Recently there was a news story about a scientific study whichconcluded that eventually 9 of 10 American men and 7 of 10American women will become fat, or in politically correct terms,overweight or perhaps "waistline challenged". We have known foryears that excess body weight and its more extreme form -obesity - were major problems, but the findings of this study,published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, indicate thatthese problems may be even more severe than we have thought. Dr.Elizabeth G. Nabel is quoted in Yahoo News as saying that thestudy shows "we could have an even more serious degree ofoverweight and obesity over the next few decades."
The true costs to the world of global obesity are unknown, butthey are doubtless staggering. For the obese individual thecosts are not confined to an unattractive bodily appearance.More threatening in the longer term are the seriously adversehealth ramifications. For example, obesity is associated with agreater risk of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and somecancers. And while the greatest negative consequences arereserved for obese or substantially overweight individuals,those whose weight problem is more moderate are also subject tonegative consequences, and those consequences include a negativeimpact on both the quantity of life and quality of life.Specifically, just being moderately overweight raises the riskof sleep apnea and raises cholesterol and blood pressure, whichare well known contributors to heart disease.
A Mayo Clinic researcher, Mark Vander Weg, is quoted on Yahoo assaying that the study's conclusions "add to a growing body ofevidence that makes it increasingly apparent that more effectiveprevention and treatment strategies are urgently needed." Now Iassume no pun was intended by the phrase "growing body ofevidence." More seriously, he is absolutely right: we needbetter prevention and we need better solutions for people forwhom prevention is no longer an option and we need them urgentlyor the costs to society and the many affected individuals willbecome even greater.
In another article ("Rapid Personal Change"), I made referenceto techniques of personal change and their common applications.One of the common applications, as you might have guessed bynow, is Weight Loss; or better stated: the healthy loss ofexcess body fat. Your body weight includes your bones, yourmuscles, your tendons, etc. but you don't want to lose thosebecause they are good things. Excess fat, however, is uselessand indeed harmful. And that is what you want to lose or avoidgaining. So healthy is fat loss, but for simplicitywe'll just call it weight loss.
Now if enough factors are present, there are various approachesthat will work to some degree for weight loss. There are twoapproaches, however, that I believe provide the greatest degreeof lasting success for the greatest number of people. Beforegetting into some details, let me provide you with a littlebackground.
If you are like most people you have tried to lose weight,and/or make other positive changes, a number of times. And,again like most people, you have been unsuccessful a majority ofthe times, perhaps meeting with mixed results upon occasion butnot enjoying substantial and lasting success. Why? Most peopletry to lose weight, or make other improvements by changing theirCONSCIOUS thinking. But the two biggest drivers of behavior are:(1) SUBconscious thinking - that is, the beliefs and images weunwittingly internalized years or decades ago -- and (2) thedegree of balance versus disruption in the body's energy system.If the subconscious mind's deeply implanted beliefs and images,for examples, "I am meant to be fat" or "I am unpopular with theopposite sex," do not serve us, then we need to change them inorder to live healthy, harmonious, and happy lives. But youcannot change them by relying primarily on the conscious levelof thought. That would be analogous to trying to rid your gardenof weeds by clipping the weeds but leaving the roots in place.
To make effective and lasting improvement, you need to deal withthe roots. And you do this either by balancing bodily energyflow through a technique called EFT, which stands for EmotionalFreedom Techniques; or by working directly at the subconsciouslevel through hypnosis, which is a mind energy state. Ideally,for lasting or other major personal changes, youwould do both, that is, a combination of EFT and hypnosis(although either can work well by itself). Whether working atthe subconscious level of thought or working on the body'senergy system or both, the goal is to root out your old negativebeliefs and images and supplant them with new and empoweringones. That will lead naturally to the behaviors and the resultsyou want. And that is what today's premier coaching services andproducts do, and that is why they work so very well.
Hypnosis is actually a natural and beneficial human phenomenonand nothing weird or spooky like Hollywood falsely depicts it.EFT, whose founder is Gary Craig, is a newer kid on the block,although the basis for it can be traced back to ancient Chinesemedicine. Both of these powerful techniques are effective forhealthy weight loss. Both also have numerous other commonapplications with high success rates.
About the author:Gary Patrick is an author, speaker and mind-body coach. along-time hypnotist, he has become interested in EmotionalFreedom Techniques (EFT). EFT works well on a variety ofchallenges, often more quickly than anything else. When EFT iscombined with hypnosis, they become a powerful double whammy forpositive change. Visit Gary at http://rapidresults.biz.
