Sometimes we eat for emotional reasons. To comfort ourselves. To avoid difficult situations.

If we are worried about our weight, this behaviour just makes us miserable. But we still do it.

This blog on the whole gives tips on practical ways to reduce our eating in a sustainable way.

But if we talk to ourselves in unhelpful ways, calling ourselves ugly, fat, useless, then we are not feeling emotionally strong enough to focus on our weight.

With hypnosis, you can get yourself emotionally stronger, ready to take on the project of managing our weight. In a businesslike, healthy and calm way, without any nasty name-calling.

For some of us, we eat because the food is there. So, in the evening, after you've eaten your meal, you raid the cupboards. This might be triggered by a telly advert. (Look at the things that are advertised. Sometimes it is a healthy margarine or yoghurt, but usually it is fun food. The latest Pringle ads are all about the fun you can have by eating them. These are food-like materials, food toys perhaps.)

So a good way to deal with this is to have nothing tempting in the cupboards. Simple and effective. Hypnosis can help to make that decision and stick to it.

Some of us eat when we feel a bit low. This is "emotional" or "comfort" eating. We eat when we are going through the low mood, when we can foresee a low mood coming, or when we relive a low mood. Identify what you eat when you feel miserable, and don't buy it. Hypnosis can help you avoid the aisles in the supermarket which are full of the chocolate muffins or whatever is your particular foible.

Some of us don't know when we are full and keep eating and keep eating. Since we eat with our eyes, you can use a smaller plate and eat very slowly. Research has shown that a full smaller plate is just as satisfying as a full large plate. It is the fullness that matters. And eating slowly has been proved to help avoid obesity.

Some of eat because we are hungry, but in these times of accessible and cheap food, this is not most of us most of the time.

In part, of all these strategies are about changing habits in a way that fits in with your particular issues. Hypnosis can help you here. Fast, effective and safe.

For some of us, eating helps us feel better. Eating is certainly comforting. But if you find that you are eating for emotional reasons, the risk is that the more weight you put on, the more unhappy and out of control you feel. So you eat more.

Hypnotherapy can help you with the underlying concerns, putting you back in control of your feelings and your eating. Give it a try.