It is not easy to get away from food in today’s media-driven world.
Just look at how many programmes there are on TV dedicated to putting food in front of you on the screen for hours each week. Never mind if the dishes being prepared are gluten-free, dairy-free, meat-free salads or desserts designed to send calories and cholesterol into orbit – for those with a weakness for food, it is a trigger.
Every newspaper and whole magazines are dedicated to persuading us to eat even more.
Please don’t get me started on supermarkets and their marketing tricks.
Or the obscene amounts of hidden sugar in processed foods (why is there sugar in a quiche lorraine, I wonder?).
So on the one hand we are being bombarded with food and advice on what is good for us (which changes like the wind) – and on the other hand we are told that we have to be stick-insect thin, verging on anorexic. Only these waif-like creatures are socially acceptable, it seems. People who are any more than “chubby” are mocked and considered to be social outcasts.
People are treated like criminals when they become addicted to the substances they have been over-exposed to. Like any addictive substance – and why else do manufacturers put so much sugar and salt into processed food if not to get consumers addicted and coming back for more – bad food habits can be hard to break. But it can be done. And, I believe, it is not always to do with actual food consumption.
Yes, there are definite issues to do with a sedentary lifestyle – people no longer walk to work, or do so much physical work or 
exercise. Nowadays people commute (sitting down) and sit at desks and then collapse on the sofa to unwind in front of the tele when they get home (more often than not with a ready meal on their laps). It would do us all good to walk more, swim more, jog more – but I believe the over-eating, holding on to weight issue is more complex than that.
There can be many underlying emotional reasons why people hold on to weight – everything from abuse in childhood to bullying in school; forced abortions or traumatic childbirth to bitter relationship break-ups. Getting to the root cause – the real root cause – may involve peeling that emotional onion and re-discovering the true person inside, the one whose self-esteem has plummeted, who believes they are not good enough any more.
Then of course there is the Catch-22 of bariatric surgery – which you only need if you are seriously obese, but very often can’t have because, being obese, your heart won’t stand the strain of the anaesthetic and the trauma of the operation. Hypnotic gastric banding is always an option there.
If you would like to tackle the excess weight that you are holding on to, give me a call now on 01444 459 433 or 07597 020 512. I work from Vinings Natural Health Centre in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, and I am happy to have a chat to see how I might be able to help you – totally free and totally confidential.