Self Hypnosis Secrets: Lose Weight By Breaking Your Food Addiction

The August 2010 issue of the magazine of the gyms anytimehad an article titled “Yes, fatty foods are literally addictive.”

The article discussed a three-month study in the journal “Nature Neuroscience” in which rats that gorged themselves on cheesecake, bacon, and other fattening foods became obese and became addicted to those foods to the point where even electric shocks couldn’t stop them from eating those foods. food.

Actually, it’s not the food these rats were addicted to. The food activated the “pleasure center” of their brains. Chemicals (called “neurotransmitters”) surged through their bodies telling them “I just have to eat this food.” The rats became addicted to the pleasurable sensations caused by the food. The rats would suffer mentally and physically if their food was taken away.

Sounds familiar? Sometimes you may feel the same way, as if you “just have to eat” certain foods. Do you suffer “mentally and physically” when trying to lose weight?

But here’s the part of the study you should know: The rats were given these foods for 23 hours every day during the three-month study. Of course they got addicted. Wouldn’t you be addicted to anything you did for 23 hours every day (of course, you’d no doubt get very sick before those 23 hours were up)?

While you would never gorge yourself like those rats, you ate foods that made you gain weight, and you did it so often that you now weigh more than you’d like. The pleasure center in your brain is activated when you eat these foods and you suffer mentally and physically when dieting if you deprive yourself of these foods.

While this is how you got addicted to food, you can use this same process to break your addiction. This is where self-hypnosis will make a difference. Just as you became addicted to food by repeating one behavior over and over again, you can become “not addicted” through repeating a different behavior.

So if you want to break a food addiction, do this:

1. Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed and where the lighting is dim instead of completely dark. You may want to play relaxing music in the background.

2. Sit down and close your eyes. You could sit in a chair that reclines slightly, and you may want to cover yourself with a light blanket. The goal is for you to be comfortable while you are awake. It’s better if you stay awake so don’t go to bed. If you are so tired that you could fall asleep even sitting up, go to sleep and hypnotize yourself at another time.

3. Count slowly from ten to one. With each number say words to yourself, this will encourage you to be more and more relaxed. For example: “Ten. I’m going deeper.” “Nine. I’m going deeper and deeper.” “Eight. I feel completely relaxed.” “Seven. My body and mind are letting go. It feels so good to let go.”

Don’t rush this count. Allow yourself to experience going “deeper and deeper.”

Some people, instead of counting, find it helpful to consciously relax their bodies. For example, you might say to yourself, “Relax your neck. Relax your shoulders. Relax your right arm. Relax your left arm.” Continue with each major body part. Wait three seconds between each body part to experience relaxation.

4. When you are relaxed, repeat to yourself what you want to hypnotize yourself into believing. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to repeat what you want to hypnotize yourself about. Here are some phrases you could use. Make up your own if these aren’t right for you:

A. Losing weight is easy and effortless.

B. I easily reach my desired weight.

C. All desire to eat rich and fattening food is fading away.

D. I no longer have the desire or appetite to snack between meals or to have a late night snack.

E. I am completely satisfied with a normal, well-balanced meal.

F. I am not hungry between meals because my well-balanced meal has satisfied my physical hunger and my mental appetite.

G. I have no desire, urge, or inclination to overeat.

H. I eat mindfully and slowly and I really enjoy the healthy foods I eat.

I. Rich, heavy, greasy and sweet foods and drinks that make you fat no longer appeal to me.

J. With my new figure, lighter, I have more energy, I feel stronger and healthier every day.

5. When you are ready to end the session, open your eyes and slowly stretch to reconnect with the world.

You can choose to record your statements to play back during your hypnosis session so you don’t have to think about what to say while being hypnotized.

The key is repetition. Think of those rats that got addicted to fattening foods. You have been eating fattening foods for so long that you are now addicted to them. As an addict, the pleasure center in your brain tells you that you “have to eat” these foods. You experience deprivation when food is not there.

It will take time and several sessions of self-hypnosis for your food addiction to wear off and be replaced in your pleasure center by new ways of thinking and behaving.

Have patience. Be kind to yourself. You can do it.