In my last blog I talked about how ’changing your brand’ can help you permanently change your habits around eating. The formula is simple, however not all habits are as easy to change, especially if that particular habit is more of an addictive response, such as sugar….the habit is far more complex and is tied up with all sorts of different behaviours…changing your brand to a life without sugar can feel like you’re just plain denying yourself your simple little pleasure, or your favourite treat, or your little ‘friend’….no amount of brand change will help with that! The trouble with denial?
Substitutions
There are some great recipe books out there for low sugar alternatives, but you do have to be careful not to give yourself the message that you are somehow eating a substitute to the ‘real thing’, as, again, we’re back to that feeling of being on a diet. 
Going cold turkey works for a while, but as soon as sugar is (often accidentally) introduced into your body, you will be back to the old addictive urges again. We need to be armed against the amount of hidden sugar in unbelievably unlikely food sources, and find a way to stop ourselves feeling like we’re missing out….I really do think this is one area where hypnosis helps massively…to just ‘turn off’ that little voice that tells us we’re missing out, and give us the chance to turn towards more meaningful nutrition instead. It’s not a mystical magic wand, we now know so much about how the brain operates, and how hypnosis fits in as a ‘tool’ for helping to change long term habitual and addictive thinking.
If you want to try it for yourself, and get a feel for what hypnosis feels like when using it for weight loss, then click on the link below to get a free weight loss hypnosis download and enjoy 15 minutes or so of peace and quiet, and a little relaxation thrown in too! Enjoy, and please do let me know what you think 🙂
TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF, AND YOU’RE FAR MORE LIKELY TO SUCCEED! …….
Weight loss is a true journey, in that it requires us to learn big lessons about ourselves, what our own personal triggers are for bad food habits, and what works…so, more than anything, be patient with yourself through the process, and you will learn a lot about yourself….
For instance, if stress is a trigger for you, and you realise that stressful days at work make you reach for the biscuit tin the minute you get home, your brain will happily support you in that habit with all kinds of convenient little ‘justifications’ such as…
“It’s my only pleasure!”
“I deserve a treat!”
“I’m happy when I eat sugar”
…..and so on and on and on, there are so many!! Really, it’s just an addictive urge, locked into place in your life with the force of habit, which is a true force of nature it’s so powerful! Once you see this pattern happening, you can understand that a stressful day will do this to you, and your brain will let it, no amount of so-called ‘will-power’ will change that at that particular moment. So then you get to plan in advance….
You can start to look for alternatives that make you feel TRULY nurtured…whatever floats your boat, here, start thinking about what you could really do instead….buy yourself the poshest bubble bath, or whatever you see as a REAL treat for yourself, and begin to change your brand…have it ready, at home, for the next time you need it…and have it easily to hand so you reach for it first when you come in the door….practise looking forward to it, and remembering how much you enjoy it…it might seem a bit strange at first…new habits take a little time to feel ‘natural’, but 3 weeks in, and you’re on your way to a new healthier stress solution that not only STOPS you reaching for the sugar, but actually makes you feel so much better…and just think how smug you’ll feel with yourself too!
If you know what you’re particular thinking is that supports your addictive ‘reaching mechanism’, you could practise answers for when it comes. For instance, if your brain tells you
“I deserve this, it’s my only treat”
….there are so many answers to that!
“It’s no treat at all really, as it actually makes me miserable 5 minutes/ half an hour etc afterwards”
“My body feels so much worse after I’ve eaten it, how can it possibly be a treat?”
The clincher here, is the fact that you don’t really want to reach for it, you’re at the mercy of an urge that seems out of your hands, like someone else is running the controls at that particular moment, and that can NEVER feel like a treat, being chained to addictive behaviour that you don’t want is a low level misery that can go on for years, if not for life, and the cycle will never change unless you change your thinking and the habit of instant ‘reaching’.
You aren’t even thinking ‘diet’ then…far from it…you’re thinking ‘freedom’, ‘liberation from bad habits’ and feeling proud of yourself for making little changes…as well, of course, of the added benefit that you’re giving yourself a true stress solution. So you have put yourself in a win/win situation with simple sustainable changes, and not a hint of being on a diet, or any sense of denial whatsoever!
Here’s to the journey!
I would love to hear your comments on what your particular addictive thinking might be, and how you’re working on changing your ‘brand’.
If you enjoy the weight loss download…please do let me know! I’m always happy to hear your feedback!
Enjoy!
Bridgette
