January/February 2007 Alternative Health
The Missing Link to Successful Weight Loss

by Annie McKenzie

Obesity is out of control in the United States. Americans are the most overweight people in the world despite all the hot new diets and slimming products available.

According to the American Obesity Society, weight-related illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney problems kill an estimated 300,000 Americans each year and the count is rising. Even radical gastric bypass surgery has not kept some people from gaining back lost weight.

But why are Americans getting fatter, and what can be done about it?

The first thing we can do is to understand our body's physical response to stress. Studies done at Columbia University have shown our adrenal glands produce a hormone called cortisol when we are under stress and that excess cortisol contributes to weight gain.

The production of cortisol was a good thing for our ancient ancestors. During stressful circumstances their bodies needed this hormone to inspire the consumption of carbohydrates and fats, used as fuel, to escape predators and manage survival needs.

How, with all the stress in the modern world, our limited time schedules, and so much fast food available, can we possibly achieve healthy weight loss?

We can get in touch with an intelligent resource that resides in every one of us to help in our battle against the bulge. This intelligent resource is our unconscious mind and we can use it effectively stop the so-called "yo-yo" dieting that can actually be more harmful to us than being overweight.

Most of us have an internal mental picture of our bodies. We see ourselves as fat, skinny, sick or healthy. We also have a mental picture of our abilities, strengths or weaknesses. We can imprint our unconscious mind with negative pictures simply by being told something negative many times.

Repetition is a very effective means of imprinting information on our unconscious mind and we can use this to change how we think about eating and exercise. Your unconscious mind is an intelligent resource that can help you lose weight yet it is a resource not often thought about for this benefit.

Using hypnosis, we can make positive changes to our unconscious belief system and curb anxiety and stress. When stress is reduced, cortisol is also reduced.

Hypnosis can build the habits necessary to gain control of overeating. It is also a means of removing obstacles and changing habits and ideas contrary to the weight loss process.

The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis explains hypnosis as "a state of inner absorption, concentration and focused attention. It is like using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun and make them more powerful. Similarly, when our minds are concentrated and focused, we are able to use them more powerfully."

In numerous studies, researchers have compared the physical changes of hypnotic subjects with those of non-hypnotized people. Findings demonstrate that hypnotized subjects generally have slower heart and respiration rates.

Brain activity appears different for those in a hypnotic state. Electroencephalograph measurements of the brain have demonstrated that hypnotized brains produce different brain waves and rhythms of electrical voltage than do non-hypnotized brains.

Theta brain waves accompany the brain's most creative activities. When a person is in a deep, relaxed state, they are able to access their most creative thinking selves. This is the time when we can get in touch with that intelligent resource inside and often solve problems within seconds.

Most of us, however, have not trained our brains to enter this state easily. We spend most of our time in the state of stress. Training the brain to enter a trance state is really very simple because it is such a natural state for the human brain to be in.

For weight loss to be effective using the unconscious mind, a person will need to change what the unconscious mind now accepts as truth. The way to make those changes is with constant repetition or suggestion regarding healthy weight loss.

A hypnotherapy technique called dual induction over stimulates the conscious mind and allows a person to quickly go into trance to access the intelligent, but literal unconscious mind and change the negative self-talk about eating and exercise that can prevent weight loss.

That intelligent resource inside may have just the answer you have been missing to make your weight-loss efforts successful.

Annie McKenzie is the owner of Willow Weight Loss Center and co-author of The Missing Link to Successful Weight Loss book and CD, which use the dual induction method. Visit www.peacefulpilgrim.com or call 503-520-1980.