We get a lot of information from the media. Some of what we get from the media is what a woman ought to be like. The Western ideal of woman is now starting to affect women in developing countries, and they are now suffering from disordered eating, like bulimia or anorexia.

It is hard to see how the impact of the media is achieved, but this site has a go. It shows how images of men are active and doing stuff, or being funny. The images of woman, curiously, find them lying on the ground, or crouching, or crawling - making them  subservient and attractive to men,

Western culture exerts pressure on women to conform to the current fashionable body shape, even though women have always come in all shapes and sizes. This pressure leads to unhappiness.

Research carried out by Northumbria University showed how Western culture is starting to put pressure on South African women to conform to Western ideals of beauty and the preferred body shape. These pressures were identified as coming from the pressure to please men. In the past, South African women had to be fat in order for their husbands and fathers to demonstrate their prosperity. Now, they can choose their size. So in one way, the report suggests, this is a sign of empowerment. On the other hand, the women also say that they want to be thin for their menfolk, who are also developing preferences for the Western ideal. The women said they wanted to be like the women in the adverts.

Striving after unachievable ideals of body shape only make us unhappy. When we are unhappy, we eat to comfort ourselves and lo, we put on weight. Try hypnotherapy and break free.
Add Comment
 
 
We can all find a little space for something particularly delicious and tempting. Our stomachs (normally the size of our fist) are very stretchy.

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.

Some of us eat to calm or comfort ourselves. We feel bad about ourselves and food helps us feel relaxed. But then after that, we feel guilty, dissappointed and angry, so the comfort just doesn't last long enough. Learning to feel good about yourself, to overcome anxiety, is the first place to start. And hypnosis is a good place to start.

And then there is habit. Like putting two slices of toast in the toaster (because there are two slots) and eating both when one would do. Or cake with coffee. Or crisps with wine or beer. 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? Habits are learned and so can be unlearned.

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 don't want to resist a mango, but I trained myself to resist chocolate, and now it doesn't interest me. (I continue to be amazed.)

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


Add Comment
 
 
It's Easter, so chocolate eggs on the horizon. Some foods just hit the spot and chocolate - that conspiracy of fat and sugar - is certainly one of them. But if we want to control our weight, we might label these foods as Bad and Banned, and therefore when we eat them we are overwhelmed with guilt, shame, anger and all sorts of unpleasant emotions because we think we have lost control.

Just thinking these foods are bad and banned makes them (of course) more desirable. And all those bad feelings you have after eating them just prove to you that they should be banned. And the more you ban them the more you want them.

And if you use food as a treat or to comfort yourself, you are likely to stock them up in the house, in case of emergency. And in the house is in the mouth, so you are back on the treadmill.

It doesn't have to be like this. You can enjoy eating chocolate without bingeing.

Hypnosis can help you develop other sources of pleasure and comfort so that the anxiety surrounding eating is reduced. And you will find that you can eat anything you want without eating everything.
Add Comment