The surprising benefits of combining nutrition and hypnotherapy

I often find myself navigating the dangerous path of trying to work out a healthy relationship with food. Whether I’m speaking with someone trying to recover from anorexia or someone who feels they need to lose weight.

The excess choice in foodstuffs that surround us everywhere we go, busy lifestyles, and little in the way of natural- make it difficult to maintain a healthy relationship with food or even know what that is.

Some people consider a healthy relationship with food one in which you have a positive and balanced approach to eating, and where you nourish your body with the nutrients it needs to function at its best- while also enjoying the foods you love. Some characteristics of that healthy relationship with food are:

• Eating for nourishment: You view food as a source of energy and nourishment, and you choose foods that support your health and well-being.
• Listening to your body: You pay attention to your hunger and fullness signals. You eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full.
• Moderation: You enjoy all types of food in moderation, and you don't restrict or overindulge in any one type of food.
• Avoiding guilt: You don't feel guilty about eating certain foods or restricting yourself from enjoying your favourite treats.
• Variety: You have a varied diet that includes a wide range of foods from different food groups.
• Mindful eating: You take the time to enjoy your food, savour the flavours and textures, and eat without distractions.
• Flexibility: You can adapt your eating habits to different situations and environments, and don't feel anxious or stressed about it.

I won’t speak for nutritional therapists, however, it is difficult to use hypnotherapy to change your relationship with food without also speaking to a nutritional therapist, or at least equip yourself with as much knowledge on nutrition as possible. It’s very easy to split the above list into hypnotherapy and nutrition.

Hypnotherapy will help you listen to your body, eat in moderation, avoid guilt, eat mindfully, and maintain flexibility. Nutritional therapy will increase your awareness of eating for nourishment. Your nutritional therapist will test for deficiencies and guide you on the types of foods that nourish your body personally. A nutritional therapist will also help you improve the variety of your diet.

Listening to your body

Hypnosis is the same state of mind as the meditative state of mind. Although in a hypnotherapy session, you use your mind, whilst meditation clears your mind, the tool is the same. Your hypnotherapist can help you practice self-hypnosis (or meditation). By using this interoceptive tool you’ll learn how to fully hear the internal state of your body, so it becomes easier to understand when your body needs nourishing with food, or your mind needs a different form of nourishment.

Moderation

Sometimes in a hypnotherapy session, we work towards stopping eating a specific food. This is contradictory to a healthy relationship with food, in which you eat anything in moderation. However, there are some processed foods manufactured to bypass the natural brake in your brain. This makes eating in moderation extremely difficult, in some cases practically impossible. Once you pop, you can’t stop, for example! If there is a specific food that plays havoc with your life because you struggle to stop eating it, aversion hypnotherapy will help you stop eating it altogether.

In general, hypnotherapy will help you with interoception and mindfulness, so you hold the power to think carefully about what you eat and whether you want that thing now. Alternatively, hypnotherapy, from a therapeutic perspective, will help you bring foods back into your life that you previously restricted unnecessarily.

Avoiding guilt

As per the above, hypnotherapy will help you eat food without feeling guilty. Without suppressing it, guilt is a hard emotion to eliminate. We’re all human after all. However, when you use hypnosis to eat mindfully, you give yourself the time to consider how you feel and what you need before you eat. Therefore, you make a conscious choice when and what to eat, with no guilt.

Mindful eating

When you eat mindfully, you pay attention to the sensory experience of eating, without judgment or distraction. This means being fully present and engaged in the process of eating, from the preparation of the food to the actual consumption. You use all your senses to experience the food, noticing the colours, textures, smells, tastes, and sounds. You also pay attention to your own physical and emotional responses to the food, such as how it makes you feel, how satisfied you are, and whether you are hungry or full. Hypnotherapy will help you live mindfully, so you can develop a deeper understanding of your own body's needs and preferences, and make more conscious and intentional choices about the foods you eat. Helping you build a healthier relationship with food to cultivate gratitude and appreciation for the nourishment it provides.

Flexibility

When you’re on a diet or have a disordered relationship with food, the lack of flexibility damages your whole life. Meeting with friends, even at home, becomes difficult. Trips out are anxiety-inducing. Very quickly, being alone at home becomes the only safe environment. Hypnotherapy will help you bring flexibility back into your life. Reducing the anxiety of making choices and helping you find your confidence again.

In conjunction with hypnotherapy to help you improve your relationship with food, sessions with a nutritional therapist will change your knowledge so you have a super awareness of what foods your body needs for nourishment. You’ll also get the opportunity to check for lack of nutrition in your body, so you know which foods you need more of every day.