Glasgow Weight Loss

I've moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:05:00 +0000

My blog is now based at

http://www.glasgowhypno.co.uk/weight-loss-clinic.html

Pay me a visit!!

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Don't worry about willpower, distract yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:30:00 +0000

Poor willpower is unavoidable. It is in short supply, and the area of the brain where it is stored has a lot of other jobs to fuss over, so willpower tends to get the short straw. It is inherently unreliable. We need other strategies.

A famous piece of research, the Marshmallow Tes t, by Walter Mischel of Columbia University, shows that the ability to distract yourself is really helpful in achieving your goals. He invited young children the chance to eat one marshmallow now, or to wait 20 minutes and get an extra marshmallow later on. Some succumbed to eating now, but those who held out were using their powers of distraction.

When we are making plans to lose weight, the goal is in the future, but the temptations are now. We need to find ways to keep that long term goal in sight. Distraction is one way. (This is a cognitive behavioural technique.)We all know that we eat less when we are really busy and focused. So what things allow you to get really involved? Finding one may make all the difference.

Another good cognitive behavioural technique has been developed by Peter Gollwitzer of New York University. He has identified that short strategic implementation plans make all the difference. For example, if your goal is to cut out snack foods at home, then he suggests making If Then plans. Find out the problem situation, such as coming home from work tired and snack-focused. So maybe the answer is, If I come home from work tired, then I shall put a ready meal in the oven, and go for a walk for 10 minutes. What If Then statements might help you?

And hypnosis will help you embed them so deeply that they become automatic. Great.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

More on that loss of willpower

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:06:00 +0000

Willpower is managed in the pre-frontal cortex part of your brain. This is the bit that deals with planning, proper social behaviour and other elements of "executive function".

Baba Shiv Professor at Stanford University, shows that it is pretty fragile in his research demonstrating why and how willpower is so feeble. Like Baumeister, his research shows that even small actions can deplete willpower.

But willpower can be developed. If you practice doing things that are a bit uncomfortable or a bit unpleasant, then you will strengthen your willpower. Shiv suggests that the prefrontal cortex can be compared to a bicep muscle. Exercise it and it will develop and strengthen.

This could be consciously improving your posture. Or regularly tidying up after yourself, or doing the filing regularly, or phoning your mother, or writing that letter. Avoiding procrastination generally. So if you face up to and do moderately unpleasant things, you will find that your willpower will increase. And you will be able to accomplish the goals that you desire.

http://www.carolinebrowntherapy.com/

Shake, rattle and roll

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:23:00 +0000

I have said before that exercise will not really help in losing weight. Exercise is good for its own sake as it maintains your health. Eating less is a better way to manage your weight, because cutting down by 250 calories a day is much easier than exercising it off.

Indeed, you may have noticed that you consider walking to the bus stop with the goal of exercising away that chocolate bar. Wishful thinking because to work off 4 ounces of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk needs you to walk 5 miles (10,000 steps) at a fast pace.

We often make mistakes about weight control strategies. For example, drinking diet fizzy pop doesn’t help us reduce weight. We tend to compensate for it by eating something else, taking the view that diet pop is the diet!

But doing nothing and lying about is generally a bad thing.

Peter Katzmarzyk and colleagues at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center examined the links between time spent sitting (at school, work, and at home) and mortality (death) in a representative sample of more than 17,000 Canadians. They report that time spent sitting was associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality (there was no association between sitting and cancer death). Individuals who sat the most were about 50% more likely to die during the follow-up period than individuals who sat the least, even after controlling for age, smoking, and physical activity levels.

The researchers also examined the association between sitting and mortality after control for body weight in some cases. They report that sitting remains a significant predictor of mortality. This suggests that all things being equal (body weight, physical activity levels, smoking, alcohol intake, age, and gender) the person who sits more is at a higher risk of death than the person who sits less.( Fidgetting has been shown to be an effective strategy. So don’t listen when people tell you to stop!)

Most of us are sedentary throughout the work day and so most of us are at risk. And at home too, we spend little time working in the kitchen, cooking, laying the table, washing up. Even in front of the telly we don’t get up to change the channel. Our whole environment seems to be geared to minimising effort.

What to do? Throughout the day to move about and fidget as much as possible. Seek out opportunities to make more effort. Walk whenever possible.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Dieting makes you fat

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:09:00 +0000

One of my clients the other day told me that she had "been on a diet for 30 years on and off, but was stubbornly one stone overweight". Clearly dieting doesn't work for her.

Jennifer Savage and Leann Birch from Pennsylvania State University have just published research on this very problem!

A total of 176 women were assessed at baseline and followed over four years to see how their weight changed. There were 3 types of women identified.

Those making no effort to control their weights (N)
Those using healthy strategies (H)
Those using both healthy and unhealthy strategies (H+U)

Women using a mix of healthy and unhealthy strategies (H+U) gained significantly more weight (4.56 kg) than the N group (1.51 kg) and H group (1.02 kg) over the four year observation period. This was after taking statistical account of things like education, income and initial BMI..

Perhaps not surprisingly, the H+U weight control group demonstrated greater anxiety over weight concerns and restraining their food intake and had poorer eating attitudes than women in the H or N groups.

So what were the strategies these women were using to control their weight?

Healthy strategies included reducing calories and amount of food, eliminating sweets, junk food and snacks, increasing activity, eating more fruit and vegetables, eating less fat or less high-carb food, and eating less meat.

Unhealthy strategies included skipping meals, using diet pills, liquid diets, appetite suppressants, laxatives, enemas, diuretics, and fasting. The women who used these strategies gained weight.

As the researchers point out, the probable reason that women who used healthy weight control strategies were more successful was simply because these strategies are more sustainable. Unhealthy strategies can lead to loss of control, overeating and bingeing, which over time results in increased weight. So it is the way you try to control your weight that determines success.

Another important aspect of this study noted by the authors is that women who worry about their weight were more likely to engage in unhealthy practices. If this proves to be true, simply promoting weight concerns and worries may exacerbate weight problems in the long run.

But the study also shows that women who adopt healthy weight control techniques can very much minimise weight gain over time, even if no actual weight is lost in the long run.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Eating fast makes you fat

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:01:00 +0000

Speed of eating turns out to be one of the earliest predictors of obesity. And obesity is a risk factor for diabetes.

In a study by Robert Berkowitz and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, rapid eating (higher number of mouthfuls per minute) of a single laboratory testmeal was a remarkably strong predictor of subsequent weight gain in kids.

At 4 years of age, 32 children of overweight mothers and 29 children of normal weight mothers were given a test meal in a controlled laboratory setting. Mouthfuls of food per minute at this single meal not only predicted changes in BMI from 4 to 6 years but also changes in sum of skinfolds and total body fat. Of course you can always trick your 4-year old into eating slow by providing foods that take longer to eat and if your 4-year old prefers to play with her food and takes forever to finish, you can at least comfort yourself with the notion that she is probably not in danger of having to worry about excess weight any time soon.

But what about you? People who eat rapidly are at risk of being overweight. Research has shown that obese people eat fast and maintain the same rate of eating, whereas normal weight people slow down their rate of eating during the course of the meal. Slowing down allows the stretch receptors to signal to your brain that your stomach is full. Eating quickly means you pass the Full point and reach Stuffed before your brain has been alerted to the meal.

Another interesting piece of research by Yvonne Linne at Huddinge University Hospital in Sweden, hows that eating with a blindfold decreased the intake of food, without making subjects feel less full. Eating blindfolded, therefore, may force subjects to rely more on internal signals. Most of us have stopped using internal signals to guide our eating, and we are getting overweight as a result. With practice, we can start to identify when we are hungry (most of us never feel hunger) and when we are full.

So, focusing on your internal cues helps you reduce weight. To help you achieve this:

eat slowly (putting your hands in your lap between mouthfuls really slows you down)
do nothing else whilst eating (no telly, no radio, no reading)
use a small plate

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Good news for Glasgow, Curry Central

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 07:55:00 +0000

Curcumin is the principle ingredient of tumeric or “haldi” as it is called in Hindi. This is the spice that gives Indian curries their bright yellow colour. The tumeric root (a relative of ginger) has long been thought to have all kinds of medicinal properties - antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. Regular consumption is also alleged to increase brain power!!

A study by Asma Ejaz and colleagues from Tufts University, Boston, USA, published in the Journal of Nutrition, suggests that curcumin may also reduce fat formation by blocking the growth of new blood vessels which is necessary for the expansion of fat (adipose) tissue and by positively changing fat cell metabolism.

Their research used mice. In the high-fat fed mice, over 12 weeks, curcumin did not affect food intake but reduced body weight gain, adiposity, and microvessel density in adipose tissue. Curcumin also increased expression of key enzymes involved in fat oxidation. Blood cholesterol levels were also lowered by curcumin treatment.

Leaping from mouse to man, the authors speculate that dietary curcumin may not only help prevent obesity but may also have favourable effects on fat metabolism.

How much of an impact this finding may have on the obesity epidemic remains to be seen. But it makes going out for a curry an even more delightful experience!

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Now what shall we have for breakfast?

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:39:00 +0000

High-fibre carb-rich breakfasts make you feel fuller for longer, reducing your urge to snack, and keep you more alert during the morning.

There has been a lot of research done on breakfast. We are encouraged to eat it so that we are alert in the morning. The University of Sydney recommends a high-fibre carb-rich breakfast - which really means porage or muesli, rather than more processed cereals. They find that it has great benefits when you are trying to control your eating.

The study involved eating a breakfast of around 490 calories. The high-fibre, carb-rich breakfast was the least delicious but was the most filling. Their results showed that after this breakfast, people ate less during the morning and at lunch. Hunger returned at a slower rate than after the low-fibre, carbohydrate-rich meal (the more processed kind of cereal). On the other hand, people who ate fat-rich breakfasts (bacon, black pudding, sausage, fried egg) felt less satisfied and found they ate more later on in the morning

By the end of the day, the average total calories eaten were significantly greater after the fat-rich breakfast than after the high-fibre, carbohydrate-rich meal. There are 2 pointers here then: We should avoid fried breakfasts (eating them only as an occasional treat) because they tend to make you eat more overall, even after the breakfast. And that porage and muesli are more filling and satisfying, with those nice feelings lasting longer through the morning.

What else did they discover? They tested for alertness. On average, the high-fibre carb-rich meal was associated with the highest post-breakfast alertness ratings and with the greatest cumulative amount of alertness during the period between breakfast and lunch. Interestingly, alertness and a sense of fullness seemed to go together.

If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try to make a few small changes every week. To help you, try hypnotherapy with me.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Willpower

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:57:00 +0000

Trying to lose weight by squeezing out all our willpower doesn't seem to work. Most people who lose weight on a diet find that it just comes back on again, sometime with a few extra pounds too. So all that willpower focused on sticking to a diet could just be wasted misery.

Maybe a good alternative is to make frequent small changes to your eating pattern, adding good things and removing bad things bit by bit. This gives us the chance to embed each small change, making our new eating pattern automatic, and our new way of eating becomes normal.

"It is better to take many small steps in the right direction, than make a great leap forward only to stumble backward". (Chinese proverb)

If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try to make a few small changes every week. To help you, try hypnotherapy with me.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Why do we gain weight when we go on a diet?

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 09:43:00 +0000

There has been lots of research to support the miserable idea that we get fatter when we are trying to lose weight.

What a horrible discovery after weeks of struggling with a diet, eating food we don't want and don't like!

In part, when we are on a diet, we think only of food. We buy special diet foods, we read slimming magazines full of articles about food. We spend more time than normal thinking about food when we are on a diet.

A study from Bristol University shows that diet foods encourage overeating. When we are faced with a meal that we know is low-calorie, we just eat more to compensate. And if we are buying low-calorie prepared foods from the supermarket, we should check how many servings they contain. Other research shows that once the pack is opened, it is eaten. So a 2-person serving would be eaten by the one person sitting in front of it.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Portion sizes have doubled without us even noticing

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:52:00 +0000

Portion sizes have doubled in the last 20 years.

American researchers at New York University found that when McDonald’s first started in 1955, its hamburger weighed around 1.6 ounces - 28 grammes. We would think that was pretty mean if we were served it today. The basic hamburger now weighs 100grammes (but I think that includes the bun. Even so...)

I had a look at McDonalds website. There is loads of information, but no mention of the calories in each product. Well, it was hidden away if it is there at all. Find the calories here instead!

McDonalds are an easy target in many ways, because they do provide information. Your local takeaway doesn't measure and count, so you have no idea of the calorie content. I am not a great fan of calorie counting in detail, but if you are trying to control your eating, then it really does help to have a broad idea of where the calories are coming from. I suggest that for most of us, it is not coming from our 3 daily meals.

A double cheeseburger is 440 calories. That is a quarter of the rule of thumb daily allowance of 2,000 calories for women. A basic hamburger is 250 calories, without the regular fries, which are 274 cals. No wonder we all gain weight. This sort of eating is called "hedonic" by the medics. It is fun eating, extra to your normal 3 meals a day. At these calories, you could easily find your "hedonic" eats add up to more than your daily meals. Oops.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Rapid eating causes obesity

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:06:00 +0000

Speed of eating turns out to be one of the earliest predictors of obesity. And obesity is a risk factor for diabetes.

In a study by Robert Berkowitz and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, rapid eating (higher number of mouthfuls per minute) of a single laboratory testmeal was a remarkably strong predictor of subsequent weight gain in kids.

At 4 years of age, 32 children of overweight mothers and 29 children of normal weight mothers were given a test meal in a controlled laboratory setting. Mouthfuls of food per minute at this single meal not only predicted changes in BMI from 4 to 6 years but also changes in sum of skinfolds and total body fat. Of course you can always trick your 4-year old into eating slow by providing foods that take longer to eat and if your 4-year old prefers to play with her food and takes forever to finish, you can at least comfort yourself with the notion that she is probably not in danger of having to worry about excess weight any time soon.

But what about you? People who eat rapidly are at risk of being overweight. Research has shown that obese people eat fast and maintain the same rate of eating, whereas normal weight people slow down their rate of eating during the course of the meal. Slowing down allows the stretch receptors to signal to your brain that your stomach is full. Eating quickly means you pass the Full point and reach Stuffed before your brain has been alerted to the meal.

Another interesting piece of research by Yvonne Linne at Huddinge University Hospital shows that eating with a blindfold decreased the intake of food, without making subjects feel less full. Eating blindfolded, therefore, may force subjects to rely more on internal signals. Most of us have stopped using internal signals to guide our eating, and we are getting overweight as a result. With practice, we can start to identify when we are hungry (most of us never feel hunger) and when we are full.

So, focusing on your internal cues helps you reduce weight. To help you achieve this:

eat slowly (putting your hands in your lap between mouthfuls really slows you down)
do nothing else whilst eating (no telly, no radio, no reading)
use a small plate

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

How does hypnosis help with weight loss?

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:24:00 +0000

To lose weight, we need to change our eating habits. A crash diet might help in the short term, but we can't eat like that for months on end. Most of us know what our bad habits are. It might be chocolate or takeaways, or just eating till we are stuffed. Hypnosis helps you to identify the problem habits and then helps you introduce good habits to replace them.

Rather than be thinking about food all day in order to try to reduce the amount you eat, hypnosis embeds decisions about eating in your subconscious, so that new behaviours become automatic, with no effort. If you are trying to cut out chocolate, your subconscious alerts you to this helpful decision, and keeps you out of the shop and encourages you to say no. Little by little this becomes normal behaviour and eating chocolate is something you just don't think about any more.

It means you are not needing to use your willpower all day long - which would only result in a big binge anyway.

If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try to make a few small changes every week. To help you, try hypnotherapy with me.
http://www.carolinebrowntherapy.com/

Why do we eat when we are not hungry?

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:03:00 +0000

We can all find a little space for something particularly delicious and tempting. Our stomachs (normally the size of our fist) are very stretchy.

Maybe you remember Mr Creosote from the Monty Python sketch? He tried to squeeze in one last mint wafer.

But what is making us eat when we are not hungry. Well, there are a number of reasons. If any seem to apply to you, think about how you can avoid them.

If we regularly eat a little snack at 3.00pm, then our bodies get used to it. Even if we have had plenty to eat, our bodies cry out for the 3.00pm intake. After a couple of days however, these cravings go. When are you snacking?

Refined carbohydrates make your blood sugar peak and trough dramatically so you feel hungry soon after. This includes sugary foods, white flour, sweets, cakes and biscuits. If you don't buy them, you won't eat them. Remember, in the hand is in the mouth.

Of course, if something looks and smells delicious, our body responds positively, with lots of encouraging saliva flow, which itself makes you hungry. As for me, I can never resist a mango, but I have trained myself to resist chocolate, and now it doesn't interest me.

Alchohol lowers your general ability to resist. If you eat before you go out drinking, you will be less likely to succumb to a takeaway on the way home.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Body image

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:05:00 +0000

Even the stars don't match up to the ideals of beauty expounded in magazines and other advertising.

"Kate Winslet's famous curves have been trimmed for a front cover and Keira Knightley's bust enlarged for a film poster. Madonna's biceps have been reduced for a magazine portrait, while veteran model Twiggy's wrinkles vanished in an advertisement for anti-ageing cream.The technique of flattening tummies, shaping thighs, removing laughter lines and adding extra gloss to hair is now commonplace among photographers attempting to produce perfect images of the body beautiful". This text was from the Independent newspaper.

The French are trying to ban airbrushing. And now we have a report that explains the damage to children from being exposed to these unreal images of women.

A few years ago, Joan Collins said that maintaining her slim shape, lovely face and huge hair was her job, and she devoted most of the day to preparing herself for going out.

What is the moral. These images we see are not real people. Even the stars, who spend all day working on looking wonderful, need to be airbrushed to look this good. It is unachievable for the rest of us. We shouldn't waste our lives trying.

If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try to make a few small changes every week. To help you, try hypnotherapy with me.

Wew all collude with ourselves from time to time

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:13:00 +0000

Have you ever helped someone else by doing their shopping for them? If you are living with your parents, perhaps you sometimes go out to the shops and buy stuff for them. And strangely somehow, included in that shopping trolley are the things that you like yourself, but know you should not eat. You are buying them for someone else. It might be crisps or chocolates, or biscuits. We often collude with ourselves in this way. Buying the things that we want, but for someone else. So there they are, all those things you are trying to stop eating, sitting in the cupboard calling you to eat them. Do you do this? Most of us do.

Or maybe your partner likes to eat these things you are trying to give up, and brings them into the house. You don't discuss with your partner how difficult this makes it for you to give up - because secretly, this allows you to give in to the urge, and blame your partner (just a bit).

Or in your office, everyone has lots of sweets and biscuits and you all join in eating them. All colluding together.

Does this sound like you? So what action are you going to take?

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

How we become anxious about our weight

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:07:00 +0000

We get a lot of information from a huge range of media - magazines, telly etc - where people are trying to sell us something.

There is masses of information coming to us about food - not just the tv programmes and adverts, but the variety of food in the supermarket and the range of eating places in the high street. These are "messages to eat".

And on the other hand, we get messages about what we should look like. There was a report published this week seeking to control the images of women portrayed in the media, with all that airbrushing, which puts pressure on girls to present themselves as sexy before they are old enough to know what is going on. And at the same time, these images encourage men to consider women as only interesting if they are sexy.

This sort of advertising puts a huge pressure on women to conform to unrealistic expectations. And is the major cause of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder and body dissatisfaction and perhaps surprisingly, obesity.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Images of women in the media

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Permit me to bang on again about images of women in the media. Have a close look at how women's bodies are used in advertising.

While advertising car tyres with naked ladies is now considered old-fashioned, the current images are pretty ropey. Images of men show them bigging it up on the squash court, or smiling in their car, working on a building site and usually you see the face or the whole, clothed body. Women on the other hand are portrayed crawling on the floor in great need of a simmett. Or leaning against a man. Or offered to us in body parts. And mostly scantily clad. Read more here.

Portrayal of women still shows us as being submissive sex objects. Click here for an interesting read on why we should become media literate. It is important, because we are bombarded with these messages about our role in life - be sexy, be thin, be available. Whereas the real women that we are want to be busy, active, independent.

And airbrushed images give an idea of an unattainable perfection - even the stars don't achieve it in real life.

Ads are designed largely by men for men. Look at this ad.
The following blurb comes from a great essay which you can read here. (Assigment Sex Sells from the University of Aberystwyth)

" Not only does the model here, expose much of her upper torso, but her hand provocatively pulls on her clothes and her left hand playing suggestively with her earring. The model is also looking directly into the camera, whichever angle you view it from her eyes are staring straight at you. Please also note how the fragrance name ‘J’adore’ is shaped around the models breast, connotations of love, sexual desire and seduction are prominent here. note how the fragrance name ‘J’adore’ is shaped around the models breast, connotations of love, sexual desire and seduction are prominent here".

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Are you food savvy?

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:52:00 +0000

This is an interesting and fun quiz on healthy eating!! Some of the answers are surprising. And there are other quizzes to take too.

We are all bombarded with food information every day, and it is had to sort out the valuable food messages from all this confusion.

When we are trying to control our weight, we are automatically routed to think about dieting. But most people who go on diets end up putting weight on. Why is this. The cycle of Diet Deprive and Deny makes us even more interested in food. We get food-obsessed. And we start believing silly things. One of my clients the other day recounted this overheard conversation:

Mmm, this chocolate bar contains 150 calories....
Well, try the Weight Watchers one, it is only 113.

Changing your way of eating so that you maintain a good weight and good health is not about just saving a few calories here and there. Hypnotherapy will help you identify your problem habits, work out a way to overcome them and then support your motivation, so that you automatically make positive choices. Much easier.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Eating in front of the telly

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:20:00 +0000

Research suggests that sitting for hours in front of the telly will get you fat. Men who watch more than 3 hours of TV a day are twice as likely to become obese as those who watched less than one hour per day. Read it ! This isn't a gender thing, just that the research was done on men.

In part, this is because you are sitting down doing nothing, so your metabolism slows down to be similar to sleeping. Even talking on the phone uses more calories than watching the box! Do something! Being active reduces your risk of low mood and depression too (a lot of eat more when we are depressed.)

We also tend to eat snacks while watching the TV. And at peak times (and in childrens tv time as well) we are watching adverts for chocolates and drinks, and a whole range of snack food. Advertising wouldn't be done if it didn't work. Recent research shows that from only half an hour of telly a day, the increased snacks triggered by advertising could lead to 10 pounds weight gain in a year.

If you are engrossed in the telly, then you are not fully mindful of the food you are eating. You could eat a whole meal's value of calories without even noticing.

So if you are concerned about your weight, here are some tips.

1. Watch less telly.
2. Measure out a portion of snack, so that you are more aware of how much you are eating. Research shows that if you eat from a large package, you will eat more than if you eat from a small package. Store the remainder out of easy reach, so that if you refill your portion, you are aware of what you are doing.
3. Work on being aware of what you are eating.

Try to make a few small changes every week. If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try hypnotherapy with me.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Working mothers in trouble again

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:19:00 +0000

New research shows that children of working mothers lead unhealthier lifestyles than where the mother does not work. Most women work nowadays, so the report refers to the majority of us.

What are the things that constitute an unhealthy lifestyle, according to this report. Well, it is the things that I bang on about, which are bad for all of us, and which are marketed actively at adults and children alike - sugary drinks, crisps, snacks. None of us need them, even though they are nice (they are designed by experts to be nice!) I don't know what the non-working mum is doing, but maybe she is cooking more, rather than relying on processed packaged foods. Cooking at home and eating together at a table are things I support.

Sweets too are a problem. Cardiff University research shows that eating sweets everyday in childhood is linked to adult aggression. They haven't identified why. But we already know that certain foods cause hyperactivity in our children. We are lucky in this generation to have generally more cash, and we give treats to our children every day - making them routine rather than treats. Perhaps our grannies who kept the biscuit tin and the sweetie jar hidden till Sunday were doing the right thing by us after all.

The other thing was that children of working mothers are less active. Women lead busy lives. Perhaps we ought to all get a bit more active and spend less time in front of the telly. There was no mention of the role of the dad in this research. What was he doing?

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

Take care who you sit next to!

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:14:00 +0000

Without realising it, our eating is affected by the person we sit next to.

If it is a really fat person, then we will eat a bit less than them. Their weight serves as a warning to us. But if we sit next to a skinny with a huge portion, then we automatically, without thinking, get the idea that it is okay to pile on the food. This research is from the University of Chicago. Click here for a Youtube of an actress in a fat suit affecting the portions taken by students in a cafeteria.

We are affected by all sorts of cues when it comes to eating. Knowing what triggers your eating will help a lot!

http://www.carolinebrowntherapy.com/

New Rule! Use Cutlery!

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:47:00 +0000

One of the big changes in our lifetime compared to our mother's or grandmother's time, is eating with our hands. In those days, they didn't really have access to much handfood, and they ate their meals with cutlery sitting at the table. They weighed on average 10lbs less than we do now.

Of course it is not just about cutlery, but going through the ritual of laying a table for your meal makes you more aware of your eating. It becomes a planned event. Compare that with eating out of the packet, on the hoof etc. Mindless eating, automatic eating is one of the ways in which we are getting heavier. Think of the things that we eat without thinking, and you will realise that these are handfoods rather than sitting-at-a-table-with-cutlery foods - pizzas, burgers, pies, sweets, chocolate, cakes, popcorn, crisps. And these foods are full of fat and salt or full of fat and sugar - the fastest way to gain weight.

So a simple rule is Always Eat with Cutlery. And you will find that you are easily giving up the most calorie-packed foods.

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

How to manage cravings

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Cravings seem to arise out of the blue and we are overcome with the need to eat the craved item, often sweet things for women. Well, the key thing to know is that like a screaming child, if you ignore them, they eventually stop, and if you keep ignoring them, they will stop for ever altogether.

So how to ignore cravings.

Well, one way is to identify what is triggering them. It is not hunger. It could be your routine. For example, if you have always had a snack at 3.00pm your cravings will arrive on the dot. If you always eat in the car on the way home, they will be there too. If you walk past a sweet shop and always buy chocolate or crisps with your paper, you will repeat the actions on and on. So these are environmental and habit-based triggers for cravings. Change your route, have no food in the car, stop snacking at 3.00pm. And if the trigger is boredom, develop a portable hobby so that you can distract yourself. And if I might bang on about this again, if you always munch away at chocs and crisps in front of the telly, just turning the telly on turns your belly on.

Changing behaviour in these relatively small ways is quite easy. You don't have to deal with everything all at once. One or two a week is quite enough. Then what?

When cravings come, ignore them. Distract yourself. This could be by going for a walk, phoning a friend, washing the car. Just tapping your finger onto your hand for a few minutes is also quite distracting.

Cravings disappear in only a few minutes. You can handle that!

www.carolinebrowntherapy.com

The diet industry is growing fatter and fatter

noreply@blogger.com (Evidence-based hypnotherapist) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:50:00 +0000

The diet industry is vast - about $70billion a year. Huge food companies, like Kraft, have diet product businesses - fattening us up on the one hand and then selling us stuff when we want to lose weight. And the reason Big Business are in the diet industry, is because we keep failing at maintaining our diets. We put the weight back on again and again. Pretty much everyone does. None of us can keep up a lifestyle of diet, deny and deprive for long.

I bang on about changing behaviour and habits rather than going on diets. Diets are fine in the short term, if you want to go on the beach in the summer, then a crash diet will help.

I think Julia Roberts was speaking the truth in Notting Hill when she said she had been hungry for 10 years. And in an interview with Jenny Murray on Radio 4, Joan Collins said that it was her job to keep looking good, so she spent up to 8 hours a day primping, preening and exercising, before she went out to face her public. What are they telling us here? Well, it is that they have made a lifestyle choice. They have habits that help them to achieve the goals they have set for themselves (pretty tough goals, but the rewards of obviously huge for them!)

So let me bang on again. If you feel you are heavier than you want to be, look at your lifestyle. What habits do you have that encourage weight gain?

Most of us do not get fat by eating 3 meals a day. Research has shown that the calorie content of our 3 meals has been flatlining. It is the hidden 4th meal that puts on the pounds. Getting out of established habits is not easy, but you will have done it lots of times. When you change job, you change habits. When you get a new partner, you change your habits too.

Think about these new habits, making one or two changes each week. Don't do it all at once.

No more fizzy drinks. Even diet ones. You are training your taste buds to want sweet stuff. And they don't refresh thirst. Train yourself to drink water when you are thirsty.
Cut down the takeaways. You really don't know what they contain. Just look at the orange fat floating on the surface.
Don't watch the telly when you eat (you don't notice your food and you eat much more). Eat at a table whenever you can.

Start to notice what you are eating between meals. Just being aware will help you avoid snacks.

www.arolinebrowntherapy.com