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Cutting Down on Cravings

Rena Greenberg Cures the Yearning with Self-Hypnosis

From an afternoon urge to break for a chocolate treat to the hankering for a plate of ribs while cheering on the local team, food cravings can fuel a lot of overeating. Many times to the point where foregoing a favorite food at certain times is not only unthinkable, but beyond our ability.

“Whether it’s possible to crave healthful, lower-calories foods is not known,” says Marcia Pelchat of the Monell Chemical Senses Center research organization in Philadelphia. “But 95 to 97 percent of the foods that people report craving are energy-dense.” In other words, we want high-calorie stuff packed with sugar, carbs and fat.

Whether our body’s innate wisdom also can drive food choices is unclear. What is clear is that emotional associations with foods can routinely trigger cravings. Stress, anxiety, frustration, guilt, boredom and loneliness together with memories of how good certain foods made us feel when we were younger present powerful influences. Even smells and visual cues can set off cravings. As can hormonal and chemical imbalances. And just plain inadequate nutrition and hunger. Even excess body weight plays a role.

It turns out that in the brain, food cravings activate the same areas affected by cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes, even the pleasure of buying lots of shoes, according to Pelchat, who in 2004 published the first brain images associated with food cravings.

While women are more likely to crave sweets, men hear the call of savory items like pepperoni pizza, meatloaf and nachos. A recent study from the University of Alabama suggests that men also may be more susceptible to the appetite-enhancing effects of food advertising, regardless of whether they have just eaten. Perhaps women are more sensitive to their internal signals.

Ways to thwart cravings include eating a variety of foods. Keeping forbidden foods totally away from the precincts of home and office is infinitely better than hiding them away to lurk and taunt. A recent study from the University of Toronto finds that overly restricting our self from some foods can backfire and make matters worse. Rather than “eating in moderation all along, you end up rebounding” and consuming more calories, observes Jennifer Coelho, lead co-author of the study.

Cravings are especially common in those who follow structured diet plans. The rule of thumb embraced by the Dr. Dean Ornish Program is that as long as 80 percent of food intake is healthy, we can play with the other 20 percent. Experts agree that, in moderation, an occasional treat of a favorite high-calorie food actually can help us stay within the bounds of a well-balanced diet accompanied by a healthy weight.

The good news is that food cravings apparently decline with age. Maybe we do get older and wiser.

Rena Greenberg, local author of The Craving Cure, encounters thousands of people for whom emotional and physical states parallel and exacerbate weight control issues. She prefers a form of self-hypnosis accompanied by a cleansing diet to combat the problem. “Rather than beating ourselves up over what feels like a lack of control, which leads to more binging,” she says, “this is one way to break the hold cravings have on us.”

Intrigued, Natural Awakenings asked Greenberg to tell us more. Here’s what she had to say.

Q. Why did you write The Craving Cure?

A. I’ve been teaching weight loss using hypnosis for 20 years, and I constantly see people struggling with cravings for foods that are harmful to them. It’s their most persistent problem.

Really, we all know exactly what we need to do to lose weight. We know we need to exercise more and eat less. But cravings for the “wrong” foods stands in the way. By using a form of self-hypnosis that I call “The Break Your Craving State Technique” it’s possible to be free of cravings forever.

Q. How does the process work?

A. Since the bulk of cravings are emotionally triggered, it does little good to stuff our feelings. Rather than struggling to assert some willpower, “trying” not to eat foods we’re attracted to or feeling badly because we already did, we can use a simple seven-step process to change our state from feeling out of control to feeling empowered. From this new place of empowerment and resourcefulness, it’s easy to make new, wiser choices.

The technique I use involves imagery, visualization, affirmations, self-love, breaking limiting beliefs, breathing, movement and setting a positive intention. Working the program will lead us to a place of calm, peacefulness, happiness, and guidance from the part of ourselves that does know and want what’s best for us. Now, we no longer have to rely on willpower, because we prefer healthier selections, are repulsed by harmful empty-calorie foods, and are more committed to caring for ourselves. Along the way, unhealthy cravings begin to dissolve. By reprogramming the subconscious mind in this way, we can actually begin to crave or prefer the foods that are best for us.

Q. Can you give us an example?

A. One of my clients, Judy, feeling frustrated one morning, found herself automatically pulling into a donut shop to procure a salted bagel and cream cheese. As she pulled into the turn lane, a step in The Craving Cure popped into her mind. She immediately broke her pattern of shallow breathing and asked herself, “How am I going to feel after I eat this? It won’t solve anything. I’ll feel worse.” The desire left and she moved on, letting her feelings of frustration pass through her naturally, like the weather. Judy’s lost 50 pounds using this method.

Q. Tell us how nutrition aids your program.

A. I believe that diets don’t work because dieting is a psychologically temporary situation. The moment we go on a diet, we’re waiting for the moment we can go off the diet. I recommend a two-week Mega-Nutrition Cleanse designed to eliminate physical cravings for the wrong foods. It’s really easy to do. The result is that any yearnings for sugary, rich, harmful foods disappear.

In essence, the two-week cleanse fills the body with the nutrients it’s crying out for and flushes the toxins from wrong foods out of our system. Recommended menus consist solely of fresh, water-rich, delicious unprocessed foods.

Q. We understand that hospitals throughout the country use this program.

A. Yes, my weight loss seminar has been reviewed and sponsored by more than 75 hospitals throughout the country since 1990. It’s helped more than 100,000 people in hospitals, government agencies and corporate offices both lose weight and eliminate cravings.

I personally struggled with cravings for simple carbohydrates for a long time, until I got ill at a young age, so I know how painful it can be. During my recovery, I began to study hypnosis, fascinated by what we can achieve by accessing a deeper wisdom beyond the conscious mind. Wanting to share what I’d learned with others, I went on to become a certified biofeedback therapist and hypnotherapist before founding the Wellness Seminar for Weight Control in Bradenton, Florida.

In my seminars and books, The Right Weigh and The Craving Cure, I teach a unique and effective form of self-hypnosis to help people resolve any conflict between the conscious and subconscious parts of their mind. Through learning to tap into the greatest power within our deeper self at the core of our being, it is possible to lose weight, find freedom from an unhealthy relationship with food, and live the life we desire without ever having to diet again.

Sarasotan Rena Greenberg may be reached at 1-800-848-2822 or renagreenberg@easywillpower.com For more information visit www.EasyWillpower.com.