![\"Professor](\"http:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/n_mindful_eating_1aJPG.jpg\")
<\/a>Kayla Billingsley\/In Motion<\/figcaption><\/figure>Last month, as part of a new professional development series, Eaton talked to faculty and staff in an interactive workshop titled \u201cMindful Eating: Healing Your Relationship with Food, Cultivating Healthy Weight and Preventing Disease Through Awareness Practices and Acupuncture.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years apart from the college Eaton has expanded her teaching repertoire to include health coach and nutrition specialist.<\/p>\n
The goals of the workshop were to show participants how to enjoy food without feeling guilty, gaining weight, or ruining their health, and secondly to give Eaton constructive feedback about her workshop activities and handouts, so she can improve future offerings to the college and to the community.<\/p>\n
Held in the library, the event attracted almost a dozen spectators, who found the presentation encouraging and \u201creal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among those attending were speech instructor Holly Hollins, who quipped that she probably should not have eaten a bag of chips before going to class because she didn\u2019t even know if she was hungry or not, which focused in on the heart of Eaton\u2019s discussion.<\/p>\n
One of the primary points made was that if someone really wants a piece of pizza, they should go for it, provided that it is eaten in moderate portions. Such \u201cMindful Eating\u201d can help anyone live a healthy life.<\/p>\n
She also emphasized that mindful eating can help with weight loss, preventing pre-diabetes, high blood pressure and other health-related issues.<\/p>\n
To demonstrate how \u201cMindful Eating\u201d works, Eaton passed out small cups of raisins, instructing the audience to not eat them until her demonstration, which started with her making the audience pay active attention to each raisin by focusing on a single fruit and chewing it thoroughly before swallowing.<\/p>\n
She tried to make them chew the raisins 30 times, but few could last that long.<\/p>\n
Then, she handed out a paper that talked about how chewing food completely helps with good health and digestion. \u201cEven by saying \u2018no\u2019 to that cookie at work you are practicing mindful eating,\u201d Eaton told the crowd, adding that \u201cAlso, by not mindlessly eating a bag of chips, but by thinking \u2018What do I really need? Do I need water, am I really hungry, or is there a more healthy choice?\u2019 You are practicing mindful eating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toward the end of the 90-minute discussion, she taught the class how meditation can help them pay attention to how and what they are eating. Also introduced was a more meditative side in which participants concentrate on their breathing, then concentrate their minds on specific parts of their body.<\/p>\n
Finally, Eaton talked about how meditation can help a person realize what they are thinking about and what mindset they are in. Recognizing personal mindsets can allow people to make healthier choices with what they eat.<\/p>\n
Eaton\u2019s goal is to help the entire Daytona State College community get in better touch with their health, their goals and their bodies. Toward that end, she has established a permanent meeting room in the English Faculty office area upstairs in Bailey Hall, building 540. Students, staff and faculty are all invited every Monday through Thursday at 9 a.m. for a 5-minute loving kindness meditation, held in room 217.<\/p>\n
As part of the fall \u201cLunch and Learn\u201d brown bag series, Eaton will return at noon Nov. 5 with \u201cMindfulness: Base Stress Reduction.\u201d The free hour-long talks are held in Bergengren Hall, building 110, room 112. On Oct. 1, Kathleen Zurenko will offer \u201cMindfulness for Beginners.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lunch series will wrap up with a Dec. 3 presentation by Chef Costa Magoulas on \u201cGrocery Shopping and Tips.\u201d It will kick off again in 2015 with a Feb. 4 discussion by librarian Cheryl Kohen on \u201cAre You LinkedIn? Professional Networking 2.0.\u201d<\/p>\n
For information on the series, call John Brady at (386)-506-3837.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kayla Billingsley In Motion Staff Writer On campus, Daytona State College professor Heather Eaton is best known for her class lectures on literature and English composition. But another of her great passions is what she calls \u201cMindful Eating.\u201d Last month, as part of a new professional development series, Eaton talked Continue reading Professor focuses talk on \u2018Mindful\u2019 eating<\/span>