Bucks County Herald Hypnotherapist will offer craving cures at Wellness Center Despite Valiant attempts to maintain a healthy diet, why is it that people can’t seem to stop themselves from reaching into that bag o Herr’s or buying that jumbo chocolate chip cookie? Day after day, we find ourselves pitted against food cravings, a nemesis that dogs us when we’re tired, veggied out in front of the television or when we’ve had a rough day. For years, Rena Greenberg engaged in this battle until a health crisit motivated her to overcome her food demons. “It made me realize how fragile our health,” Greenberg said.  “I was determined to turn my life around.” Greenberg did just that and is now helping others learn how to curb their cravings and break their food addictions as a weight loss hypnotherapist and biofeedback therapist.  The founder and director of Wellness Seminars, Inc., and author of “The Right Weigh” and “The Craving Cure: Break the Hold Carbs and Sweets Have on Your Life,” Greenberg will discuss her methods in a Wellness Seminar For Weight Control 6:30-8:30p.m. June 27, at the Health and Wellness Center by Doylestown Hospital, 846 Easton Road, Warringon. “My method is about seeing ourselves in a new way, a deeper self,” she said, describing the seminar as a “live hypnosis experience.” By her mid-20’s, Greenberg’s health took a turn for the worst.  She was sick, lacked energy and an irregular heart beat.   Numerous trips to the doctor for her exhaustion turned up nothing.  It wasn’t until Greenberg went to the hospital that cardiologist discovered that she had the “Heart of an 80-year-old.” However, they couldn’t give her a cause for her ailments.  That’s when Greenberg turned to her diet. “I was a carb addict,” she admitted. She ate sugary foods, consumed alcohol and was addicted to caffeine products. Though she may have been a bit heavier, Greenberg wasn’t obese.  In fact, she compensated for her unhealthy habits by frequent exercise.   “There’s a difference between being healthy and being fit,” Greenberg said. Greenberg decided to get healthy and started studying nutrition.  She obtained a degree in biopsychology from Brooklyn College in 1990 and has been lecturing for 18 years.   Greenberg’s method includes using hypnosis, or what she calls deep relaxation, self-affirmation and setting intentions to get in touch with the subconscious part of the mind. “We all want to look and feel our best, but subconsciously, when we don’t eat those foods (carbs, sugars), we feel deprived,” she said.  “It’s an inner conflict.” For example, a person who sees a piece of chocolate cake and desires it, thinks that the cake will fulfill him or her in some way, Greenberg said.  The subconscious doesn’t associate the cake with the negative consequences of poor eating habits, which can include weight gain, lethargy, inability to sleep, moodiness and headaches. Unlike other things that we associate as harmful, “with food, there’s no connection,” Greenberg said. However, by creating new food images and essentially reprogramming the subconscious, individuals can get their mind and body in balance.   In “The Craving Cure,” Greenberg also outlines a seven step Break-Your-Craving-State-Technique, which includes tips and tools t identify underlying reasons or emotions that trigger food cravings and how to work through them.  Those emotions can include boredom, depression, guilt, unhappiness and stress. Greenberg’s other recommendations include a two-week nutrition cleanse in the beginning of the program, exercise and high nutritional eating, which includes a diet of protein, water-rich foods such as vegetables and fruit, healthy fat and a small amount of complex carbohydrates. “It’s got to be a lifestyle change,” Greenberg said. Darryl Schumacher, who had success with the program, agreed.   By the end of 2005, the Plant City, Fla. Resident weighted more than 300 pounds and “pretty much had a couch potato type lifestyle.” “My physical activities were pretty much limited to what I had to do to get through the day.  Eating and snacking were constant, not sporadic,” the 53-year-old said. Though he was skeptical at first, he decided to walk away from one of Greenberg’s seminars with a “let’s see” attitude. “Within the next few days, I noticed I was pushing away plates with food on them and was not hungry all of the time.  Next thing I know, I got a desire to start walking and being active.  I also got a new desire to try “healthy” foods, so I started cooking and eating vegetables that I had never tried in my life and really enjoyed them,” he said. “I changed my lifestyle and I believe that is what makes this work so easily.  When you are on a diet, you cannot wit to get done so you can get back to eating like you used to.  Eating like you used to is what made you what you did not like.  It turns into a vicious cycle of ups and downs and I tried that for years with many different diet plans.” Schumacher has lost 123 pounds and now runs five times a week. “The hardest thing about this program for me was having to buy new clothes four times in the past 18 months,” Schumacher said. The cost of the seminar is $69, but those who pre-register at easywillpower.com will save $10.  The fee includes a take-home toolkit.  For information, call 1-800-848-2822.