Emotional Eating Course Syllabus

Welcome to the Emotional Eating Course!

As the health coaching industry continues to grow at a staggering rate, we seek to provide our community with a path toward greater personal and professional success by cultivating an expertise in a specific area of wellness.

An estimated 50% of the population has an unhealthy relationship with food, their body, and/or exercise. In fact, we all struggle with emotional eating at some point in our lives, turning to food for comfort, reward or another purpose besides satisfying physical hunger. In this course, you’ll learn the possible roots and drivers of emotional eating, including how emotions, stress, body image, social and cultural influences, and a one-size-fits-all mind-set contribute to using food for reasons outside nourishment. This course will also teach you how to deconstruct cravings, apply principles of habit change, overcome unhelpful patterns, and distinguish between emotional eating and eating disorders.

Through a mix of video lectures, case studies, done-for-you materials, and multimodal activities, we’ll provide a wide range of tools for personal reflection, critical assessments, and real-life opportunities to practice integrating the material in tangible ways. You’ll walk away with coaching strategies grounded in personal self-awareness that in turn will help you guide your clients toward greater awareness around their eating behaviors and triggers and a more positive relationship with themselves and with food.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

As leaders in the holistic nutrition and health coaching space, we’re here to provide you with continued learning opportunities to further hone your passion and skills and excel at your craft.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand common psychological, biological, and cultural factors that contribute toemotional eating, cravings, and unhealthy food relationships

• Coach clients who struggle with emotional eating from within the scope of practice of aHealth Coach

• Facilitate tools and emotional coping strategies for self-awareness, selfconnection, andself-empowerment that create space for sustainable, nourishing habits

• Promote positive and sustainable eating habits by helping clients find their own middleground, take a long view of progress, and work with ongoing setbacks and self-sabotage

• Integrate individual-based strategies to support clients around issues related to weight andbody image

• Recognize key differences between emotional eating, eating disorders, and healthierapproaches to eating

• Support clients around nourishing themselves beyond food through relationships, movement,and other areas of life

CONTENT

There are a total of 58 video lectures and skill-building activities, which span the various areas of study, including:

• Emotions – the value of emotions, emotional intelligence, and the four components ofemotions

• Drivers and conceptualizations of emotional eating

• The emotional eating cycle

• Stress – the role of stress, the stress response, and stress regulation

• “Fitting out” of cultural norms and ideals

• The value of storytelling and creating a personal food narrative as a healing tool

• Identifying biases and challenging limiting beliefs

• Eating disorders – scope of practice, identifying red flags, referring out, and working as partof a treatment team

• Conceptualizing and navigating cravings

• Sugar – the role of sugar in emotional eating, sugar addiction, and crowding out sugar

• Biological factors that can influence emotional eating

• Intersections with intimacy, gender, sexuality, and cultural expectations

• Coaching around emotional eating

• The power of mind-set and reframing

• Creating self-trust and connecting with the inner expert

• Finding nourishment beyond food (primary food)

• Mindful eating strategies and creating awareness

• Why diets don’t work and the value of creating a bio-individual eating plan

• Creating boundaries around food for empowerment

• Marketing to clients who need help with emotional eating

To solidify your understanding of the topics presented, almost every module will contain a case study to help you apply the content to real-life scenarios to help boost your confidence as you work with clients!

In addition, you’ll be assigned handouts and exercises throughout the course to help you reflect further on topics related to emotional eating and emotional coping. While these handouts help you learn, they’re also great resources that you can download, print, and use with clients! The handouts will be released in the done-for-you folder in the Business Toolkit within the Learning Center as their corresponding modules become available.

You’ll also gain access to a private Facebook group, where you can connect anytime with your course moderators and fellow students to ask questions, seek support, clarify concepts, and solidify your understanding of the content.

The newest addition to the curriculum will be a special call series led by our staff of seasoned Health Coaches with both personal and professional coaching experience around topics related to emotional eating! These calls will provide another way to interact with other students, ask questions, and receive personal and professional support all in real time!

Module Overviews

On the pages that follow, you will find a module-by-module overview of the content in the Emotional Eating Course.

Bonus Module

To make the most of your seven months, you’ll gain access to a pre-course module as soon as you enroll. You’ll receive a preview of what you’ll get in the course and how it will help you confidently navigate emotional eating in your coaching practice! You’ll also be introduced to topics like the psychology of food choice and the foodmood connection and receive tips and tools for maximizing your success in this course!

Topics Covered:

• The Psychology of Food Choice

• Scope of Practice

• The Psychology of Your Success

Handouts:

Food-Mood Connection; Big Rocks Template

Emotions 101

As the title suggests, this module is all about understanding your emotions. Since it’s normal to experience several at once, you’ll learn exactly how to identify emotions as well as the four components of emotional intelligence and its significance to coaching clients through emotional eating. We’ll explore different purposes that emotions serve in creating connection with the self and with others and how they make for an essential first step in navigating emotional eating. Plus, we’ll share four ways that you can support clients around emotional healing using a case study!

Topics Covered:

• Understand Emotional Intelligence

• Four Components of Emotional Intelligence

• Guide Emotional Healing

• Case Study: Renée Handouts:

Exercise: Emotions Checklist and Meta-Emotion Table;

Exercise: Emotional Toolkit; Module 1 References

Emotional Eating 101

In this module, you’ll discover five ways of conceptualizing emotional eating, including common differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger. We’ll teach you how to identify basic habit loops and apply them to eating behaviors. We’ll also go over some primary drivers of emotional eating and how they can contribute to becoming disconnected from yourself. We’ll then put it all together and teach you how to integrate this material in working with clients while keeping in mind your scope of practice!

Topics Covered:

• Recognize Emotional Eating

• Emotional Hunger vs. PhysicalHunger

• The Habit Loop

• The Emotional Eating Loop

• Wear the “Health Coach Hat”

• Guide Emotional Eating

• Case Study: Thomas Handouts:

Exercise: Food Relationship Questionnaire; Exercise: Decoding Your “Why” of Eating; Module 2 References

Stress and Emotional Eating

This module focuses on stress and its effect on emotional eating. You’ll gain knowledge of the stress responses, stress cycle, and emotional eating cycle and how they influence one another. You’ll then learn how you can support clients in moving to a more positive stress cycle, using a case study and coaching partner to apply the material!

Topics Covered:

• The Stress Response

• Stuck in the Stress Cycle

• Connect Stress and Eating

• The Emotional Eating Cycle

• Positive Stress Cycle

Body Image and Emotional Eating

How does the way we feel about our bodies affect the way we eat? In this module, we’ll explore cultural norms and ideals and the role they play in shaping our body and self-image. You’ll learn how having a negative body image and engaging in emotional eating can fuel disconnection from the self and others. The module will then guide you to explore your own self-image and help clients explore their personal connections to body image and emotional eating tendencies.

Topics Covered:

• Four Aspects of Body Image

• Fitting into the Ideal

• Media and the Bio-Individual Ideal

• Body Image and Emotional Eating

• Case Study: Renée Handouts:

Exercise: Self-Image Reflection; Exercise: Fitting In; Module 4 References

The Power of Story

The art of storytelling is powerful as it is, but in the context of coaching, telling a story can be incredibly insightful and transformative for clients. You’ll learn about the key benefits of storytelling and the importance of focusing on language, especially when it comes to sensitive topics like emotional eating. As a result, this module will help you gain self-awareness as it relates to your own food narratives and introduce you to the “Eating Story” tool for coaching around emotional eating.

The Healthy Bias

One of the most important keys to success as a Health Coach is being able to put biases aside. The catch, however, is that everyone has biases about various topics, including food, body image, and other areas that connect to emotional eating. In this module, you’ll learn about limiting beliefs and how they can contribute to emotional eating and unhelpful food relationships. You’ll be guided through deconstructing your personal health and weight biases and gain understanding as to how they can affect how you coach clients. You’ll discover the connections between biases and limiting beliefs and learn how limiting beliefs can keep clients stuck in emotional eating cycles.

Topics Covered:

• Biases and Their Purpose

• Recognize the Healthy Bias

• Limiting Beliefs and Emotional Eating

• Coaching Biases and Limiting Beliefs

• ABCD Approach

• Case Study: Teresa Handouts:

Exercise: 12 Steps to Better Health; Exercise: Chart and Challenge Beliefs; Exercise: The ABCD Method; Module 6 References

Eating Disorders

This portion of the course is taught by visiting teacher Monika Ostroff, a licensed therapist, consultant, and author who has specialized in eating disorders for over 25 years! She explains how to identify common eating disorders and differentiate them from emotional eating. The module will cover how eating disorders are affected by gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and athletics. Then, you’ll learn how to support clients around eating disorders within your scope of practice using specific coaching strategies and working as part of a larger treatment team.

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Eating in the Matrix

This module presents the idea of the matrix as a metaphor for how cultural norms can influence our lifestyle habits, including what and how we eat! You’ll be provided with several broad lenses to help deconstruct some common one-size-fits-all eating approaches. We’ll also discuss three common ways of using food for a purpose other than physical nourishment. With the help of a case study and your coaching partner, you’ll have the opportunity to apply this material using neutral and nonjudgmental language to guide your exploration of current eating habits and mind-sets.

Topics Covered:

• How We Eat Today

• Three Lenses as a Framework for Connecting Eating Habits with Lifestyle Habits

• The Eating Matrix

• Four Common “One-Size-Fits-All”

Approaches to Eating

• Food for a Purpose

• Five Ways to Help Clients Navigate the Eating Matrix

• Case Study: Renée Handouts:

Exercise: How You Do; Exercise: Your Eating Matrix; Exercise: Navigate with Neutrality; Module 8 Referencesv

Cravings

Just like the name indicates, this module will take a deep dive into cravings. You’ll learn the key aspects and roots of both physical and emotional cravings and how they connect to emotional eating and mind-sets. Next, we’ll discuss how to conceptualize cravings as useful information and how to use food qualities to help clients decode specific cravings and make nourishing food swaps instead! You’ll be given basic guideposts to empower clients around their cravings while keeping in mind individual considerations.

Topics Explored:

• Understand Physical Cravings

• Explore Emotional Cravings

• Decode the “Why” of Cravings

• Coach Cravings

• Case Study: Thomas Handouts:

Exercise: Navigate Cravings; Exercise: Reduce Cravings; Exercise Food

Addiction; Module 9 References

The Impact of Sugar

This module is taught by visiting teacher and IIN grad Sue Brown, a published author in the realm of sugar addiction! She’ll focus on the relationship between emotional eating and sugar consumption. We’ll explore ideas about self-medication and addiction as well as the role of culture in perpetuating mind-sets around sugar. We’ll teach you about the science behind sugar’s physical and emotional impact, including its effects on stress and hunger. Finally, you’ll learn strategies for speaking about sugar with clients and helping them reduce their sugar intake to promote greater emotional, mental, and physical well-being.

Topics Covered:

• Why All the Buzz About Sugar?

• The Science of Sugar

• Helping Clients Crowd Out Sugar, OneStep at a Time

• Case Study: Sue Handouts:

Simple Ways to Increase Happy Brain Chemicals; Crowd Out Sugar, One Step at a Time; Module 10 References

The Science of Emotional Eating

We know that the mind and body are closely connected, but how exactly does our biology influence the emotions we experience when it comes to eating? This module will start by outlining some biological factors that can contribute to emotional eating cycles. We’ll then explore connections between stress, sleep, and eating patterns, like food choices, appetite, and digestion. Finally, you’ll learn about the major chemical messengers that play a role in each of these processes and how chronic emotional eating can interfere with their proper function.

Topics Covered:

• The Science of Emotions and Eating

• The Science of Stress, Sleep, and Eating

• Circadian Rhythms

• Common Chemical Messengers and Their Functions

• A Dysregulated Dance

• Case Study: Teresa

Handouts:

Finding Your Rhythm; Module 11 References

Self-Destructive Behaviors

Around Food and Intimacy

This module is taught by visiting teacher and IIN grad Marissa LaRocca, a published author on the intersections of gender, body image, intimacy, emotional eating, eating disorders, and other unhelpful relationships with food. You’ll learn how food and other habits can be used to fill voids and the importance of exploring deeper emotional roots and needs. We’ll consider societal effects on eating and body image and teach you coaching strategies that help clients positively shift from selfdestructive behaviors around food and intimacy to behaviors that support health and balance.

Topics Covered:

• Filling the Void with Food and Digging Deeper

• Society’s Effect on Dysfunctional Eating and Negative Body Image

• Recovering from Self-Destructive Behaviors

Around Food and Intimacy

Handouts:

Dysfunctional Eating Habits Diagram; What Are You Really Hungry For?; Module 12 References

Coaching Emotional Eating: An Overview

This module marks the start of the application portion of the course. You’ll learn six basic guideposts for coaching clients through emotional eating and receive a preview of the strategies that will be covered in subsequent modules. You’ll also gain access to materials needed for your weekly Accountability Coaching sessions and Case Study Challenges that you’ll use to apply and practice the material in each module.

Topics Covered:

• Six Guideposts for Coaching Emotional Eating

• Ten Coaching Strategies: A Preview

Handouts:

Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone; Case Study Challenge;

Accountability Coaching Guidelines; Accountability Coaching System;

Accountability Coaching Session Notes

Learn the Language of Food

In this module, you’ll learn how to expand on the Eating Story from earlier in the course through multiple frameworks and modalities based on individual clients. We’ll teach you how to help your clients identify the roots and triggers of eating approaches and apply three broad lenses to support your clients in pinpointing overall eating patterns and cycles.

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Nourish from the Inside

Nourishing through food is one thing, but how can you go a step further and help clients find nourishment from sources beyond food? The first step is to look within! This module focuses on the value of self-compassion and why it’s an integral piece of coaching emotional eating. We’ll share various tools for helping clients foster a self-compassionate mind-set and practice self-nourishment in tangible ways.

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Empower the Mind

A lot of emotional eating involves mind over matter, but this is often easier said than done! This module focuses on the benefits of self-empowerment and its role in coaching emotional eating. We’ll provide information on how to use narrative therapy exercises within your scope of practice as a Health Coach to “fit out” and reframe their Eating Stories. We’ll introduce using an internal locus of control as a tool to help clients redefine their Eating Stories. Finally, we’ll discuss the power of mind-set, leaving you with some ideas for how to research and apply it to your practice!

Topics Covered:

• Choose Empowerment

• The Function of Fitting Out

• Coach Empowerment

• Narrative Therapy

• Case Study: Teresa Handouts:

Taking the Wheel; Creative Container; Reframing Your Eating Story; Module 16 References

Connect to the #1 Expert

Even though people who struggle with emotional eating may feel out of control and turn to you for help, they are still the best expert on themselves. This module focuses on how to help your clients tap into their inner wisdom by building selfconnection and self-trust so they learn how to listen to what their bodies truly want and need. You’ll learn about the body-brain pull and how this can inhibit self-trust. Next, we’ll teach you about the value of tuning in to unique body signals and hunger rhythms and show you six ways to help your clients connect with and trust themselves.

Topics Covered:

• The Body Tune

• The Importance of Self-Connection

• Coach Connection and Trust

• Finding Hunger Rhythms

• Three Ways to Develop Self-Trust Handouts:

Fats and Oils Fact Sheet; pH Testing; Temperature and Pulse Test for Thyroid Function

Nourish Beyond Food

This module focuses on finding nourishment beyond food itself by creating a more vibrant life and recognizing how that can help clients who struggle with emotional eating. You’ll learn how to facilitate the process of self-nourishment via a holistic emotional healing toolbox. Last, we’ll discuss how to support clients around relationships and physical activity – two important areas of primary food.

Topics Explored:

• Emotional Self-Nourishment

• Blue Zones

• Nourish with Primary Food

• Physical Activity Coaching Strategies

• Nourish Relationships

• Case Study: Thomas Handouts:

Diaphragmatic Breathing; Circle of Life; Self-Healing Toolbox; Module 18 Referencesv

Nourish the Eating Relationship

This module emphasizes mindful eating and the importance of eating with intention and mindful presence. You‘ll walk away with tangible eating strategies that integrate both health and satisfaction that you can incorporate into your coaching sessions. You’ll also be encouraged to practice applying these techniques in your own life as well as in your work with others!

Topics Explored:

• The Eating Intention

• Benefits of Eating with Intention and Attention

• Importance of Honoring the Process, Bio-Individuality, and Scope of Practice

• Rebuild the Relationship

• Coaching Clients Around Mindful Eating Handouts:

My Mindful Eating Strategies; Module 19 References

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Find a Middle Ground

In this module, we’ll take a closer look at the fine line between emotional eating and dieting. You’ll learn about the biological and psychological reasons why diets don’t work and the benefits of formulating individualized eating approaches. Next, we’ll teach you concrete strategies for helping clients establish a “middle-ground” approach to food, integrating foods that are sustainable, enjoyable, and health-promoting.

• Ditch

• Ditch

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• Case Study: Renée

Diving into Diets; Finding Your Middle Ground; Module 20 References

Build Boundaries

How do boundaries influence emotional eating? What kinds of boundaries are necessary to uphold when establishing new ways of eating and being? This module will explore the idea of creating boundaries around food – their benefits, the importance of mindfulness and clarity, and how to use boundary setting as a tool to empower clients. We’ll teach specific strategies for building clear boundaries and how to coach clients around social eating.

Topics Explored:

• The Benefits of Boundaries

• Links Between Boundaries and Emotional Eating

• Build Clarity

• Coaching Strategies That Empower Clients and Strengthen the Coaching Relationship

• Reveal the Relationship

• Guideposts for Helping Clients Navigate Social Eating Handouts:

Build Clear Boundaries; Finding Your Sweet Spot; Module 21 References

Respect the Process

This module highlights the process of behavior change and how to effectively guide clients through strengths-based goal setting and action taking. We’ll walk you through the process of comparing values and goals as well as the importance of balance when coaching clients who struggle with emotional eating. Additionally, you’ll learn how to work with resistance, setbacks, self-sabotage, and stuck habits and mind-sets.

Topics Explored:

• Coach Change Around Emotional Eating

• A Balancing Act

• Unstick Habits: Challenges and Setbacks

• The Value of Imperfection

• Case Study: Teresa Handouts: Weighing the Odds; Simplifying Change; Stepping Up to Change; Module 22 References

Coach Through Weight

While the goal of this course is to support yourself and your clients in building a more positive mind-set and eating behaviors rather than weight loss, a course on emotional eating wouldn’t be complete without discussing how to support clients around weight mind-set and issues. Therefore, this module calls attention to the intersection between emotional eating, biology, culture, and lifestyles that might impact weight. You’ll gain a deeper understanding and have the opportunity to practice having unbiased conversations about weight with clients and learn how to validate weight-related goals and explore the “why” behind them. Plus, we’ll teach you key strategies for supporting and positively challenging your clients around weight.

Topics Covered:

• Weight and Emotional Eating

• Emotional and Psychologica lComponents of Emotional Eating andWeight-Related Challenges

• Three Weight Frames

• The Roles of Biology, Lifestyle, and Culture in Weight-Related Challenges

• Create Space for Weight

• Case Study: Renée Handouts: Visualizing Weight; Boosting NEAT; The Weight Intersection; Module 23 References

Marketing for Emotional Eating Coaching

As a concluding step toward taking what you’ve learned throughout this course and applying it into your coaching practice, this module will focus on best practices for marketing your health coaching services to attract clients who struggle with emotional eating. You’ll first clarify your target market and flesh out your ideal client. Then, you’ll learn how to craft a unique mission statement that defines your personal brand and can inform your marketing materials. Finally, we’ll discuss how to find the types of clients you want to work with and the value of transparency when connecting with prospective clients.

Topics Explored:

• Identify Your Target Market

• Craft a Powerful Mission Statement That Attracts Your Ideal Client

• Own Your Brand

• Find Your Ideal Client

• What Comes Next Handouts:

Know Your Ideal Client; Clarify Your Brand; Sample Survey Questions; Module 24 References

CURRICULUM STRUCTURE

The Emotional Eating Course consists of a pre-course module and 24 modules of course content. New modules are released every Monday at 9am Eastern Time, with the exception of holidays and assessment weeks. The Course Schedule, which can be found on the Documents page of the Learning Center, contains specific dates.

Each module will guide you in becoming an emotional eating expert for yourself, your friends, your colleagues, and your clients. Within each module, you’ll find:

• Learning objectives

• Video lectures

• Case studies

• Done-for-you handouts

• Skill-building activities, consisting of a module recap document, optional homeworkassignments with real-life application exercises, additional reading, and an ungradedquiz to test your understanding of the module concepts

We recommend setting aside 4–5 hours for each module, including time needed to review concepts, participate in the Facebook group, and complete your skillbuilding activities.

There are required and suggested elements of the course (see Graduation Requirements on the next page). As such, we encourage you to allocate your time in the way that aligns best with your personal and professional goals.

You will have access to all module materials in the Learning Center for six months following graduation.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

To successfully complete the Emotional Eating Course and receive your certificate of completion, digital Credly badge, and continuing education credits for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) if applicable, you will be required to pass two tests with a score of 70% (21 of 30) or higher.

As an NBHWC-approved continuing education provider, you can earn continuing education credits by successfully completing this course if you are a National BoardCertified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). These credit hours can be counted toward the requirements for renewing your board certification.

There is one test halfway through the course after Module 12 and another at the end of the course after Module 24. New modules are not released the weeks of the tests to allow time to prepare. The module recaps provided in each module’s skill-building activities can be used as study aids to support your success. Tests must be completed during the allotted time frames, which are noted on the Course Schedule. Two attempts are allowed per test, and you have up to two hours to complete each attempt.