Kennesaw State Counseling and Psychological Services and Health Promotion and Wellness hosted a Mood and Food Luncheon Friday, Feb. 24 to provide information about body-positive eating philosophies during KSU’s Love Your Body Week.
Registered dietitian Barbara Leydecker and counselor trainee Val Evanoff gave a presentation on the data-driven benefits of mindful eating and intuitive eating. Students who submitted an RSVP received a free lunch as part of an intuitive eating exercise.
Key messages of the presentation included the idea that people can be healthy at any size and that overall health is more important than a number on a scale. The presentation was one of several events dedicated to celebrating Love Your Body Week, which KSU hosted from Feb. 20-24.
“Loving my body means just really appreciating myself and giving myself grace even when things don’t work out okay,” KSU student and luncheon attendee Erin Russell said. “I’m just still really appreciative that I’m in school and I’m trying my best: loving my body and me.”
Leydecker and Evanoff taught that mindful eating is the practice of slowing down and using all five senses to enjoy food. Intuitive eating is a way of approaching food that incorporates mindful eating and involves allowing yourself to eat as much as you desire until you feel full, according to the presentation.
Essentially, the presentation recommended remaining aware of the feelings that certain foods evoke while eating and paying attention to when you’re feeling full, but allowing yourself to keep eating if you are still hungry. Every person’s body is different, and standardized serving recommendations may not apply to everyone, according to the presentation.
“I think it’s important to take away the pressure of image when it comes to food and just accept that you need the food to function, your body needs it, and that we don’t need to be mad at our bodies, ever,” Health Promotion and Wellness Nutrition Student Assistant Summer Sandefur said.
Students who registered on OwlLife before the event received a sandwich with their choice of protein and a side of either a cookie or a bag of chips. Leydecker and Evanoff encouraged attendees to practice the techniques taught during the presentation while eating the provided lunch.
“We [young adult students] are kind of starting to make habits that are going to follow us for the rest of our lives. And food, whether people acknowledge it or not, is a huge part of your life, and it is very mental,” Sandefur said. “I think it’s super important that we’re able to have these resources and to learn and get help if we need it.”
Counseling and Psychological Services offer KSU students a variety of options for mental health support, including free counseling for individuals, couples and groups.
Health Promotion and Wellness offers free nutrition counseling and several other events that promote healthy living. More details can be found on the Health Promotion and Wellness event calendar.
