Background : This explorative research aimed to determine if the
practice of mindfulness could help patients, who were followed as part of this study by a diet
medical center in France, to improve their relationship with food. Methods : More specifically
we examined if work on emotions, food sensations and the five senses concerning food could
influence the relation with food for patients affected by obesity and / or eating disorders. 18
volunteer participants (17 women and 1 man) were part of both individual and group sessions on
mindfulness, which were designed for the study in accordance with the center’s functioning.
Findings : Explorative results revealed a relation between emotions and diet : negative
feelings affect eating process. Furthermore, denial of food sensations could be linked to
weight gain. Then, we observed that patients didn’t take into account all their senses during
eating process. Discussion : Finally, the discussion highlighted that mindfulness can help
patients to develop their relationship with food, particularly for patients presenting eating
disorders.
