Trying to cut out all thoughts of your favourite, fattening food may actually make you eat more, claims research.
Women who tried to stop thinking about chocolate ate 50% more than those who were encouraged to talk about their cravings.

This "rebound" effect could also apply to smokers, say the Hertfordshire University authors in Appetite journal.

Experts at Weight Watchers said a "varied diet" was the best way to lose weight.

Dr James Erskine, who led the project, recruited 134 students who were asked to either suppress all thoughts about chocolate, or talk about how much they liked it.

They were then asked to choose from two brands of chocolate, believing that it was this choice that was being recorded by the researchers.

However, the quantity they ate was recorded instead.

Women who had tried to suppress their cravings ate on average eight chocolates, while those who had talked freely about it ate five.

Men did not show the same effect, with the group told to talk about the snack eating more.
(BBC News, 22nd October 2007)

British singer Lily Allen has turned to hypnotherapy to help her lose weight.

Lily says the hypnotherapist reprogrammed her brain to help her enjoy healthy organic food and associate trips to the gym with feeling happy, and is said to be delighted with her new look.

"After the hypnotism, I want to go to the gym every day, otherwise I feel really bad. I just want to get more toned and healthy. I'm really good about everything at the moment - I've never been happier."

The singer, daughter of actor Keith Allen, is not the first celebrity to turn to hypnotism to lose weight - model Sophie Dahl, singer Geri Halliwell and the Duchess of York have all done so.

(Daily Mail - 6th October 2007)

Find you how you can lose weight with hypnotherapy.

The warm weather that we have been enjoying lately reminds us that the winter is well and truly over and that the summer holidays are nearly upon us. And with thoughts of bikinis and shorts, comes the realisation that there is a little bit more of us to see than last year.

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.

An article in this week's Sunday Times highlights the benefits of NLP in helping people overcome habits and negative behaviours. As Anita Chaudhuri reports, NLP is a way of reprogramming the mind in order to change negative behaviour.

It works by identifying subconscious pessimistic patterns, then zaps them by replacing them with new thoughts and images. A typical example would be the habitual smoker who is prone to lighting up when sipping a morning espresso or a glass of wine at the end of the day. An NLP therapist would program their brain to desire something other than a cigarette at those trigger moments.

NLP is just high-tech hypnosis says, Paul McKenna. Your brain is like a computer, and it?s as if you are installing new software to overwrite programs that no longer work. The key programs of human behaviour are habit and imagination, and they are far more powerful than logic or willpower. I?ve seen people make astounding changes in their thoughts and behaviour quickly.

(Sunday Times - 5th February 2006)