Banish yo-yo dieting and binge eating

Hypnotherapy helping binge eating

Endless dieting is boring, unhealthy and ultimately saps energy and confidence. Simply put it does not work. ‘Yo-yo’ dieting may make people anxious and depressed. Science has shown that constant starve/ binge cycles are hazardous to our health and are counter productive anyway!

As a Clinical Hypnotherapist I have seen many clients who have been on diets for years. One client had been on various diets for 30 years, only to put all the weight back on each time plus some. She was now heavier than when she started, depressed with no confidence; she “loathed” her body and had zero sex drive. Like most dieters she thought about food constantly, unless she was eating, then she would either endlessly count calories and not enjoy the food, or break out and binge and not enjoy the food; clearly a lose-lose situation. She would then feel a failure and full of guilt. Anyone could see that this behaviour is harmful to mental and physical wellbeing.

Learn to trust your body with hypnotherapy

Unfortunately women, and increasingly men, are encouraged to view food as the enemy and their bodies to be mistrusted. Put simply this is madness. Would anyone buy a book entitled “How to criticise yourself into health and beauty”? Calorie counting, fat counting, carb counting all make us feel that we must be controlled. (Potential exceptions including needing to control intake for a medical condition or in accordance with a athletic regime). The good news is with practise you CAN learn to trust your body again. If you are confident, healthy and vibrant you will glow with vitality and confidence. You will simply wish to eat less and enjoy the food more and will automatically make more balanced choices. We are designed to eat and move around, not be sedentary and try to ‘starve ourselves into the holy grail of thinness’.

Hypnotherapy successfully treats overeating

Clinical Hypnotherapy was shown to be by far the most successful method tried by the journalist in Channel 4s programme Super Size vs. Super Skinny. I am not at all surprised by this, as Clinical Hypnotherapy can begin to deal with underlying issues that makes the person overeat. …After all food does not simple jump into a person’s mouth! Clinical Hypnotherapy can also be extremely beneficial in increasing a person’s confidence and self belief, allowing them to make positive changes.

I greatly enjoy seeing the difference this method can have to those who have lost all connection with their body and view it as ‘the enemy that must be controlled’. Food is simply food and should be fun and enjoyable. If you set up an antagonistic relationship with food you are doomed to fail (on a diet) as we humans are programmed to eat. Sometimes there is literally a ‘light bulb’ moment where the client grasps this and truly makes the internal change to a positive outlook. .

It is fantastic when in as little as 3-5 sessions I see a confident, vibrant slimmer person walk into the consulting room.

Article submitted by
Lorraine McGregor
Clinical Hypnotherapist, Reading Berkshire

Date published
1/2/09

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