weight bias internalization and health: a systematic review. Obes. Rev. 19, 1141–1163. doi: 10.1111/obr.12701
  
  Performance Indicators

• 9.3.5 Uses a variety of strategies to deliver education.

•  9.2.3 Applies educational theories and uses assessment results for planning process and development of materials and teaching aids.

• 9.3.1 Critically reviews and selects materials from credible sources to support the development of diet and nutrition education resources.