What I love about helping people to lose weight at my Cornwall clinic is that it is not just about the weight loss. Clients come to see me to help them to lose weight by changing their behaviour. They quickly understand their relationship with food and how changing the underlying reasons as to why they eat can mean they are more in control of their eating, more in tune with their body and lose weight more easily than ever before – because it is not about diets or what you can/cannot eat.
A new study by Loughborough University experts has shown how TV viewing is linked to unhealthy eating. Spending time in front of the television is linked to an increased consumption of unhealthy snacks and drinks. This reminds me of when people ring me to enquire about Cognitive Hypnotherapy for weight loss as to whether they can be hypnotised or not. They want to lose weight, have tried every diet/meal replacement under the sun and are fed up with the yo-yo-ing up and down of their weight over the years. They want to try something knew but can be unsure about hypnosis. This is quite understandable if you haven’t experienced it before and stage hypnosis gives the impression of the hypnotist being ‘in control’ of their subjects – which is just not true it is a stage act.
Well, most peoople are being hypnotised by the TV adverts without knowing it! That is because trance is a very natural state, a state we go in to many times a day. For example have do you drive a regular route e.g. school run or to work and some days get to your destination and cannot remember any of the journey? You were in a trance. How about watching TV or reading a book and not being aware of someone talking to you? You were in a trance. The same goes for eating as well.
A lot of people eat in a trance as well. How any times can you remember stopping and leaving food on the plate because you were full? How many times have you been eating in front of the TV and look down and being surprised to see whatever you were eating all gone? Only the other day a client who came to see me at my Cornwall practice for weight loss told me how much more in control she feels of her food. She found snacked on unhealthy food when she was alone. Not any more.
Ten tips to wake yourself up from your eating trance:
- Only eat at the table with knife and fork, whatever you are eating- I dare you to try it with a mars bar!
- Do not eat in front of the TV.
- Eat more slowly.
- Chew each mouthful until the food is soup. This slows you down but also your stomach hasn’t got teeth, it needs your teeth to do the work so it can digest it!
- Put all your attention on the food. Really notice the smell, texture and taste of each mouthful. Eat it as if it were the first time you are eating this food.
- Be aware it can take 20mins for your brain to be aware of the message from your stomach that you are full. The slower you eat the more aware you will be of this message.
- Check whether you are really hungry or is it an emotion such as fear, anxiety, loneliness. We often confuse the two as it is the same part of the brain activated.
- Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.
- Drink plenty of water, often thirst is confused with hunger.
- Plan ahead so you can be in control of what you eat whether you are working late or not.
Enjoy!
Russellx