_Most of what we do is automatic. If you think about it,  we could not actively consider every single action. We would be exhausted and get very little achieved in the day. Our brain is very clever at putting us on automatic pilot. Eating is no different. Our brain reminds of occasions when eating has occurred in the past and our bodies respond with hunger signals. And if our brain gets just a hint of a food cue, those hunger signals start too.

As a result, if we have been in the habit of snacking at 3pm, then our brain will be on the lookout for the time and our tums will rumble. If you have been used to eating a snack while Eastenders is on, the theme tune will get the juices going and the cupboard doors opening. Knowing this, means we can take action to avoid it.

Hypnosis works by helping you become aware of these occasions and stick to decisions you have made about ho

Most of our every day lives are determined not by conscious intention or deliberate choice, but by our unconscious and automatic responses to features in our environment. Of course, we make some active choices or decisions every day. We know about those, because the conscious us was actively involved. We might be a bit sceptical about the idea that most of what we do is automatic and preconscious, not passing through the thinking part of our brains before action takes place.

Research by John Bargh and colleagues has great significance to those of us wanting to manage our weight. We respond to cues around us without thinking. So if we are watching the telly and a food ad comes on, we go and get a snack, without consciously making the connection. If we regularly snack in front of the telly, just the sight of the telly on makes us get a snack. Those trying to sell us stuff know about these cues and triggers too. At my local service station above the rows of sweets and crisps by the till it says HUNGER HUNGER HUNGER. What do you think the automatic response might be?

We can help ourselves by starting to note any automatic eating. Am I eating (sometimes we are completely unaware of it) and why might I be eating? Am I hungry? Am I eating because the person sitting next to me is munching something? Or because it is 3pm and I always nip out for snack at this time?  Most automatic eating is hand food, and the action is hand, mouth, hand, mouth. Spot these and you are on the way to managing your eating.

Hypnosis helps you to break this automatic behaviour.