Table 1.

Outline of Mbeeat course curriculum

Week 1: mindfulness and emotional eating	Concepts: mindfulness explained; emotions and mindful eating concepts
	Practice and inquiry: first-taste raisin task; guided breath meditation; 3-min breathing space
	Home practice: breath meditation, daily mindful activity, diary work, mindful eating exercises
Week 2: automatic reactions to emotions	Concepts: physical vs. emotional triggers of hunger; impulses, automatic reactivity, reward and the brain; introduction to acceptance
	Practice and inquiry: 7 kinds of hunger task [60]; identifying emotional needs; guided breath and guided body scan meditation
	Home practice: breath and body scan; 7 kinds of hunger task; daily mindful activity; diary work; noticing and savouring pleasant eating experiences
Week 3: stress and habitual reactions	Concepts: the stress cycle; habitual automatic reactions; reactive patterns of eating; becoming aware of cravings
	Practice and inquiry: identifying sources of craving task; guided breath meditation; being present with pleasant experiences task
	Home practice: body scan and breath meditation; focus on awareness of cravings and reaction vs. response; daily mindful activity; seeking out the pleasant and savouring the experience
Week 4: responding vs. reacting	Concepts: internal sensations and bodily cues related to emotional eating; responding rather than reacting to disturbing emotions; acceptance and the mindfulness paradox
	Practice and inquiry: breath meditation; accepting a difficult emotion practice specific to reactive eating patterns
	Home practice: guidance for ‘home retreat’ activities for week 5
Week 5: no class—‘home retreat’	Half-day committed to quiet time without media, phone, people, work, study, etc. Direction to set this time aside by careful planning and communication with relevant people to inform of this activity. Focus was on short mindfulness meditation practices and simple mindful activities such as household chores. Emphasis on mindful eating practice using learning to date. Direct attention to noticing the pleasant and unpleasant of the experience and practising acceptance rather than reaction
Week 6: review and next steps	Review of ‘retreat’ time experience. Six steps for mindful eating [60]. Noticing the inner critic and practice of loving-kindness meditation. Review of key concepts of course