Early on in the development of Craving Change, we received feedback that a program addressing emotional eating wouldn’t appeal to men. In fact, this has never been the case as men absolutely attend and participate in Craving Change programs. This was highlighted recently in comments that we received from dietitian Alia El Kubbe at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in London, Ontario:
“I did a virtual group Craving Change session as part of our hospital’s cardiac rehab program. The group ranged from 40 to 89 years old and included 7 males and 1 female. In addition to cardiac health problems, some of the patients had prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. The majority of patients cited a goal to improve their nutrition and diet choices. Some of the patients wanted to increase their mindfulness during eating and improve their relationship with food.
The group was very engaged and found the concepts to be helpful. They were excited to use the Type of Hunger handout. During my 1:1 follow-up sessions with the patients, they reported that they found they were more mindful of their eating habits after this class. They also discovered that they were having a lot of heart hunger and that they could ‘put their craving on hold’ or distract themselves with other ways to nurture themselves.
We have now included a Craving Change session as part of our 12-week cardiac rehab education program.”
