There are over 5000 different diet plans in the world, and there is one problem with all of them. They don?t work long term. The problem with diets is that they trigger your natural survival mechanisms ? your body believes that food (or certain essential food groups) have become scarce, so you start to get cravings that motivate you to find them; fatty or sweet foods become especially attractive because they have high-energy value.

Of course you lose weight initially, but as soon as you stop dieting your body starts storing the surplus to help you build up reserves, in case there is another famine! And so the yo-yo diet cycle continues.

The real issue is that we eat for reasons other than hunger. Hypnotherapy can help you to change your relationship to food, allowing you to take control of your eating habits and break out of the endless diet trap. It is not the cheapest way to lose weight, but it is certainly the most effective and longest lasting. And because you are not denying yourself the foods you love, it is also fun and easy.

New Kent SlimQuest Dates Announced

Meopham: Monday 28th June
Starts: 7.45pm
Class Runs: 28th June, 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th July, 2nd August

SlimQuest is a 6 week group course that helps you understand your relationship with food and overcome the obstacles that have prevented you from losing weight and keeping it off in the past.

Only 10 spaces per class, so early booking is advised. Visit our SlimQuest page for more information and booking instructions.

So what can you do?

Well, the cheerful folks at the Optimists Society have declared Monday 18th January, “International Optimism Day” – and invite you to go out and cheer up those around you by getting together with the people you care about and having a fantastic fun day.

We agree. Studies show that one of the best ways to feel happier yourself is to perform an act of kindness for someone.

So why not:

• Call someone you haven’t spoken to for ages
• Say hello to someone you see everyday, but never speak to
• Do something random and lovely for a complete stranger
• Pay someone a compliment
• Show your gratitute for something you normally take for granted
• Say ‘yes’ to something you’d normally say ‘no’ to

If you really want to start changing the way you feel, don’t wait for the 18th…

Start now, and do at least one thing every day.

That’s because, very often, the way we feel is simply a habit, so make a new habit, and have fun doing it!

Why not share your ideas and tell us what things you have done by leaving a comment below.

Kind regards,
Rob & Heidi

Rob had a chance to guest post about Tiger Woods announcement to break from professional golf. Here is what he said:

After what must be an insane amount of media pressure, Tiger Woods issued a statement saying, “I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.”

Karl posted a video recently about the importance of developing mental toughness in golf, part of which involves developing (and keeping separate) your real self and your performer self.

Most golfers suffer because they don’t have a good distinction between who they are as a person, and what they are doing (playing golf).

So if they feel like a champion when they play well, they feel like nobody when it all falls apart – which puts them under too much pressure on the course to perform well.

Tiger’s statement recognises that he has allowed his performer self (’Tiger’) to blend into his real/family self (’Eldrick’). He has taken Tiger home with him and lost the sense of his ‘real self’.

And although Tiger’s blurring of real and performer self is the opposite to most people (who take their ‘real self’ on the course) – the effect is the same.

Like the rest of the golfing world, we can only hope that he can find and strengthen his real self quickly so that his performer self can come back and play more great golf.

And here is the video mentioned:

Slim At Home - Dec 09

Nicola Dines lost 16lbs during Amy Garnham’s 6 week course in Ruislip. She then continued using what she had learnt to lose a total of 2st 4lbs in 10 months. .

Nicola’s story can be read in the attached article from the magazine.

Slim At Home – Dec 09

Congratulations to Nicola!

A team from Hull University, performed an imaging study in which hypnotised participants showed decreased activity in the parts of the brain linked with daydreaming or letting the mind wander.

The same brain patterns were absent in people who had the tests but who were not susceptible to being hypnotised.

One psychologist said the study backed the theory that hypnosis “primes” the brain to be open to suggestion.

Hypnosis is increasingly being used to help people stop smoking or lose weight and advisers recently recommended its use on the NHS to treat irritable bowel syndrome.

Dr William McGeown, study leader, says “This shows that the changes were due to hypnosis and not just simple relaxation.”

Full article: (BBC News – 16th November 2009)

With Remembrance Day fast approaching and the UK’s ongoing involvement in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan always in headlines, the troubles homecoming heroes have in adapting to their return to civilian life is often overlooked.

As members of the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) we are proud to be taking part in a national programme which offers a free hypnotherapy session to help homecoming servicemen and women cope with their return to civilian life after the stresses of warfare.

Hypnotherapy sessions can help with relaxation, removing anxiety, dealing with depression, processing traumatic events, dealing with loss, re-adjustment and building self-esteem.

Many returning servicemen and women have shown a high rate of stress.

Everyone reacts to stress in different ways and to different degrees. Some people have more stress than others. Some people handle stressful situations better than others. Each person is triggered by different stressful situations, depending on their own make-up.

“Stress is one of the biggest threats to people’s health, happiness, and well being,” says White.

“Stress may cause confused thinking, depression, over-eating, excessive drinking, reckless driving, high blood pressure, heart problems, and a myriad of other health problems. The symptoms of stress are sometimes insidious and undetectable, until one day you feel overwhelmed with life. Everything bothers you, from your work to your favourite pet at home. You may even start doubting your sanity. All of this results in the feeling of being out of control.”

Stress may be triggered by an event or episode.

Once a person learns to recognise stress triggers, they can learn to introduce new, alternative behaviour when experiencing a stress trigger.

Hypnosis will help a person recognise stress triggers and, while in the hypnotic state, be better able to see alternative perspectives and behaviours in stressful situations.

In essence, someone can learn to reprogramme thoughts and actions while in a trance state to help develop new behaviour in the waking conscious state.

John Barry, research psychologist with City University, in his summary on the Warrior programme (a charity based in the UK aimed at ‘connecting the disconnected’ including ex-army personnel) said the programme helped improve the psychological functioning of people suffering from the effects of traumatic experiences, especially those ex-army services personnel.

This programme uses cognitive behavioural therapy – recognised as one of the most effective treatments for conditions where anxiety or depression is the main problem; neuro-linguistic programming which can change, adopt or eliminate patterns of behaviour and timeline therapy, an internal process that allows unresolved negative emotions from the past to be accessed and resolved safely and swiftly.

Research by Eitan Abramowitz and others in 2008 into hypnotherapy in the treatment of chronic combat-related PTSD patients suffering from insomnia, evaluated the benefits of add-on hypnotherapy in patients with chronic PTSD.

Some patients were treated with medication and add-on hypnotherapy as opposed to others receiving symptom-oriented hypnotherapy.

There was a significant main effect of the hypnotherapy treatment, the team found, with PTSD symptoms as measured by the Post traumatic Disorder Scale.

Additional benefits for the hypnotherapy group were decreases in intrusion and avoidance reactions and improvement in all sleep variables assessed.

Modern hypnotherapy, concludes White, has become the most dramatically effective short-term therapy developed to date, which means that many problems and issues can be transformed dramatically using hypnotherapy.

Helping homecoming heroes re-adapt to life after the stresses and trauma of military duty is one of the services the National Council for Hypnotherapists can offer.

The National Council for Hypnotherapy is the UK’s largest independent, not-for-profit governing body for Hypnotherapy practitioners. The high standards it requires for membership ensures that all of our therapists must have achieved a certain level of training and demonstrated competence in practice. In addition all our members are bound by a strict Code of Ethics & Practice, which includes the requirement for Professional Indemnity Insurance.

If you would like to talk to us about how Hypnotherapy could help you, please contact us.

New Kent SlimQuest Dates Announced

Meopham: Monday 2nd November
Starts: 7.45pm
Class Runs: 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th November, 14th December

SlimQuest is a 6 week group course that helps you understand your relationship with food and overcome the obstacles that have prevented you from losing weight and keeping it off in the past.

Spaces are limited, so early booking is advised. Visit our SlimQuest page for more information and booking instructions.

SlimQuest Kent Announces New Daytime Course

We’re very pleased to announce that we will run an additional daytime SlimQuest group class in September.

The new daytime course is ideal for busy mums who haven’t been able to lose their ‘baby weight’ even though their children are now at nursery or pre-school.

Since we started running SlimQuest group weight loss classes in Kent, we have been continually asked for a daytime course that will fit around the school run.

As a busy mum of two myself, I know just how difficult it can be to take time out from the children, so am pleased to be able to offer a course that starts after the kids are safely at school.

The daytime class will run:

Meopham, Tuesday 8th September – 10:00am

SlimQuest is a 6 week group course that helps you understand your relationship with food and overcome the obstacles that have prevented you from losing weight and keeping it off in the past.

Spaces are limited, so early booking is advised. Visit our SlimQuest page for more information and booking instructions.

Kind regards,
Heidi

New Kent SlimQuest dates announced

They are:

Gravesend, Tuesday 7th July – 7:45pm
Meopham, Monday 7th September – 7:45pm

SlimQuest is a 6 week group course that helps you understand your relationship with food and overcome the obstacles that have prevented you from losing weight and keeping it off in the past.

Spaces are limited, so early booking is advised. Visit our SlimQuest page for more information and booking instructions.