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To be fit and healthy, as well exercise, we need to eat the right amount of food and consume the right amount of calories required by our body. This can be far easier said than done.
Part of the problem is the stress of everyday life, which sees many of us reaching for food that our body does not need and also may not be good for us. The issue is eating provides a quick fix that our brain and body is telling us we need. So is it any wonder in those stress situations we find ourselves doing exactly the opposite of what we really want for ourselves.

Mostly we want to be in control of what we eat so that we are able to maintain the weight that we feel comfortable with, and is good for our health and wellbeing and self-esteem. To be in control means we need to think differently, so that we react differently, particularly when we are stressed.

That isn’t easy because life’s stresses trigger specific areas and chemicals in the brain to think we need a comfort food fix which may cause us to overeat, enjoy quick sugary treats or a few more glasses of wine than normal in order to feel relaxed.

These comfort food fixes are, of course, our downfall. These foods provide more added fat and sugar than our body needs and these excess calories lead to our storing excess weight over our body. Our thought processes certainly have a lot to answer for in those stressful situations that can cause us to reach for those comfort foods!

There is, however, a solution-focused way to help us to think differently, so that we can resist eating more than we need and help us to change our eating habits.

Solution focused Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy specifically aims to help us to stop reaching for food as a panacea when we are thinking negatively or automatically defaulting to emotional responses possibly learnt from childhood. Instead, it encourages us to think about the positives so that our thinking is distracted away from the previous ‘emotional eating’ patterns that we can easily succumb to.

Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy’s approach to weight management is one of a change in the way we think about food It is not a short-term diet. The aim is to change our thinking and attitude in order to help and support our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing and long-term achievements. Sometimes we need help to make those constructive changes and asking for help can be seen as a strength and commitment to focus on our own self-development.

Studies have shown that hypnosis can be an effective treatment for weight loss and that using hypnosis could lead to achieving and maintaining personal weight goals. (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology).

So here’s the thing…

Everything you do adds up over time. Even if you don’t see any noticeable difference, over time it’s still making a difference, including your diet. Clinical Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy is specifically designed to help reduce stress levels and so promote a calmer, more relaxed, attitude towards life. By doing so, we are able to make better decisions about what we eat and when we eat it.

Bibliography

Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (www.AfSFH.co.uk)
Cochrane, Gordon; Friesen, J. (1986). Hypnotherapy in weight loss treatment.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 489-492.

Kirsch, Irving (1996). “Hypnotic enhancement of
Cognitive-behavioral weight loss treatments”—another meta-reanalysis.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64 (3), 517-519.

Bolocofsky DN, Spinler D, Coulthard-Morris L.
Journal of Clinical Psychology 1985 Jan; 41(1):35-41.