Scientific research at Tufts-New England Medical Center has provided proof that all diets are effective if you can stick to them. Atkins - low carb; The Zone - low glycemic index; Ornish - low fat; Weight Watchers - low calorie.
But medical research has also proven that very few people can stick to any diet because of his or her appetite. So to be successful with a diet, appetite suppression is required.
The Dictionary defines "Appetite" as: "The desire for gratification of some want, craving, or passion." So "appetite" is eating and drinking for relaxation and pleasure.
Many people confuse appetite with hunger. Hunger is defined as "The body's call for nourishment." In other words, when the body needs energy, that's when you feel true on hunger. By that designation, it is actually impossible for a person who is overweight to "be hungry."
However, it is possible for you to have feelings that you interpret as "hunger." And the stomach contracting in expectation of being fed causes those feelings.
When you were a toddler and you became upset, your mother would put a nipple into your mouth to calm you down. You would get distracted, become peaceful and often fall asleep. That sequence of events was repeated many, many times so that your unconscious mind was programmed: When something goes into your mouth, you get relaxation and pleasure from it.
Now that you are fully grown, if you feel upset, you crave something in your mouth for relaxation and pleasure - food!
People Also Get Cravings and Urges Because Of Conditioning.
When you pair consuming food with any other activity, the other action will trigger cravings for food and a feeling of urgency to eat. This is called a conditioned response. For example: If you eat when you drive your car, you will automatically get an urge to eat each time you drive your car.
What About Compulsive Overeaters Who Eat Because Of Emotional Reasons?
The dictionary defines a compulsion as an "irresistible impulse." NLP (neuro-linguistic programming has a presupposition: There is a positive intention behind all behaviors. In other words, our subconscious mind only motivates behaviors that benefit or protect us in some way. In NLP terms, we say that being fat is a behavior when it provides a positive outcome or intention.
I'm willing to bet that you're wondering what the possible positive outcomes of being fat are. The list of possible positive outcomes is as long as the list of people who have an appetite that is out of control. But I'll give you a classic example: A person gets their heart broken in a relationship. So to protect the self from getting the heart broken again, the unconscious motivates the self to become overweight to keep the self out of relationships and prevent another broken heart.
A big secret to eliminating your appetite is called an NLP six-step reframe. With an NLP reframe, we respect the fact that the mind is motivating us to consume our food for relaxation and pleasure. And if we are eating compulsively because being fat is protecting us, we respect that also.
In a neuro-linguistic programming six-step reframe we bargain with our subconscious. In the case of eating for relaxation and pleasure, we ask our unconscious to assume the responsibility for making us substitute other behaviors. The alternate behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same relaxation and pleasure. But they must also be more consciously acceptable to us. When the subconscious mind is motivating us into alternate behaviors that provide the relaxation and pleasure that we require - we lose our appetite on this score.
If you are a compulsive eater we do an additional reframe. We ask your subconscious to accept responsibility for finding and substituting new behaviors in place of being overweight. These new behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same benefits and protections. But they must be behaviors that are more consciously acceptable to you. When your unconscious is motivating you into alternate behaviors that provide the same benefits that you require, you lose the feeling of urgency to overeat.
As far as feeling cravings because of conditioning (conditioned responses), we utilize various NLP and hypnotic methods that erase those conditioned responses. That breaks the connection between the behaviors, and obliterates the urges and cravings.
When your appetite has been obliterated and all compulsions to overeat have been overcome, you can easily stick to any diet that you chose on an indefinite basis so that it becomes a permanent lifestyle change.
Weight control and compulsive eating is a complex topic. I can only scratch the surface of it in this article. You can locate several additional articles on this topic on my website.
