Today I thought I'd talk a bit about hypnosis and something called Selective Eating Disorder or SED. It's an odd subject and for the many people that suffer from it it's often easy to pretend that it's not a problem or even that it's a personal choice.
A Bad Habit The reality is that it is neither of those things. What it is is a massive restriction on personal freedom and opportunities in life. It's also a bad habit and like most habits (like smoking), hypnotherapy can be a remarkably effective solution. Selective Eating Disorder also known as Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is basically being a picky eater. Irrational Fears It's different from other food disorders in that it stems from a fear of food itself rather than suffering from body dimorphism. Some people with Selective Eating Disorder just have very little interest in food. Some are afraid of various textures, temperatures, tastes and smells. Some are irrationally terrified of choking. allergic reactions or nausea. ARFID can utterly restrict a person's social life, going to a restaurant with a potential date becomes a huge hurdle. With kids it is common that they miss out on vital nutrients, usually iron or vitamins A and C which are of vital importance to a growing body. With adults it commonly leads to low energy levels and stress at meal times. Real Case Study: Two Daughters & A Husband The reason I'm talking about it today though is that I recently had a mother approach me because her entire family. Two lovely little girls and her husband were all fussy eaters. She ended up making at least two, often three different meals every dinner time. Every day was a stressful chore, her fridge was packed with so many foods it was like a student shared flat. Her husband would regularly blow money that could go to more practical ends buying bland takeaway (invariably without vegetables). Hypnotherapy was a last resort for her. A New Hope A co-worker of hers had seen me for weightloss and suggested she get in touch with me. This isn't unusual, most of my clients come from referrals. What was unusual was that the mum was contacting me on behalf of a six and a five year old. I think she had decided that her husband was set in his ways but there was still hope for the kids. What she had been doing prior to contacting me was reward based. If the kids ate one piece of fruit or veg she would give them what they wanted as well. On the face of things that seemed like a winning strategy. The problem was that by making the bland familiar food the reward she was making old habits seem more attractive. Overworked, And Overstressed They also saw dad's example and thought it was quite reasonable for mum to be making several meals a day. To be honest, she confessed to me that it was doing her head in. Pita bread, cheese and tomato sauce pizzas don't make a good diet and her littlest was suffering terrible flatulence as it clearly didn't agree with her. Drastic measures needed to be taken and that's why she came to see a hypnotherapist. I don't normally help little kids, they tend to fidget, get distracted or clam up around strangers. The mum was at the end of her rope though. The solution was a questionnaire that the mum asked her kids about food and how they felt about it. A Simple Bedtime Story With the help of their answers and a chat with the mum I wrote a little bedtime story. Each evening as these two delightful little monsters went to bed Mum would read their story about the two little girls, let's call them Joanne and Samantha and the magical dinner table. Needless to say, within a week the mother got back to me telling me how her little princesses were now clamouring to try some of the foods that the magical girls in the story ate. Hunger and Habit Habits are basic guidelines we learn and apply to our everyday life. The reasons are many and varied. They can stretch from celebrity endorsements to what mum used to make tell us when we were children. When it comes to food choices we are exactly the same. We can very easily get stuck in a rut. Hypnotherapy and hypnosis is a particularly good at breaking habits. Especially bad habits. The ones that we know aren't good for us but we do anyway. The People We Love It can be distressing when we are looking after loved ones. Children or partners and they insist on being fed foods that we know aren't doing any good or food that we find to be bland. Occasionally even foods that we know are actively against their interests. The foods that are going to leave them with low energy, bad teeth or overweight. Imagine for a moment that, with an hour or so of help the mechanisms that reinforce those habits could change. What might that mean to someone's life? To their whole family? Hypnotism can be the answer. When Hypnotism Isn't the Answer Here is the basic rule of hypnosis. Long term change only happens when people have buy in. When they agree that they would be better off if they made the change. I have turned away clients in the past when they have come to me because "The wife wants me to do it." That said, if someone comes to me and genuinely is interested in making the change or they are willing to see if they enjoy a change in their life it can be a magical experience. It can be incredibly rewarding to watch the change as people decide to try fruit for pretty much the first time in their life. Or they go out to a restaurant for the first time and try something other than a plain pizza or steak. For little kids they buy in comes early. Once they beat the self limiting beliefs of "But I don't like it!" that they learnt from their school friends or a family member. Once they get past that they start to enjoy food like the adventurous explorers that they were born to be. Without a doubt these are self limiting beliefs... Family and culture teach people their tastes. Not to put too fine a point on it, I have a friend from Andhra Pradesh in India and their 4 year old child eats pickles and spices that make my eyes water to be even in the same room. They eat these foods happily and with great pleasure because that is what they are used to and what their family is used to. We are capable of being so much more. Of doing so much more once we realise that the biggest obstacle in our lives is us. Hypnotism and Change All it takes to make a change in our lives is for someone to recognise the value of that change and to share that value with us. When I use hypnosis, I don't change anyone's mind. All I do, the only thing I do, is allow them the opportunity to break past the barriers that they have set up in their own mind. I help people to see a way forward to making a change for themselves. Whilst habits can be useful short cuts in making decisions, there is nothing more limiting than the belief that we are unable to change. What Hypnotherapy Isn’t And this brings us to a really good point to close off this post: when most people think of hypnosis, they think of stage hypnotists, and people being made to do silly and ridiculous things, or that it somehow involves some kind of mind control. That nonsense couldn’t be any further from the truth! Real hypnotherapy is as simple as telling ourselves a good bedtime story, and training our minds to look forward to good rewards, and to avoid bad habits. That’s it. If you’re not happy with the “bedtime” stories you keep telling yourself, get in touch and let’s talk. I’d love to see how I’d be able to help you. For more information review this article on the effectiveness of hypnosis. -Daniel 021 2033374 daniel@capitalhypnosis.co.nz Wellington, New Zealand
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On Cravings, Health, Hypnotherapy, and Quitting Smoking Forever
Time To Stop Smoking? Then This Is How You Do It: The struggle to quit smoking isn’t easy, but the immediate health benefits are amazing. How old you are dosen't matter, there’s an immediate reduction in risk for smoking-related diseases and the likelihood of serious health complications or even death! These include: Quit smoking before your 50's reduces the risk of lung cancer by 90%. After 12 to 15 years after you quit smoking, the chances of a stroke are reduced to that of a person who has never smoked. After only one year of being a non-smoker, the risk of a heart attack are reduced to those of a non smoke of similar fitness and age.. Quit Smoking Capital Hypnosis Hypnotherapy In New Zealand: Here at Capital Hypnosis we proudly developed our Quit Smoking Hypnotherapy Programme which helps you eliminate unwanted habits and is actually easier than losing weight. The reason why it works is simple: The decision to Stop Smoking is simply a “Yes” or “No” decision. Where we all have to eat to survive, which complicates the weightloss equation. A cigarette has never saved a life yet which makes the question "Do I need a cigarette to survive a simple "No!" Most people trying to quit smoking, took their first puff at an early age, often their childhood or adolescence and have never lived smoke-free in their adult life. The youthful habits continue to hold strong even after the smoker becomes an adult. The Capital Hypnosis Quit Smoking Hypnotherapy Programme: We start with some deep relaxation, then we focus on what those habits mean to you. We flip those habits so the part of you that reaches for a cigarette now agrees with your adult mind about how bad an idea smoking is. This takes place over a week long period and in that time, we allow your mind to process the change and then we reinforce it. We don't give you a chance to quit for a month or two before going back to the bad old habits. You not being a smoker is too strongly a part of you for you to fall back into bad old habits. This programme was created to give you a chance to beat the ctupid cravings that you already know are probably going to kill you. The programme is designed to beat the lies you tell yourself about how you actually enjoy the taste of smoke and ash in your mouth. When you complete the programme you should feel perfectly ordinary, no withdrawal period. Effectively you are just another non-smoker. With the assistance of hypnosis it is so easy to give up smoking with the therapy being tailored to you, because smoking is a Yes or No decision. The Quit Smoking programme works and has massive, proven success record. As many people who have been through this programme come out the other end and when checked six months later, remain proud non-smokers. And that 'IF' you really feel the urge to smoke within that six months, you can come back and we will do a free top up session. That's how much we back ourselves! The cost: probably just what you already spend in a few weeks on cigarettes! The first session, about two hours, investigates all the issues around your smoking habit, and sets you on the right path. Where we discuss together why you want to change. We then cement this with hypnosis. It's a process which helps you to be more focussed, that allows you to create the change you are looking for. Quit Smoking Now Your second and last hypnotherapy session buids on that. You're done YOU'LL NEVER HAVE ANOTHER CIGARETTE, EVER. We charge $300 for the two hypnosis sessions, payable on the first session. Did you know? If you’re now smoking a pack a day, the cost of this programme is less than two weeks of cigarettes. It’s a gift that keeps on giving (your bank account and your doctor will be over the moon). When we finish that first session, I'll also give you some support information. I'll also include an MP3 file which you can download and listen to. To give you a daily boost. You can listen to this anytime, anywhere, and for as long as you feel the need. After our time is finished and we are done with the smoking sessions, if you ever, in the first six months, for any reason, feel yourself thinking about smoking again, you can give us a call. We will do our best to fit you in as quickly as possible. We are as determined as you to make your quitting last permanently. Here’s to your new life, one that has no longer got cigarettes as part of it. My name is Daniel and I run a small, online hypnotherapy clinic where I help people to quit smoking from the comfort of their own home. While I live in Wellington, New Zealand, through the wonders of the internet, I can see clients anywhere in the New Zealand and have even seen clients overseas. Get in touch with me today and together we can get you past what in reality has been a hugely dangerous waste of time and money for you. Together we can get you to a place free of cigarettes, a place where you can be proud of yourself and free to be the person you want to be. Quit Smoking with Capital Hypnosis New Zealand Hypnotherapy Quit Smoking There is no easier way than this *********** When I saw Daniel it was simple and easy, it took two sessions but I now have zero interest in cigarettes. It was pretty easy and relaxed. I would recommend Daniel’s help to anyone who want’s to kick the habit. – James ***** I am doing really well since you saw me. So now I will be booking my daughter in too as she is so impressed. Thank you so much. Claire ***** Quit Smoking Forever You might win the lottery... Growwing up with a French mother, I often heard the story of Jeanne Calment, arguably the world’s oldest person. She died aged 122, having been a smoker for almost all her life. When she was 70, she ‘sold’ her house to a lawyer, the understanding being that she could live in there until she died, free of charge, but that the lawyer would posess the house when she died. It was a gamble, but it paid off with a surprise twist. The lawyer, pretty sure that Madame Calment would die fairly shortly, particularly as she was a smoker, felt he was in for a bargain. But Madame Calment refused to cooperate. In fact, she lived for another 52 years, long past the lawyer and his successors. So yes, she won lotto! We all know or have heard of someone, some statistical anomaly who dodged the cancer bullet, who drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney and lived into their 80's or 90's. However, if you smoke, if you know of a smoker, here are some facts. Every cigarette smoked, approximately three thousand different chemicals are inhaled. Nine hundred of those are poisonous. Some will just stain teeth and fingers, damage your skin and hair or just make you smell offensive to other people. Some though, they can give the smoker a whole variety of cancers. I don't need to talk too much about that, you can see it on every pack of cigarettes you pick up, even pictured of the cancers they can treat ao they don't end up in the death statistics. Sure the victims don't die but how fun is talking with machine assistance or eating once your jaw has had to be removed? I could go on but I think it's far more intesting to ask why do people continue to do something so dangerous, that has so little benefit for them? I think that it's fear. The irrational fear that they have become so addicted to cigarettes that if they give up, they will become bad-tempered, or fat, or sleepy, or any number of other 'sypmptoms' of withdrawal. What if I told you that, none of those symptoms are necessary? So various nicotine patches and gums have now been around for nearly thirty years. Long term, study after study shows they work less than 5% of the time. That's a pretty terrible result considering that 6% of people quit smoking without any intervention! Why is that? It's simply because smoking is a head habit, it's almost entirely mental and chewing bad gum or sticking patches on your arm does nothing to address that. But can we give up the smoking habit without going through withdrawal? Without packing on the weight? According to the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2001 (amongst many other scientific articles), they found a massive 90.6% long term success rate for quitting smoking using hypnosis. The problem is that using nicotine replacements, smoking e-cigarettes or even just using sheer willpower alone, None of those address the core reasons why you smoke! On the other hand, using hypnotherapy, you walk in a smoke and, an hour or two later walk out never wanting another cigarette: smoking is just a question of habit, not of addiction and habits can be broken. But of course, the smoker has to be ready to give up, they have to want it! Hypnotherapy isn't magic. I'm not Harry Potter, able to wave a magic wand to make it go away. Instead I'm like a facilitator who makes it easy and painless, giving you the tools and knowledge to walk away from your terrible relationship with cigarettes. You walk away a non-smoker. So when you are next out with friends and one of them offers you a cigarette imagine your pride and sense of achievement when you say with a smile “No thanks, I don't smoke”! Firstly I would like to add a disclaimer before I get into the main course if you like. I've recently had a few people say that they did a session with a hypnotist to lose weight, or they changed their eating habits for a few days but then went back to the same old, same old realising too late that they had thrown their money away. Every time, my sympathy goes out to them, and I can't help but feel that those poor people were taken advantage of.
In this modern age we have so many different things pulling us this way and that. We have limited money and limited time but we've been sold on the idea that there exists the 'instant fix'. Some part of us realises that the instant fix is usually a lie but we pursue it anyway. The fact of the matter is that changing your body shape takes time and effort. Anyone who tries to tell you that a one hour session will fix that, is selling you a lovely dream. One that isn't based in reality and it doesn't matter how much money you throw at it, is extremely unlikely to get the results you are hoping for. With that out of the way, I use a hypnotic process known as VGB or Virtual Gastric Banding. There have been others who have claimed to use this system but instead invented their own, usually less effective system but I do the original Sheila Granger method because it works and it's the reason why there is so much hype regarding VGB. I do this because it works. I've probably helped over a hundred people lose weight and it's only failed once. I know exactly why that was and, with the benefit of hindsight and, knowing what I know now I'd turn her away as she had no interest in changing. "How does that work" I hear you ask? "I've done all the celebrity diets, I've drunk the liver cleansing smoothies. Why can't I keep the weight off?" Or some come to me and say "No matter what I do, I just can't seem to stop eating, I open a bag of chippies and just can't stop until I've finished them, I walk past the takeaway on a Friday evening after work and I've just got to get a scoop with two fish and a hot-dog even when I know it's not good for me." Sometimes it's "when I get home I like a wine or beer but then I'll have two, or three, or more as I relax!" To me it all has the same solution. I'm not interested in making you do something you hate because you'll soon stop doing it. I have no interest in making you feel bad about yourself because you are already there and it's not helping. The solution, strangely enough is to start feeling great about food again. To start building a positive relationship between food and yourself where you enjoy each meal without feeling bad about yourself straight afterwards. "But that doesn't make any sense" you say. You think to yourself that you've put the weight on because you are weak-willed. In the back of your mind there are all these excuses, stress, injury, a bad break-up, a job that has free snacks, a job spent in front of a computer all day. Maybe your excuse is that your family has always been big-boned. Whatever the thoughts that run through your head, deep down you are sure that it's all your fault at some level. And, you feel really, really miserable about that. Sometimes maybe you try to make the effort to get some exercise but you are always too busy, too ashamed of yourself or it's all just too hard to do. These are all common thoughts, they are also just straight up wrong. Those thoughts are the reason you put on weight. Those thoughts are the things that stop you from making the progress that a part of you wants so dearly. Yes a part of you is what's holding you back but it's not the part you think. Willpower isn't the problem, it's that you are conflicted. There are two sides of you having a desperate battle inside your mind. They are both fighting tooth and nail for what's best for you, and the problem is, when you fight yourself you always... always lose. Hypnotism is a funny old thing, it's not what people think it is based on movies or TV shows or stage hypnotists. I mean the guy who gets someone to cluck like a chicken on stage, that's all real but it isn't what you think it is. Hypnotists tend to think of people as being a jumble of different parts. If we can distract or quieten the part of you that that reasons things out then we can talk directly to the parts that we want to affect. That's exactly what we do with weight-loss. To hypnotise someone to lose weight using VGB, to help them not only to lose kilos but to keep them off forever I have to get them on-board. Once they are in a relaxed space, no longer thinking about anything in particular I then talk to the part of them that keeps wanting to eat. Crazy I know, but it works, and it works because that's how we think! We'd like to believe that we are rational beings in control of everything we do but, if that was true why would we keep eating when we know that it's a bad idea? Virtual Gastric Banding is a way to beat that, to drop kilos in a safe reliable way and, more importantly, keep them off. There's nothing revolutionary in the advice I give you. I won't tell you to start eating lean meat and spinach. I won't endorse some cranberry and mushroom diet. I'm not a nutritionist and I don't need to be. Here's a little secret that people in the industry don't want you to know. It's not what you are eating that's making you gain weight, it's portion size! Sure, the amount of corn syrup that ends up in almost everything these days is bad but it's mainly bad because it concentrates more food into a smaller package but we are still eating more (plus it's not great for our teeth). So that's the secret behind VGB, we make it easy for you to eat less, smaller meals, gaps between meals and, strangely enough, starting to enjoy what you eat a whole lot more. When you say you love food and that's the problem, it's not! When you joke that you are on a sea-food diet... when you see food and eat it, that's actually true. You have developed the bad habit of associating eating with pleasure or comfort. Bad habits? That's what hypnosis is great at beating. When I take a client on and start them on the journey to being the shape and size they want to be I make no bones about it. I'm not a magician, there is no magic bullet and I can't lose the weight for them. What I can do is make it easy for them to meet their goals. I give them the tools they need to succeed. I help them develop that full feeling quicker, I make them aware of what they are eating, reclaiming the joy of food for themselves and, perhaps most importantly I help them develop the perspective that allows them to deal with the inevitable potholes and detours that they meet on this journey. Remember, this is a long term lifestyle change, not a quick fix! There is no reason to go back once you have hit your weight loss goal. Once you are the size and shape you want to be you can stay there. What's more, when something comes up like a baby in your life, taking a sedentary job or having an injury. It makes no difference, you have the automatic tools to cope. You don't have to deprive yourself or diet because you are no longer warring with those bad habits. One last thing that I want to add is that something I often note is that my clients stop caring about their weight, they are shedding kilos but they get caught up in enjoying life again. One of the first things that comes back is a sense of energy. They find that the changes mean they are sleeping better, maybe taking part in exercise or socialising more. I had one lovely lady recently who couldn't get over her new confidence. She was suddenly taking charge of work meetings and giving impromptu speeches, and people were amazed by the change. This self described 'quiet' person expressing all the things that she'd held back on before. HYPNOTHERAPY IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
For my first blog I thought I'd talk about just what it is I do, and how it all works. Hypnosis, also known as hypnotherapy, is a method of inducing a trance or a dream-like state of deep relaxation in order to treat disorders of a mainly psychological or emotional origin. It has been practiced in various forms for thousands of years by many cultures including Druid, Celtic and Egyptian. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, hypnosis (or ‘mesmerism’) was seen more as a sideshow curiosity than a valid medical treatment. Today, hypnosis is recognized by the scientific community as an effective healing tool, although how it works is still something of a mystery. It is not a treatment in its own right, but is used as a part of medical, psychological and dental treatments. Disorders helped by hypnosis Hypnosis can help you change attitudes, perceptions and behaviours. It can be effective in treating a range of medical and psychological issues, including:
The hypnotic state The brain has different levels of consciousness, or awareness, ranging from fully alert to drowsy to fully asleep, with variations in between. Hypnotic states occur naturally and spontaneously. Everyday examples include:
Clinical hypnosis deliberately induces this kind of relaxed state of awareness. Once the mind is in a relaxed state, any therapeutic suggestions can have great effect on attitudes, perceptions and behaviours. The way that this occurs isn’t fully understood. Some researchers believe that hypnosis promotes particular brain wave activity that allows the mind to take in and adopt new ideas, while others suggest that hypnosis accesses the ‘unconscious mind’, which is more open to new ideas than the rational ‘conscious mind’. Hypnosis - you are in control Suggestions may be taken to heart, but only if those suggestions are acceptable to the hypnotised person. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t be hypnotised into doing things against your will. You can’t be forced into a hypnotic state either. Instead, you allow yourself to be hypnotised. It is a voluntary altering of your own consciousness, and you are always in control. In other words, you are hypnotising yourself. Risks of hypnosis Hypnosis is considered to be a safe treatment when performed by a qualified and experienced practitioner. In rare cases, however, a patient may have unwanted side effects such as:
Results of hypnosis While it appears that almost anyone can be hypnotised, hypnosis does not always bring about good results. It is unclear why hypnosis does not work for everyone. Some researchers believe that a person is born with character traits that allow hypnosis to work, while other researchers believe that the ability to be hypnotised is a learned skill. Suggestibility doesn’t mean you have a weak character, as popularly believed. A strong-minded person may be a good candidate for hypnosis because they will strive to get results from treatment. People who get the best results from hypnosis appear to have a few things in common, including:
If you would like to know more, or have a specific problem you would like to discuss please get in touch with me or use the 'book now' at the top of the page to arrange an appointment. Daniel Steadman |
Daniel
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