Hypnosis and Weight Loss

Many people wonder if hypnosis is really helpful for weight loss. Like so many things in life, the answer to this is not simple. Each person and situation is unique. Some clients will come in expecting that I have a magic wand which I will wave over their head and they will somehow magically walk out of the office fifty pounds lighter. Clearly this is an unreasonable expectation. Other clients will show up with a long history of 'failure' around their issue (and this is usually the case with weight), and will try hypnosis as a last resort. The danger here is that sometimes what is really going on (at some level) is a client who has essentially given up and doesn't yet know it. The way this reasoning works is along the line of "I've tried every single thing out there, including hypnosis, and nothing has worked. I might as well just accept that and stop worrying about being fat." In other words, they have pre-programmed themselves to fail with hypnosis so they can just get on with doing what they want to do.

Now, contrast this with a client who truly desires to manage their weight. This person is highly motivated to make change, but simply needs some support and guidance to get unstuck. This person is motivated to achieve the goal for themselves because they want to feel better, have more energy, be more active, and to feel more confidant with themselves. They are not doing it solely because they feel they 'should' do it. Look out for this. Doing it because you feel you 'should' do it is an indicator that the motivation is sourced outside of you, and this type of motivation will not be as effective in moving you toward success. Goals are most easily achieved when they are for you, because it is what you truly desire for yourself.

Some hypnosis for weight-loss works on a superficial level, basically focusing the client on the negative outcome of continuing their habit, offering suggestions for strengthening the will, suggestions for stopping eating when full, and so forth. This method has a poor success rate. It does work for those people who are almost there on their own, and just need an extra boost to get them moving in the right direction. This type of approach utilizes components of 'aversion' therapy, and as such, constitutes 'AWAY-FROM' motivation. This is not the most effective way to work on any issue, especially weight.

I prefer to work with clients in a much more in-depth manner to achieve an internal transformation within the context of the client and their relationship with food. Working in this way creates lasting change. This requires a commitment from the client to come for multiple sessions and to continue with tasks assigned to them between sessions. I provide CDs and a workbook/journal for this purpose. The process is aimed at unhooking emotions tied in with the eating patterns, dissolving limiting decisions about themselves, aligning their motivation strategies, focusing the goal, helping them design new eating and self-care strategies to handle stress and emotions, changing and expanding their self-identity, moving the focus from weight to the achievement of their true goals, educating them about healthy nutrition and the digestion process, development of appropriate physical fitness regimens, reinforcing commitment, and a great deal more. This approach is structured around the principle of TOWARD motivation, and is the strongest modality to use. Obviously, this method goes beyond simple hypnosis, and in fact the program incorporates NLP, coaching, nutritional guidance and many other components. However, implementing these elements through the vehicle of hypnosis is so much more powerful than trying to work strictly within the conscious mind.

For more articles about hypnosis and weight visit my other blog here: http://site.unitedhypno.com/blog1/category/practitioners/ramona-young-grindle/

For information on working with me visit my website: http://www.transformfast.com/

Nutrition as Medicine for Balancing Weight Part Three

Before moving onto the main subject matter for this third part of the series, I want to include a few afterthoughts about supplements. First, some people tell me that they hate taking 'pills.' I understand that, as I myself am not in favor of it. However, let me suggest that 'pills,' to me, denote medications. As I don't do well with medications of any kind, I am truly not into 'pills.' That said, most supplements come in pill-like form. However, I tend to think of these as capsules and tablets. Why am I making such a big distinction between these terms? Well, the reason is simple really. On one hand you have medications. Medications are meant to be taken after a serious imbalance in the organism has occurred (illness). These medications are lab-created chemicals, and they can be toxic and have myriad side effects. Prescription and over-the-counter drug use accounts for over a hundred thousands deaths in the US every YEAR. There are many more adverse effects, many of which result in permanent disability. This is something the FDA and the AMA are not too keen for the average person to know, however, it is easy enough to verify. Here are some links to check out: http://www.cancure.org/medical_errors.htm This site lists research cited from the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/etc/links.html This site gives a lot of useful information about the FDA as well as the prescription statistics. Please note that I gave you two fairly conservative sources to check out. There are many other sources out there which claim that the toll of prescription drugs is far higher than this. Yet the FDA , the CDC, and the WHO are not waving these reports under your nose are they?

Now, contrast this to the vitamin/mineral and herbal supplements that come in tablets, capsules, tinctures, syrups, tea bags and so on. If there is ever a problem that occurs with these, you can bet the media frenzy will run for weeks. Remember the guy who drank 16 cups of Kava Kava tea in a short amount of time then got behind the wheel of a car and had an accident? (I think I might have an accident if I drank 16 cups of ANYTHING in a short amount of time and got behind the wheel of a car---because I would have to pee so bad I wouldn't be very focused on the road!) Or, how about the big stink over the Ma Huang issue? Of course, those particular herbal weight loss supplements were highly concentrated, and contained only a few constituent parts of the herb. Furthermore, the tablets were being taken in amounts far over the recommended dosage. A small number of people had adverse effects, so ALL Ma Huang supplements were pulled, even those from other companies that had small amounts of whole herb blended with other ingredients. It is simply ludicrous, the double standard here. [Note: herbalists know that the whole herb usually contains components that balance or mitigate the effects of the 'active principles' of the herb. When you isolate one or two active principles and concentrate them, then you are more likely to have these kinds of problems.]

By and large, the supplement industry does a much better job of self-regulating quality and safety than the FDA does with the pharmaceutical companies. Supplements are generally nutrients, or nutritive in nature, and are mostly intended for strengthening and supporting the body systems from a preventative position, rather than from a palliative or remedial position. As such, supplements are closer to food than to 'medicine.' Herbs, for instance, are nutrient-dense. In folk medicine, herbs were often taken as a 'tonic' which means, to tonify or tone up. In other words, they were meant to boost and strengthen the system with an infusion of concentrated nutrition. Of course, if someone did become ill, herbs were used to address this as well, before chemical drugs came into virtually exclusive use. Still, the way the herbs were used is different than the way drugs are used. The herbs were there to support the body in its healing. The drugs are often there to wage war on some pathogen or, in the case of chemotherapy, against the body itself. Of course, I am speaking generally here and there are always nuances in any position. My intent is simply to look at the 'frame' around the concept of 'pills' and 'supplements.' There is a place and a need for prescription medicine. However, what we see currently is a nation of drug pushers and drug addicts, and I don't mean the guys in the 'hoods' and the junkies in the flop houses.

None of us wants to be on a lot of medication, but given that we are likely not getting the nutrition we need from our food sources, we might want to consider doing some research into the idea of supplementing with additional sources of concentrated nutrition. If you don't like tablets and capsules, try some of the tinctures and other liquid or chewable forms, as well as tea bags, and so forth. This now brings me to the subject of food as medicine from a more direct perspective.

If you look at your food as the 'medicine' the body needs to correct any imbalances that have occurred, you want to make every single thing that goes into your body count for the max. Consider that you can now get pomegranate seeds fresh and ready to pop into a lovely mixed salad. These are loaded with powerful nutrition. You can find ground flax seed to sprinkle on your cereal, or goji berries to mix into your trail mix. We now have available so many different foods with high nutrient value that are available in health food outlets. Many of these things come from out of the country. Get out of your usual drab produce sections and get adventurous. You can find flourless bread made from sprouted grains and baked at low temperature to preserve more of the awesome nutrition in anything sprouted. You can find freshly ground organic Brazil nut butter to spread on it, which is loaded with selenium, one of the most seriously missing nutrients from the US diet. Eating high fiber whole foods is the best thing you can do to get back into control of blood sugar issues which arise from eating highly refined white flour products and other high glycemic foods (which cause the spiking blood sugar issues which can lead to binging and so much more). Seaweed is a great source for those trace minerals that we need and have a hard time getting in the 'Standard American Diet' [SAD].

Before you put something into your mouth, ask yourself, 'Does my BODY need this? or do my emotions want this?' Nowadays, there are even healthful alternatives for sweets and desserts. If you are going to have something along this line, why not at least opt for something which also brings some nutrition with it? The biggest issue here is being willing to get out of the 'same old' routine which has created the imbalance in the first place, and be willing to explore, be an adventurer, and see what else you can find to nurture, nourish, and support your body so that it can get on with helping you get rebalanced. The choice is yours. Einstein said you cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it. We also cannot attain our perfect weight with the same diet that created the obesity. Be willing to change. Be willing to get excited about the opportunity to learn to love food that is delicious AND healthful. Your body will thank you for it.

Nutrition as Medicine for Balancing Weight Part Two

I want to comment about supplements at this point. If you read Part 1 of this series, you know that we are challenged in terms of obtaining the most nutrition from our food due to poor digestion and assimilation. I would like to make a few more points along this line now:

• Our organisms are under a lot of stress these days and this will impair digestion/assimilation in many ways.
• Our food sources are not what they were in the past. Much of our food is being grown on depleted soils. Most food sources contain added chemistry ranging from pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. In animal food sources we have hormones, steroids, and antibiotics.
• Our food tends to be increasingly farmed or ranched in giant centralized agrabusiness facilities, then shipped long distances. Of course, it is picked before it is ripe in the first place, which further reduces available nutrition.
• We eat diets increasingly composed of refined and processed food-like substances which are often devoid of nutritional value, and which introduce substances into the body which further stress the organism.

So our food is of poor quality and our bodies are extremely taxed. We are not getting the cellular nutrition we need to repair and fortify against these onslaughts to our health. This is why I believe that a certain level of supplementation is generally necessary for optimal health. I also believe that each one of us would be much better off if we could eat 100% fresh, ripe, local organically grown, unprocessed whole food 100% of the time. Given the parameters of most people's lives, this is a hard standard to meet.

So, if you are going to supplement, what should you use? This is a long and complicated subject, which will not be fully covered in this blog post. However, there are a few supplements that are important for the optimal functioning of the digestive tract, and I would like to begin with these.

In the first part of the series I mentioned that saliva is crucial to good digestion. The ancient Chinese system considered saliva to the be 'elixir of life.' They even have a special exercise for stimulating the flow of saliva, which I may include later. For now, because I am focused on supplements, let me talk a minute about bitter herbs. In folk medicine, 'bitters' are often taken before a meal to stimulate saliva production and aid digestion. You can still find bitters in the health food store. There are many versions, and it is not my intention here to push one brand or another. You can also grow bitter herbs yourself in containers if you are limited on garden space, or eat a salad with robust bitter greens for the same purpose. Gentian is one of the most common herbs in bitters formulas. These are generally in the form of a tincture, which is often an alcohol based extract of the herbs' main principles. You can generally find non-alcohol forms of tinctures as well, or as I mentioned, grow the fresh herbs yourself, or eat the tangy, bitter salad greens.

One of the other things our diets are sorely lacking in are the enzymes which are in the foods themselves that are crucial to good digestion. These enzymes are destroyed by just about everything including long transportation times, heating, freezing, processing, refining, washing too vigorously and so forth. For optimal health we need whole raw produce in our diets every day for the enzymes (and other reasons). Lacking consistency in this, we can consider supplementing with a high quality digestive enzyme formula which contains a wide spectrum of enzymes. Enzymes are vital for the proper break down of the food into its nutrient constituents.

Next, in the lower gut, we need special organisms to continue the digestive process. These are called probiotics and include things like Lactobacillus acidophilus. These good organisms also help to keep the pathogenic organisms in check. This symbiotic relationship within the gut is imperative to good digestion and good health. Again, these organisms are easily off-balanced by stress, incorrect eating habits and other factors. Supplementing with a good wide spectrum pro-biotic can restore balance in the intestinal tract, improving digestion and assimilation. This in turn can reduce cravings and hence, excess weight.

Another area of supplements for the digestive system concerns the cilia mentioned in part one of this series. These cells are susceptible to stress, so taking a high caliber multi-vitamin/mineral supplement with extra B vitamins for stress and trace minerals for strengthening the cilia is another consideration. When we can optimize our digestive system to make the most of what we are eating, we will find it easier to eat less, since there will be fewer messages from the cells triggering the hunger response.

Final notes:

1. If you are going to take supplements, do some research and find high-quality supplements by reputable companies. It makes no sense at all to buy a supplement for $5 a bottle, when the good stuff costs you $15. Why? Because the $5 bottle is not going to help you, so you just threw that $5 away. Invest in your health if you are going to spend money on supplements. Make sure you are getting value for what you are investing. Do your research. To save on taking so many tablets, find sources that offer a wide spectrum coverage.
2. Also, if you would like to see an excellent documentary on the difference between conventional and organic farming (and what that means in terms of the nutritive value of the food), find a copy of My Father's Garden.
3. In case you did not read the 'About Me' section in the sidebar, let me reinterate here that I am not a doctor, and nothing in this blog should be taken as either a diagnosis or a prescription.

BONUS! Here is the saliva generating exercise mentioned above: use the tongue as a toothbrush, and vigorously scrub all the tooth surfaces in the mouth. This will stimulate the salivary glands and you will wind up with a mouthful of saliva in a short period of time. Traditionally, you are then to divide this into thirds and swallow each third separately.

Nutrition as Medicine for Balancing Weight, Part One

Here is a subject that needs to be addressed if we are going to make any progress in coming to terms with the obesity epidemic in our country. Those who are locked into this struggle are typically missing some important pieces of information which could help them immensely if they only understood some of the underlying dynamics at work.

Our health and our weight are the result of many different factors which converge together uniquely in each person's life. To say that weight loss is all about eating less and exercising more is missing the point. This blog entry will not cover all of these complexities (after all, I want to save some stuff for later entries, don't I?), but I do want to talk about one crucial factor now.

That is the concept of nutrition and digestion. In the US, we have many people who are not cooking at home anymore. After all, they reason, why should I when I can grab something in the drive through for a buck or two which I can gobble down on my way to work? And I can order take out or pizza delivery on the way home? The result is that we are eating food, but we are not eating smart food.

We are not eating the high-octane fuel our vehicles need for optimal performance. We are eating the watered-down stuff that tears the engine apart. Our vehicle is the only one we get. We do not get to trade it in for a new model when we burn through this one folks. Doesn't it just make sense to eat food that is the best quality we can get?

The ironic thing is that most people know the difference when they are eating junk and when they are eating nourishing food. I will cover this more in a future entry, but the focus here is on what happens to our food during digestion.

The digestive track is a long tube that runs through the body. It has an entry point and an exit point. What happens in between has everything to do with how much weight you put on. Think about what food and eating are designed to do in the body, i.e. to provide energy and maintenance of body systems. Now, think about how that happens.

Most people don't really know, and therein lies a big problem. Here it is in a nutshell:

1. You eat something. Digestion starts in the mouth, for those who take the time to chew and coat the food with saliva. Chewing an d saliva are vital to proper digestion. When we gulp our food we have simply insured that the body will not be able to extract the nutrition from it. The cells will not receive what they need, and they will continue to send the signals to the brain that they are starving, and you will continue to feel hungry. Stress will impede the body's ability to secrete saliva, so eating 'on the run' is never a good idea from the perspective of digestion and nutrition.
2. Once the food hits the stomach, if it has not been properly 'pre-digested' by the chewing and saliva (which begins to break the food down chemically), then the stomach will attempt to make up for the missed step by secreting more acid to break the food down. If you have reflux, consider slowing down and chewing your food more thoroughly. You may discover that you can resolve that issue easily without those over the counter drugs. Also, avoid drinking too much liquid with your food, which dilutes the digestive fluids, rendering them less effective, which in turn stimulates more secretion.
3. As the contents of the stomach enter the intestinal tract, long finger-like cells called cilia protrude into the center of the intestinal tube. As the digestive matter flows through these cilia cells, the nutrients which are available in the right size and form will be absorbed into the bloodstream where they are carried into the cells. Nutrients which are not absorbed simply become part of the waste material. Sometimes, large particles will be absorbed and passed into the blood stream, which the body defense system will 'read' as foreign invaders because they do not look like nutrients. This will set up 'leaky gut syndrome' and an inflammatory response which can affect all the body systems if not addressed and corrected. Also note that the cilia cells are fragile. Stress and poor diet will wipe these out in large masses and the gut can become encrusted with plaques and putrefying fecal matter. Inactivity can impair the ability of the intestines to move the matter through. A body which has poor muscle tone will also have poor tone in the gut.

So you see that in fact, some people can be eating a great deal but still be malnourished. This will inevitably lead them to eating even more. The types of food being eaten will tend to be the high fat and simple carb types of food which the body can assimilate more easily than the proteins, minerals, vitamins, fiber and other nutrients the body is truly wanting and needing. Since there is an overabundance of that which the body doesn't need so much of, it gets stored as fat, all the while the cells are starving and sending those signals to the brain saying 'feed me, feed me.'

One way to end the 'struggle' is to love yourself enough to feed the body what it truly needs, and to feed it in a way that the body can access the nutrition. Slow down around your food. Take a moment of gratitude to release stress before you eat. Chew slowly. Eat bitter salad greens first to help stimulate more saliva production. Limit fluids during the meal. Move your body during the day to help the digestive system move things along. Eat fiber to keep the digestive tract clean and healthy. Whenever you set out to make changes, pick one or two things to start with, and as you get used to that, add in a few more things.

Weight-Management Strategies Must Adapt with the Times

He who has the most flexibility of options wins. I'm not sure who said that, or even if it is accurately quoted, but it is the subject of this post. One of the things that anyone who has been dealing with weight issues knows, is that there is no 'ONE ANSWER' out there. What works for us at one stage of life, may not work at another. Therefore, it benefits us to continue to learn new approaches and try out new ideas when we find we are stuck. Einstein said that to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result is the definition of insanity.

We can often feel insane when it comes to dealing with weight issues. For example, in my own life, I have been dealing with this challenge since childhood. I have learned a lot, and applied a lot of this knowledge in my life. Through a combination of approaches, I felt that I had finally 'conquered' this challenge once and for all. Then, I found myself slipping once again.

So, I decided that spending so much time in the office with clients, and so much time in front of the computer writing had caused this dis-equilibrium. So, I went to the gym and began to exercise like crazy. Not much happened, except I was very tired. Since I had so many tools to work with, and I was working with them in a dedicated way, I wondered what in the world was going on? Why was this not working for me?

In frustration, I finally hired a Personal Trainer for a few sessions. One of the things she did was have me get a BodPod analysis of the lean/fat ratio of my body. I was shocked at the result. She then explained to me that sometimes as we get older, our hormonal shifts will affect how the body deals with fat and muscle. I had been working out in the wrong way! I had been burning my muscle, not my fat, which is why I was so completely exhausted after the work outs. She shifted my routine to re-build the muscle (which by the way, burns a great deal more calories than fat does, even at rest), and to get the fat metabolism back on line. She also had me increase the protein intake to fuel the muscle rebuilding.

The point is, even when we know a lot, we can still learn more. Many things can upset the equilibrium of the body, and sometimes strategies we used in the past may no longer work for us. If you are 'stuck' with your weight, examine where you are 'stuck' in your thinking. Resolve to try something new. Resolve to get some input from a coach or trainer. There is little point in resolving to lose weight using old techniques that are not working for you any longer.

An Important Note about the Title of This Blog

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. You are here because, like millions of other people, you have an imbalance in your life that is represented by the extra pounds you are carrying around with you. Because I want to talk to this audience, I titled my blog in such a way as to form that connection. HOWEVER, that said, let me now point you in an entirely new direction with your thinking.

When we focus on our weight, we actually create more of it. If we want to be free of overweight, it is imperative that we put our mind on what we WANT, and create more of that. Only a small portion of our consciousness 'gets' the whole negation principle in our thinking processes. The greater part of our consciousness only sees that we are focused on weight, and it figures that must be what we want since we are so obsessed with that, and it goes to work to bring us more of it.

For a fuller explanation of this, visit my blog entry at http://site.unitedhypno.com/blog1/category/practitioners/ramona-young-grindle/ titled Watch Your Focus, Not Your Weight.

For today, practice putting your mind on what you truly want. For example, if you want to look good at an event in a special outfit, then bring that image to mind, step into it, be in it, look out of those eyes, hear out of those ears, feel the feelings and so on.

There is a story that Wayne Dyer tells about a man who was interviewed by an outdoor-type magazine. The reason this man had rated a story was that he had climbed a challenging mountain (perhaps Mt. Ranier?) and he had done so with only one leg. The reporter asked him how he could do something that would be challenging for most people with two legs. He told her that in preparation for the trek up the mountain, he had visualized himself standing on top of the mountain. He had seen what he would see from that position, he had felt the air on his cheek and so on. This man said that he did this a thousand times a day, and as he was going up the mountain one hop at a time, this was what drew him to success.

So, what are you focusing on a thousand times a day? Begin to pay attention to what you are telling yourself that you want. When we resist something (don't want it) we are still focusing on it, and giving it energy in our lives. Wouldn't your energy be better spent creating that which you DO want (more energy, more flexibility, more zest for life, more strength, agility, looking and feeling fit and trim?).

Frame your goal from the perspective of what you want, not from the perspective of what you don't want. Put your mind on that, and focus like a laser beam. You may even want to create a picture of yourself which reflects all of these aspects of your wanting, and post that where you can remember to focus, focus, focus throughout the day.