You Can Be Thin
You Can Be Thin is a new and updated version of my original book. So many of my readers wrote to me saying they wished they could have some recipes so I have included delicious recipes that encourage fat burning, speed up your metabolism and satisfy hunger.
Why do many diets focus on one cause of overeating?
There are six causes of overeating and when you find and work on the one that is relevant to you, you will be cured from destructive eating for good. Many people who write diet books have never been on a diet or been overweight. For instance some skinny people, men in particular, write diet books and assume that the cause of overeating is greed or ignorance and that simply isn't the case at all. The number one cause of overeating is emotional. Eating badly comes about because of our thoughts and feelings. Overeating is almost always to do with an emotional relationship to food. If you believe that biscuits make everything better or chocolate helps you to cope in times of stress and just try to give up the action of eating the biscuits instead of dealing with the belief system it is unlikely that you will succeed for very long, if at all. But when you change your belief system- your eating changes too. That is why vegetarians don't have to fight to resist meat; they have a completely different belief.
Can you tell us a little bit about your ten step programme?
The ten step programme changes your thoughts, your beliefs and your feelings about food. Once you have done this you can re-activate that very same normal relationship with food that you were born with. We all come onto the planet being able to leave food and resist it when we have had enough and my ten step programme gives you that back permanently. It shows you how to end cravings and most importantly how to keep the weight off forever. Studies show that people can only stay on a diet for 6 weeks and only as little as 2% of people can keep off the lost weight. My programme addresses this and deals with everything that makes dieting difficult or makes people sabotage their own weight loss.
Why is the hypnosis session so integral to reaching a weight loss goal?
The hypnosis section is integral because it allows you to replace an old negative belief with a new positive one. For instance if you believe you can't leave food or you are powerless to resist cakes or crisps that belief will be detrimental to your success but when you use hypnosis to get rid of that belief you will have a different relationship with food forever. It's also very important for you to see yourself as slim and people who have been overweight for a long time can find this incredibly difficult but the hypnosis CD makes this easier.
Why is it important to gain control over your eating habits even if you are not overweight?
It is important to eat healthily because good food is like medicine. We eat so much food that isn't even food anymore. For instance eating sugar even if you are not overweight is damaging to your health. Sugar is toxic to the lining of the blood vessels. It produces nitrous oxide which irritates the arteries and attracts plaque and this is what blocks the blood flow. Everything we have been taught about fat is completely wrong. Fat is essential to our emotional wellbeing so if you're not overweight but eat a diet that is high in sugar and low in essential fats your health will suffer.
Why is it not our fault that diets don’t work?
It's not our fault because food companies produce foods full of chemicals, preservatives, colourings, salt and sugar that are all highly addictive and then spend a huge amount of money promoting these foods. We are asked to eat junk food, fast food and confectionary more than 400 times a day and that kind of brainwashing works. The Olympics was sponsored by Cadburys, Macdonalds and Coca-Cola. The more we see adverts for these foods and the more food companies call chocolate bars Divine, or Celebrations, or Heroes and burgers Happy Meals the more we want them. Dieting makes you restrict food and the more you restrict food the more you want it. Diets don't work but changing your eating habits and your relationship with food really does work.
Why do people forget that weight loss is about maintaining a better quality of life and do diets that are detrimental to their health?
It is a shame that people who are overweight are judged as weak and without control and because of this judgement they will do a diet that is detrimental to their health because they feel so judged for being overweight. Someone with an eating problem is no weaker than a person with an alcohol problem or a drug problem or a spending problem. But when eating is your weakness the whole world can see it.
What is next for you?
I have been giving a lot of talks all over the world and I really love it. I have done two TED talks and spoken to all kinds of organisations in various countries. I am now writing a book on how to mastermind your life (your health, your emotions, your success) which is the basis of many of my talks.