The August 2010 issue of the magazine from the Anytime Fitness Clubs, had an article called "Yep, Fatty Foods Are Addictive--Literally."
The article talked about a three month study in the journal “Nature Neuroscience” in which rats who gorged on cheesecake, bacon and other fattening foods became obese and addicted to those foods to the point where even electric shocks couldn’t keep them from eating those foods.
It’s not actually the food to which these rats were addicted. The food activated the “pleasure center” of their brains. Chemicals (called “neuro transmitters”) surged through their bodies telling them “I just have to have this food.” The rats became addicted to the pleasurable feelings brought on by eating. The rats would suffer mentally and physically if the food were taken away.
Sound familiar? You may sometimes feel the same way, as though you “just have to have” certain foods. Do you suffer “mentally and physically” when you try to lose weight?
But here’s the part of the study you should know: The rats were given these foods for 23 hours each and every day during the three-month study. Of course they became addicted. Wouldn’t you be addicted to anything you did for 23 hours each and every day (of course, you’d undoubtedly get sick well before those 23 hours were over).
While you would never gorge yourself like those rats, you ate foods that caused you to add pounds and you did that often enough to now weigh more than you would like. The pleasure center in your brain gets activated when you eat these foods and you suffer mentally and physically when you diet if you deprive yourself of these foods.
While this is how you became addicted to food, you can use this same process to break your addiction. Here’s where self hypnosis will make a difference. Just as you became addicted to food by repeating a behavior over and over again, you can become “unaddicted” through repetition of 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 rather than completely dark. You may want to play soothing music in the background.
2. Sit down and close your eyes. You could sit in a chair that reclines slightly and you might want to cover yourself with a light blanket. The goal is for you to be comfortable while awake. It's best if you stay awake so don't lie down. If you're so tired that you might 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, that will encourage you to become more and more relaxed. For example: "Ten. I'm going deeper." "Nine. I'm going deeper and deeper." "Eight. I'm feeling completely relaxed." "Seven. My body and mind are letting go. It feels so good to let go."
Don't rush through this counting. Let yourself 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 neck. Relax shoulders. Relax right arm. Relax left arm." Continue through each major body part. Wait three seconds between each body part to experience the relaxation.
4. When you are relaxed, repeat to yourself whatever you want to hypnotize yourself into believing. If your mind wanders, bring it gently back to repeating what you want to hypnotize yourself about. Here are some phrases you could use. Make up your own if these aren’t appropriate for you:
A. Losing weight is easy and effortless.
B. I easily reach my desired weight.
C. All desire to eat fattening, rich foods is draining away.
D. I no longer have the desire or appetite to snack between meals or to get a late night snack.
E. I am completely satisfied by a normal, well balanced meal
F. I am not hungry between meals because my well balanced meal has satisfied my physical hunger and mental appetite.
G. I have no desire, urge or inclination to overeat.
H. I eat consciously and slowly and I thoroughly enjoy the healthy foods that I eat.
I. Rich, heavy, greasy, sweet fattening foods and drinks no longer appeal to me.
J. With my new, lighter figure, I have more energy, I feel stronger and healthier each and every day.
5. Whenever you're ready to end the session, open your eyes and slowly stretch to reconnect with the world.
You may choose to record your statements for playback during your hypnosis session so that you don't have to think about what to say as you are hypnotizing yourself.
The key is repetition. Consider those rats who became addicted to fattening foods. You have been eating fattening foods for so long that you’re now addicted to them. Like an addict, the pleasure center in your brain is saying you “have to have” these foods. You experience deprivation when the foods aren’t there.
It will take time and several self hypnosis sessions for your food addiction to go away and be replaced in your pleasure center by new ways of thinking and behaving.
Have patience. Be gentle with yourself. You can do it.
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