Controlling Our Eating Habits – Let’s talk about why we eat so much!

I wanted to write this blog to help you understand your relationship with food, and master how and what you eat.

I’m of the generation that, as children, used to play outside. Our Mums would call us in when dinner was ready. We’d be starving and there would be this plate of food on the table and we were expected to eat it, all of it. If you didn’t, there was the emotional blackmail that “starving children in Africa would be grateful for that food”. Or, you were punished by being sent to bed without any dinner or even worse, had last night’s dinner dished up to you in the morning for breakfast!

It wasn’t our parent’s fault. They had been “programmed” by their parents who had been brought up during the war not to waste food as the food was scarce. So, from an early age, we were taught to eat all of the food on our plates to please our parents, and we did as we were told. This had the unfortunate side effect of “programming” us to eat with our eyes. Consequently, even as an adult, when you have a plate of food put in front of you, without even thinking about it, you eat it, all of it.

As a child, snacks were not readily available to me. We didn’t have sweets, crisp, chocolate, biscuits in our home. One of the biggest treats that I can remember, was my Mum coming out into the street, where I was playing with the other neighbourhood children, and giving us all a cooked sausage on a fork to eat.

We ate three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. On a Saturday, we were given pocket money. I would look forward to Saturday morning as I was able to go to the corner shop and buy a big bag of sweets and eat them all.

Then we grew up, went into the big adult world, got a job and began to earn money. We could go to the shop and buy whatever we wanted. We could buy chocolate, cake, sweets, whatever we wanted. We could also buy takeaways and go to restaurants.

So, now we have all the “nice” things we didn’t have as children, readily available to us – this exciting world of treats, “eating out” and buying takeaways.

Restaurants and takeaways, by the way, serve up big portions to justify the price. Couple that with being brought up “programmed” to “eat with our eyes”, and what do we do?… we CLEAR OUR PLATE.

Can Hypnotherapy help?

Yes! Hypnotherapy is not so much about programming you to eat less, it’s more about de-programming you to feel ok about eating just the right amount of food for your body. It’s also about helping you to feel comfortable about leaving food, that your body simply does not want or need.

The common food-related “hates” that my clients talk about are:

1. Not wasting food
2. Big portions. They know what to eat, but it’s the portion size that’s the problem
3. Snacking for various reasons such as boredom, stress, or a change in routine.

I have helped many people in the past with food issues and I’m sure I can help you too! (Read previous clients Weight Loss Testimonials here)
If you would like to find out more about how I can help you then email me at tamsin@tamsincooper.co.uk or fill out the contact form. I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time.