Alex:I read somewhere Paul that a recent survey identified comfort eating as the number one reason why people fail in their weight loss endeavours. Is that so, and what exactly is comfort eating?
Paul: Well I’m not sure it’s the number one cause for weight loss failure, but its certainly up there. Basically comfort eating is when you eat to make yourself feel better, rather than for nutrition reasons or to quell hunger pangs. It’s a purely emotional cause for eating and can happen for many reasons.
Alex: What kinds of feelings trigger comfort eating then?
Paul: Oh there are many, but the most common ones are boredom, loneliness, depression, relationship problems, feeling unwanted, anger and sadness. In fact any kind of negative emotion can trigger it and individuals may have their own personal ones.
Alex: But aren’t people who eat in these situations just eating for pleasure? And there’s nothing wrong with that surely? So where’s the harm?
Paul: Yes they are partly eating for pleasure, but they are also eating to forget their emotional pain. We can all enjoy food purely for pleasure, but if the trigger is some kind of emotional pain then the primary reason for eating is not the enjoyment, but to experience the pleasure to escape from the emotional suffering.
Alex:Yes I see.
Paul: Comfort eating in itself is not so harmful, as long as it’s within reason, I mean most of us do it to some extent, its virtually programmed into us from childhood. All those times that our parents would give us sweets or candy when we were in distress, as well as the rewards of pudding or dessert for being good. These experiences in childhood mean we begin to associate food with emotions from a very early age.
Alex: And its not the healthy foods that get associated with emotions usually, is it? Its all the sweet stuff and chocolate and carbs. All of these foods give us an instant hit of pleasure.
Paul: Exactly, and that’s why comfort eating is such an obstacle for people trying to lose weight. You may have a terrific few weeks of disciplined weight loss behaviour, and then one day you have a row with your boyfriend or you just have a bad day at work and as soon as your home you run for your favourite comfort food to ease the pain. Within a few hours you may even undo all the good work you’ve accomplished in the previous weeks.
Alex: I can see now how it could be considered the number one obstacle to weight loss. But surely if this is learned behaviour going back to our childhood then your hypnosis must be able to help.
Paul: Indeed. Its one of the issues in weight loss that Hypnopuncture is really good at tackling. With the hypnosis I am able to help the subconscious break all of those associations between food and emotions. Not to the extent that people no longer enjoy their food, but to give them much more self control over their eating behaviours. We can also help people to cope with emotional pain without feeling the need to eat.
Alex: Is there anything people can do on their own?
Paul: Yes there are things you can do on your own, I will give a visualization technique below that can help clear the programming behind comfort eating. There are also strategies you can use to avoid some of the triggers behind it.
Alex: Strategies?
Paul: Yes, many of the situations which trigger our comfort eating can quite often be avoided, or we can do something constructive about them. For instance, many people comfort eat through sheer boredom. Well if that’s the case then obviously you need to be proactive and find something else to do that will interest you. Get out and do some exercise maybe or just read a book, get on the internet, anything but eating!
Alex: Some of those adverts on TV get my mouth watering, I suppose one could just as easily avoid the adverts, get up and go and make a cup of green tea.
Paul: Yes indeed. Those advertisers know exactly how to manipulate us subconsciously. But as I said before, we can take back some control of our eating behaviours, and here is a simple visualisation technique which can help us to do that. Find somewhere comfortable where you will not be disturbed, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and then begin to visualize the following. Imagine your standing beside a very large wonderful blue lake, just imagine you’re standing on the shore looking out over the surface of this wonderfully large, electric blue lake.…And imagine that this wonderful electric blue lake is your subconscious. And now, suspended above the lake, hovering just above the blue surface, you can see a very large piece of paper. And on that piece of paper you can see written the following words: “I am able to go about my daily life without ever feeling the urge to comfort eat, now” See those words written large on the piece of paper above the electric blue lake, the words “I am able to go about my daily life without ever feeling the urge to comfort eat, now”. And now see the piece of paper with those words, sliding and submerging down into the lake. And now see a golden light, shining on the lake, where the paper slid in. And as this golden light shines on the lake those words “I am able to go about my daily life without ever feeling the urge to comfort eat, now” are integrated fully into the lake, your subconscious. and there is now a deep, deep cleansing in this area of the lake, produced by those words. See the whole area becoming clearer…and clearer…and clearer. And as this clearing continues to occur, allow yourself now to form a spiral of the electric blue energy from the lake, and starting at your feet, let this blue energy spiral upwards around your body, around your feet and legs, around your tummy and back and chest, around your neck and head. And now let it continue spiralling above your head and on into infinity… and as it continues to spiral, just affirm to yourself that your subconscious is now completely clear of all conditioning and programming which would cause you to comfort eat. Tell yourself in your mind that from now on you no longer need to turn to food for comfort. Affirm to yourself also that from now on, if you are feeling emotionally low or upset, you will automatically find a healthy way to take your mind of your pain, such as doing some of your favourite exercise, or going somewhere or doing something which will help you process the pain. And now bring yourself back and go about your day. If practised regularly, this technique can help release the subconscious patterns behind comfort eating.
