Research by Kings College London shows that children with low self-esteem are overweight as adults, and this link is stronger with women.

Professor David Collier, one of the researchers, said that this is not about people with deep psychological problems, as all the anxiety and low self-esteem were within the normal range. So helping children to feel better about themselves and less anxious will help reduce the risk of being overweight as adults. For women, self-esteem is strongly linked to how we feel about our attractiveness. We can feel and be attractive even with ordinary bodies, we don't need to be perfect. But if you feel bad about yourself, your confidence low, then you can see that dieting isn`t going to deal with any excess weight. Until you feel good about yourself, any unhelpful eating behaviours, like comfort eating, will continue to defeatThis is an important message for young people, especially girls. As I have blogged before:

• don't talk about dieting in front of the children
• don't express anxiety about your body

And on the practical front, don't have fun foods like chocolate, biscuits, cakes, crisps, fizzy pop in the house all the time and available as everyday consumables. Treat treats as treats.

Well, it is great for a few weeks so you can squeeze back into an outfit for a special event, like a wedding or the summer holiday.

But there are a few problems with dieting if your goal is long term weight reduction. One is that once you reach the desired weight, you stop the diet. It is a bit like stopping the medicine once the symptoms go when you have a chronic illness. As soon as you stop taking the medicine, the symptoms come back. Restraining your eating, as when you are dieting, is a risk factor for bingeing as well as more serious eating disorders. You will know that when you are dieting you are fixated on food, your weight and your body image. Restraining your eating (being good, missing lunch to save the calories, depriving yourself of foods you enjoy) tends to result in major lapses – the What the Hell effect. One breach of your diet and you feel that you have blown it, a failure. This social stress results in us eating significantly more food than when we are feeling okay. You might as well eat the rest of the packet of biscuits and indeed, most of us in these circumstances stuff in the equivalent of a big meal. And this overeating becomes another stress, because it makes you feel that you are completely unable to control your eating, making you feel bad about yourself, lowering your self esteem

Research has shown that dieters tend to describe themselves in negative terms, and have low self-esteem, heightened social anxiety, and body dissatisfaction.

So, if you want to lose weight, is there an alternative to dieting? Yes, there is. Come and see me and find out. (Or read some more of this blog for some free tips!)

I have been recommending yoga to my clients for some time now. There is lots of research which shows that it helps reduce anxiety. I am keen on it because of the breathing techniques. Shallow rapid breathing is implicated in anxiety and panic attacks and yoga can teach you deep diaphragmatic breathing, the sort actors and singers use. But as well as that, new research shows that stretching exercises, such as with yoga, increases the level of antioxidants in our blood, protecting us from cell damage. Antioxidants are also found in those superfoods - essentially any bright coloured fruit or veg. So for all these good reasons, read what Caroline Smart, a yoga teacher in Glasgow, has to say about yoga.

I was very lucky to discover yoga when I was 17. A TV series in the 70s called Yoga for Health hooked me and now, over 30 years on, I am a trained Yoga Scotland teacher. The great thing about yoga is that it is a journey to good health and it offers many different types of path to get there. May be you just want a gentle incline. Or perhaps you are after the challenge of a steep climb. You need to decide which path suits you best. Ultimately the goal is well being (both of body and probably more importantly, of mind). Sometimes people are put off by the strange sounding names: Iyengar, Bikram, Ashtanga, Dru. These are just the different teaching methods and may refer to the name of the teacher who inspired it (Iyengar) or the style (Ashtanga). See the glossary below for further information. All these types of yoga are essentially hatha yoga which means your route to total wellbeing is through a physical approach. You may have already come across some of the poses: cobra, tree, mountain, etc. Many are named after the natural world and the shape the pose makes.

Practising the poses gets your body a bit more supple and under your control. This doesn’t mean getting your feet hooked behind the back of your head stuff. A back bend might be simply lying on your tummy and lifting your head and shoulders off the ground. An upside down pose could be lying on the ground with your legs leaning up against the wall (believe me, this is very refreshing!).

And yoga can help you quieten your mind. Anyone out there with grasshopper concentration? No, it’s not a yoga technique! It is probably where most of us are today with the hundreds of distractions that fill our minds with a ticker tape of worrying thoughts. The quickest way to still an overworked mind is simply by turning your attention to your breath. Just focus on the breath being drawn in and out through your nostrils. Feel it on the inside of the nostrils as it enters the body, and then, when you are ready to breath out, feel it as it leaves the body. See? Everything else has been blocked out. Yoga teaches you how to fill your lungs with nourishing oxygen-rich air and then how to empty them completely.

Many of the problems associated with hyperventilation and panic attacks come from bad habits in breathing. Maybe over the years and leading a stressful life you have forgotten how to breathe properly and any breathing takes place in the top of your lungs. Yoga teaches how to relearn good habits. Visualise a jug filling a glass full of water. As you pour the water in, first the bottom of the glass fills, then the middle, then the top. To empty the glass, first the water comes out of the top, then the middle and then the bottom. So it is with belly breathing. As you fill the bottom of the lungs with air, it forces the diaphragm down leaving no room for the belly except to push outwards. As you empty the lungs and the diaphragm is drawn back into place, so your belly is drawn back into its usual position.

Your experience can often depend on the teacher. It may take a few tries to find both the style of yoga and teacher that are right for you. It is wise to find out whether the class is right for you - beginner or advanced.

For classes with me here in Glasgow, email ninianetta@yahoo.co.uk. For hatha yoga classes in Scotland visit www.yogascotland.org.uk.

Hatha: Classes with this name are probably more suited to beginners who want a gentle introduction to the poses and basic breathing techniques.
Dru: A graceful form of yoga based on flowing movement using the breath. Good for beginners.
Vinyasa: Relatively fast paced combining breath and movement. Salute to the Sun often introduces the class.
Bikram: A sequence of 26 poses carried out in sauna-like condition so that toxins are sweated out of the body. Better for advanced students who know the poses.
Iyengar: Usually quite physically challenging, using props such as belt and blocks. Often suited to men because of the physical strength aspect.
Ashtanga: Power yoga. Even more physical than Iyengar. Suits people with lots of energy to burn and who want a body like Madonna’s.

If you get deeply involved in yoga you may be interested in its traditional beliefs. For example, that yoga breathing directs energy (prana) around the body to ensure that the main energy channel travelling up the spine is free of blockages. To move energy upwards, there are 7 wheels (chakras) located from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. These wheels are also associated with emotional states: any blockages (or, indeed, too open a chakra) can cause problems. A blockage in the throat chakra (associated with communication) might mean that you find it difficult to express what you feel. Too open a heart centre (associated with compassion) might mean that you are taking on everyone else’s problems and becoming overwhelmed by them.

While these beliefs might not fit in with your view of the world, research does show that yoga practice reduces anxiety by reducing the levels of cortisol in the blood. Well worth a try.

Teaching healthy eating habits and helping to foster a positive body image can spare your daughter from weight anxiety and low self-esteem. Not just healthy food, but a set of attitudes that can protect her from becoming overweight or suffering an eating disorder. Here are 6 that I feel will make a real difference.

1. Don't discuss dieting at home.  Discussion within the home about diets reinforces the messages from the media about the importance of being thin. Even normal weight women these days feel they need to lose weight.  There is a strong link with women between self-esteem and their appearance. If girls learn to worry about their appearance at an early age, it can damage how they feel about themselves, which can lead to disordered eating. Remove the scales from the bathroom. Repeated weighing does not make you thin. But it can make you anxious. Our weight varies throughout the day, the week, the month.

3. Don’t disparage your body—or anyone else’s. Don’t tell fat jokes. Avoid worrying about your weight in front of your children - does my bum look big in this? can make girls anxious about their weight. Though comments like “you’re just a little above the average weight”, won’t cause an eating disorder, it could trigger its onset.

4. Demonstrate healthy portions. Keep the focus on being healthy, At family dinners, serve and consume moderate portions. It can help to use a smaller sized plate. This embeds an understanding of a healthy portion size. Portions have grown bigger over the last 20 years or so, and the average weight has gone up by around 10 pounds in the same time. Children who worry about being fat may be imitating their mothers.

5. Listen our for, and address, unusual body-related comments. When your daughters complain about being fat or ugly instead of saying “Don’t be silly,” ask, “You’re talking about this a lot. What are the things that you’re worried about?” Your daughter knows you think she is lovely, because you are her mum, but it might help to reassure her further. “I want you to know that beautiful people come in all shapes and sizes. Let's make a list of all the things about you that are nice.” Avoid commenting on your child’s appearance. Instead, talk to her about all her strengths and attractive personal characteristics. This will support her self-esteem.

5. Foster a healthy, realistic body image. Help your daughter understand that many of the photos she sees in magazines are airbrushed. Britney Spears released unretouched photos of her, which reveal larger thighs and (gasp!) cellulite. She too is concerned about the pressure this puts on girls and young women. Magazines are being asked to change their practice because of the damage to health airbrushing causes. Talk to your daughter about all the imperfections (moles, bruises and the like) that are removed rather than just discussing thinness. Unrealistic beliefs, expectations or desires make us unhappy. Help her develop a sense of what is normal. In the supermarket point out how people are not choosing their friends or partners on their size so that she doesn't learn to associate imperfection with failure.

6. Don’t outlaw certain foods. The minute you start banning things, they become more desirable. Encourage moderation instead of deprivation. Enjoy birthday party cake and ice cream without guilt. Treat treats as treats, enjoy them but don't have them every day. Don't buy them at every supermarket outing. Don't have them always in the house. Children get fat if we give them cola and crisps every night in front of the telly and they won't enjoy them as much at a party if they are everyday food. Overindulgence at a special occasion today doesn't need to be followed by deprivation tomorrow. Just getting back to a normal diet will sort things out. Relearn what is normal.

One of my clients 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!

176 women were followed over four years to see how their weight changed. There were 3 types of women identified.

1. Those making no effort to control their weights
2. Those using healthy weight loss strategies
3. Those using unhealthy strategies

The results showed that women who used a mix of healthy and unhealthy strategies  gained significantly more weight (about 9 pounds) than the other groups. Those who were following a healthy weight loss strategy gained about 2 pounds over the 4 years. Those who didnt try to control their weight put on about 3 pounds in the 4 years. This was after taking account in the statistical analysis of the results of things like education, income and initial BMI.

Interestingly, the group who used a mix of unhealthy and healthy strategies demonstrated the most anxiety about their weight and had poorer eating attitudes (things like defining certain foods as bad). So they worried about their weight a lot, tried all kinds of things to help them lose weight, tried to restrain their eating and despite this gained really quite a lot of weight in those 4 years. It is this involvement of anxiety that makes hypnotherapy such a useful help when trying to control your weight.

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, diet pills, meal replacement drinks, appetite suppressant drugs, laxatives, enemas, diuretics, and fasting. The women who used these strategies gained quite a lot of weight. The report also suggests that women who worry about their weight are more likely to try these unhealthy strategies. So it could be that encouraging weight worries may only make women take action which makes weight problems worse in the long run.

It is possible that women who follow healthy weight control strategies are more successful 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. In fact, one of the key precursors to bingeing is restrained eating. So what determines how succesful you will be are the strategies you use to try to control your weight.

Although the women who used healthy strategies did not on the whole lose weight, they were successful in keeping the weight gain down to a reasonable level.

But this study does confirm what has been reported many, many times. Dieting makes you fat.

Anxiety, depression and negative body image can have an impact on your eating habits and nutrition. In addition, poor or inadequate nutrition can add to depression and anxiety by increasing fatigue, lowering energy levels, reducing your ability to enjoy life and affecting your mood. Fluctuations in anxiety may, in some cases, be worsened by poor nutritional habits.

So what does this say about diets.

Dieting involves restrictions in calories or foods or simply the purposeful acceptance of hunger as essential.

By saving calories until the end of the day and cultivating blindly restrictive food limits, we cultivate hunger which will leads us to battle hunger. This battle with hunger if fought frequently will eventually just gets too irritating and bitter to fight. Too unpleasant. Too draining.

The risk is not just binge eating and to hell with self-control, but hurtful self-talk, leading potentially to depression and more serious eating disorders.

Cutting down on your eating and watching what you eat is a really good idea for health. But following highly restrictive diets, which don't result in long-term weight loss, is not worth the risk. Use hypnosis to get control of your eating behaviours in a sustainable way so you can lose weight without anxiety or distress.