Mind control to beat cravings
by Anne Diamond, 20 March 2003, Daily Mail

In her weekly dispatch, Anne Diamond reveals how, after years of struggling with her weight, she is learning to love healthy food and resist cravings, with the help of hypnotherapy.

Five weeks into my diet and I have great news - I have lost 5lb! Not only that, but I feel confident that this time round, I'm finally on my way to substantial and permanent weight loss.

Over the past month I have been learning which foods are bad for us, and why. I am reading everything that's been written on nutrition and am even listening to tapes on how to 'retune' my eating habits while I'm in the car.

With the help of my diet guru Jason Vale, I am brainwashing myself into a different way of eating. And it seems to be working.

Now, given a choice, I would reject a plate of processed, white pasta and choose a healthier option such as grilled tuna or salmon with salad. Not because any diet tells me to, nor because I am counting calories, fat or points, but because the very idea of nasty, processed junk turns me off, and healthy fish, vegetables and fruit make me feel good.

I have come far enough for Jason to announce last week that I was ready to try a 21-day spring cleaning programme - a programme to cleanse and revitalise my body.

Without the mental groundwork, it's something I couldn't have even contemplated sticking to, but now I'm confident I'll last the course.

Here's what I shall be eating. Day one: Nothing but water and as much vegetable juice, or soup as I like.

Days two and three: Water, organic apples and vegetable smoothies or soups - again, as much as I like.

Days four, five, six and seven: Only 'natural', food - that is, as much as I want but I'll make sure it's fruit and vegetables, such as an avocado salad or a stir-fry.

Days eight to 21: Any healthy, natural foods I like with fish, meat or chicken - and no carbohydrates after 6pm.

But that's a diet, I hear you shout. Well, yes and no. The difference is it doesn't feel restrictive; I can eat as much as I like of the chosen foods. It is teaching me a new eating pattern I can keep up for my whole life, and which can do me only good. Unlike a diet, I will not feel deprived, weak or cold; I'll feel energetic.

Except, that is, at about seven in the evening. That's when I still hit a low point. I can make sensible choices all day, but in the evenings, I switch over to autopilot.

My autopilot likes pasta, bread and rice dishes. Occasionally I find myself cooking things without even knowing why.

So I wondered: could hypnotherapy help me? A few days ago I

went to see Keith Chopping, who's a member of the National Centre For Eating Disorders.

He explained that many people have problems with unhealthy foods because they link them to an important personal ritual.If I want to lose weight, Keith explained, I need to learn to replace that fattening ritual with another, more healthy one.

SO I COULD make myself a juice and curl up in a bath with scented candles - something luxurious and appealing. If I could stick to it, I would learn to rely on that little ritual instead of the less healthy one.

Hypnotherapy should be able to help by feeding new ideas into my subconscious, says Keith.

Still feeling somewhat cynical, I settled back into Keith's executive leather chair - and he talked me through various stages of deep breathing and relaxation.

He then asked me to imagine my brain as a room into which I could walk. It was full of wires, buttons and dials. He told me to envisage myself walking over to one bank of switches, and see one marked 'amount of food'.

He said I should turn the switch around to mark a smaller amount. Next to that switch, Keith said there was another, marked 'enjoyment of food', which he told me to switch to maximum - and those images are still strong as I write.

Another image he planted in my brain also remains. He said that when Leonardo da Vinci carved a cherub, he wasn't sculpting; he was 'releasing the angel from within the stone', and that's what I have to do - release the slim Anne from within.

He said I should clench my fist every time I felt under pressure to eat something I shouldn't, and whenever I did this, I would be reminded of what we had discussed. I didn't go into a trance - I could hear my tummy rumbling during the session. But has it worked?

Well, last night was surprisingly easy. When I got home at about 8pm, my eldest son was cooking pancakes. The smell was tempting - but I clenched my fist and actually found it easy to say 'No' - and 'Yes' instead to a pineapple, apple, celery and cucumber smoothie.

For the first time in months, years even, I had a 'good' evening - I ate the right things, and no more. It's a giant leap forward: watch this space.

The 20-34 age group has the most smokers - 37 per cent. Every day in the UK, around 450 children take up the habit, and about one fifth of 15-year-olds smoke.

Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals including carbon monoxide.

About 120,000 smokers die every year in the UK as a result of their habit, and half of regular cigarette smokers will be killed by their habit.

Smoking causes lung cancer and has been linked to cancer of the kidney, liver, pancreas, bladder, mouth, lip and throat. It increases the risk of heart disease, has been associated with impotence in men, and can cause miscarriages in pregnant women.

Around 70 per cent of smokers want to give up.