Lose Weight with Self-Hypnosis

Don't miss any of HealthyWoman from Bottom Line. Add our address, HealthyWomanfromBottomLine@ebhw.bottomlinesecrets.com, to your Address Book or Safe List. Learn how here. February 10, 2011  Lose Weight with Self-Hypnosis The Great Cholesterol Hoax Spice Fights Sore Muscles Introducing Bottom Line on the Radio (and Listen Live on the Web) Never Too Old for Acne? How to Be Pimple-Free at Last   Lose Weight with Self-Hypnosis A friend who has struggled with her weight for years said to me, "Every evening I hear a voice inside my head saying, It’s time for ice cream! I tell myself, Do not open that freezer, but often I just can’t resist." Despite countless diets, this friend never lost much weight because nothing silenced the insistent voice that steered her toward fattening treats. I told her about a recent study in the journal Primary Care, which looked at various complementary and alternative therapies for treating weight problems and found that hypnosis had real evidence of being effective. She was intrigued but nervous about the loss of control that getting hypnotized might bring, so I asked psychologist Steven Gurgevich, PhD, coauthor of The Self-Hypnosis Diet, to tell me more about how the technique works. Dr. Gurgevich explained that fear of hypnosis stems from a pervasive misconception. "No one can 'get hypnotized' any more than they can 'get meditated,' because all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. You’re aware of where you are and what you’re doing at all times," he said. Try it: Follow the guidelines below, practicing for at least a few minutes once or more each day... Promote a trance state. Your aim is not a profound alteration in consciousness, but rather a state of deliberately focused attention on your own thoughts, with a narrowing of awareness of other stimuli, which enhances your acceptance of suggestions, Dr. Gurgevich explained. What to do: Sit or lie in a safe and relaxing place where you won’t be distracted. Focus on your breath for a few moments, then silently repeat to yourself, I am going into a trance... I am shifting my attention inward. When you feel yourself become absorbed in your imagination, as occurs when you are caught up in a daydream, you are in a trance state (really -- that’s all it is!) in which you can deliver messages to your subconscious mind. If you have trouble achieving a trance, listen to a hypnosis CD such as the one that comes with Dr. Gurgevich’s book... or have a professional hypnosis practitioner lead you the first time. Referrals: American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (630-980-4740, www.asch.net, click on "Public" and "Member Referral Service"). While in your trance, offer yourself suggestions. Silently or aloud, repeat to yourself, "I am losing weight... I am lighter and thinner... my palate and food preferences are changing... I crave the healthy foods and portions that support my ideal body." During your trance (and whenever else you think about weight or food during the day), let yourself believe what you want to happen actually is happening now. Why it works: "The subconscious mind can’t tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined, so it uses the combination of what you want (to lose weight) and what you believe (that you are losing weight) to create a blueprint for action," Dr. Gurgevich said. Eliminate the word try -- it is more powerful to say I am than to say I’m trying. Keep your words and images positive. The word "not" has no literal meaning to your subconscious -- so it is more effective to suggest to yourself, I will eat one piece of chocolate for dessert, than to suggest, I will not eat too much chocolate. Dr. Gurgevich said, "Positive thoughts reinforce motivation, while negative thoughts damage motivation." During your trance: Imagine yourself happily eating one piece of chocolate and then walking away, well-satisfied... replay this image in your mind for several minutes. Create healthful cravings. Rather than struggling to suppress cravings for candy, fries or other unhealthful fare, use the power of a craving by transferring it to a healthful food. Example: Envision a beautiful salad of fresh organic greens and vividly colored vegetables... conjure an image of yourself eating it while you think, This salad tastes better than anything else I could have chosen. Imagine the flavors filling your mouth, the wonderful sense of fullness in your belly, the plentiful nutrients traveling through your body. Bottom line: Self-hypnosis helps you deliver healthy thoughts to your subconscious, Dr. Gurgevich explained... and these thoughts naturally lead to healthier beliefs, behaviors and eating habits that restore you to the healthy weight you desire. Source: Steven Gurgevich, PhD, is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine founded by Dr. Andrew Weil, and a psychologist in private practice at Sabino Canyon Integrative Medicine, both in Tucson. He also is the coauthor, with his wife, behavioral nutritionist Joy Gurgevich, of The Self-Hypnosis Diet: Use the Power of Your Mind to Reach Your Perfect Weight (Sounds True) and author of Hypnosis House Call: A Complete Course in Mind-Body Healing (Sterling). www.HealingWithHypnosis.com The Great Cholesterol Hoax The #1 prescription drug in America is a cholesterol drug. It rakes in about $8 billion a year. And three of the top 15 drugs are in the same category. They’re called statin drugs, but some experts call them a hoax. Did you know that... Cholesterol-reducing statin drugs are just patented knockoffs of a simple food that Asians have eaten for centuries. You can buy it in pill form in any health-food store -- yet drug companies charge $1,740 a year for it! And, for those who choose to stick with their statins, they’re all pretty much the same. If you must take a prescription statin, ask for the cheapest one. There’s no proof the statin that’s #1 is any better than the generics. Learn more... Spice Fights Sore Muscles I enjoy giving my muscles a good workout... but not when those muscles take revenge by aching the next day. My trainer says, "So take some aspirin or ibuprofen" -- but I would rather not risk those drugs’ potential side effects, such as stomach irritation and ulcers. That’s why I’m excited about recent research from Georgia College and State University showing that ginger -- often used as a natural remedy for digestive upsets -- also can significantly reduce post-exercise muscle soreness. Details... Each day for 11 days, one group of participants took capsules that contained two grams of raw ginger (as the ginger supplements found in health-food stores often do)... a second group took two grams of heat-treated ginger (because earlier research suggested that heating ginger might boost pain-relieving effects)... a third group took a placebo. On the eighth day of the study, all participants did heavy weight-lifting exercises designed to trigger muscle soreness and inflammation. Pain levels were assessed before the workout and on days nine, 10 and 11 of the study. Results: The raw ginger and heated ginger groups experienced 25% and 23% less postworkout pain, respectively, than the placebo group. Interestingly, in a separate study, the researchers found that participants who took a single dose of ginger 24 hours after working out experienced no reductions in muscle pain or inflammation 45 minutes after ingesting the ginger... but by the following day -- 48 hours after the workout -- they had 13% less pain than participants who took a placebo. How ginger helps: Ginger appears to reduce the body’s production of inflammatory substances, such as cytokines and prostaglandins, and also desensitizes certain pain receptors in nerves. Intrigued? A nutrition-oriented doctor can tell you whether taking ginger to reduce postworkout soreness is appropriate for you. Source: Christopher Black, PhD, is an assistant professor of exercise science in the department of kinesiology at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia, and lead author of two studies involving a total of 101 people. Introducing Bottom Line on the Radio (and Listen Live on the Web) Sarah Hiner, publisher of Bottom Line Publications and Daily Health News, is bringing the information you love to the radio -- every Saturday afternoon 4-6pm (Eastern time). In Bottom Line style, Bottom Line On Your Health talks to mainstream and naturopathic medical experts about the many and confusing options in health care... helping people to know that they have choices in a medical world that increasingly focuses on drugs and surgery as a first line treatment. You can even call in with your own questions for her medical experts, Dr. Andrew Rubman, ND, Contributing Medical Editor for Bottom Line Publications and Dr. Max Gomez, Emmy Award Winning Medical Journalist. Listen live every Saturday in Connecticut at 4:00pm at 1400am WSTC/1350am WNLK or streaming live on the web at http://www.bottomlineonyourhealth.com/. Click here to listen live on Saturday... Never Too Old for Acne? How to Be Pimple-Free at Last Say acne and many people think of bumpy-complexioned teens -- but a surprising 26% of women in their 40s and 15% in their 50s report pimple problems, according to a University of Alabama survey. And in fact, even seniors can suffer from acne. Good news: There are new treatments for this often-chronic condition -- so if you gave up years ago because nothing helped, it’s time to see your dermatologist. Who gets adult acne? Just about anyone can, said dermatologist Bethanee J. Schlosser, MD, PhD, director of the Women’s Skin Health Program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "This disease doesn’t discriminate. Acne that develops earlier in life can continue through the adult years or recur after years of clear skin... or it can appear for the first time in mature adulthood," she said. Factors that commonly contribute to acne... A hormonal imbalance often occurs in midlife when estrogen levels drop, leaving a relative overabundance of androgen hormones such as testosterone. Acne is a hormone-sensitive condition (which is why it often first appears during the hormonal upheaval of puberty). Middle-aged women may experience increased activity of or sensitivity to androgens even when blood levels of these hormones are normal, Dr. Schlosser noted. Bacteria can proliferate on skin and lead to inflammation, particularly when the sebaceous glands’ production of sebum (oil) -- a process controlled by hormones -- is excessive, resulting in blocked pores. Abnormal maturation of cells allows dead skin cells to stick together and clog pores. What helps? For starters, try a high-fiber, low-glycemic-load diet... You may remember being told as a teen that chocolate and pizza could bring on pimples -- but, in fact, studies have not revealed any specific food triggers for acne. However: Recent research has found that acne is more common in people whose diets have a high glycemic load -- which basically means that they eat a lot of low-fiber foods that cause blood sugar and insulin levels to spike. Acne may improve when a high-fiber, low-glycemic-load diet is adopted, Dr. Schlosser said. Glycemic load is a calculation based on a food’s glycemic index. To see which foods have a potentially pimple-fighting low glycemic index, visit the University of Sydney Web page at www.GlycemicIndex.com. Topical treatments, used alone or in combination, clear up many cases of midlife acne... Nonprescription three-step systems make it easy to follow a consistent regimen and can be helpful for midlife patients with mild acne and as an initial treatment option, Dr. Schlosser said. These systems can be used alone or along with prescription treatments (see below). Options: MaxClarity Foam includes a cleanser with antibacterial benzoyl peroxide that is micronized into tiny particles to penetrate pores, a leave-on benzoyl peroxide foam and nighttime toner with exfoliating salicylic acid to get rid of dead cells... Proactiv has an antibacterial cleanser, toner with exfoliating glycolic acid and a leave-on benzoyl peroxide lotion. Prescription topical retinoids are vitamin A derivatives in cream, gel or liquid form that help prevent clogged pores by normalizing cell maturation. Options include tretinoin (Retin-A), adapalene (Differin) and tazarotene (Tazorac). When starting treatment, acne may look worse at first, but most patients notice improvement after four weeks of regular use -- so Dr. Schlosser generally recommends that patients who try retinoids continue for at least 10 to 12 weeks. New option: A gel called Epiduo, which combines adapalene with bacteria-killing benzoyl peroxide, can simplify treatment since you have to apply only one product. Prescription topical antibiotics, such as clindamycin (Cleocin-T), erythromycin (E-Mycin) and sulfacetamide sodium (Klaron), have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects. Also ask your dermatologist about medications that combine an antibiotic with benzoyl peroxide (such as Benzaclin, Duac and the newest option Acanya), which help reduce the risk for antibiotic resistance. Oral medications may help if topical approaches alone are not sufficient... Oral tetracycline antibiotics, such as doxycycline or minocycline, have long been used to treat acne -- but there also are newer formulations that minimize side effects and/or maintain a more even level of medication in the bloodstream. Ask your doctor about... Solodyn, extended-release minocycline taken once daily. Your doctor can determine which of its eight strengths provides the lowest effective dose for you. Doryx, doxycycline with an enteric coating that reduces risk for gastrointestinal upset. Oracea, extended-release doxycycline that is subantimicrobial -- meaning it works not by killing bacteria but rather by combating inflammation, so it minimizes antibiotic resistance risk. Birth control pills help correct hormonal imbalances because their estrogen and progestin offset the effects of excess androgens. Three brands are FDA-approved for treating acne -- Ortho Tri-Cyclen, Estrostep and Yaz -- though even brands that are not specifically approved for that purpose can help clear the complexion, Dr. Schlosser said. Oral contraceptives are not appropriate for women who have high blood pressure, liver problems or a history of blood clots or stroke... or for smokers over age 35. Antiandrogen medication also helps women whose acne results from a hormonal imbalance. Spironolactone (Aldactone) and similar drugs work by keeping testosterone from binding to receptors on follicles and sebaceous glands. It should not be used by women who have kidney problems or who are pregnant or trying to conceive. Your dermatologist can help you sort through all these options to find what’s best for you -- but the bottom line is, you no longer have to simply suffer with adult acne! Source: Bethanee J. Schlosser, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor of dermatology and director of the Women’s Skin Health Program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Schlosser’s areas of expertise include acne, rosacea, skin disorders in pregnancy and polycystic ovary syndrome. Tamara Eberlein, the editor of HealthyWoman from Bottom Line, has been a health journalist for nearly three decades. An award-winning author of four books, she is committed to helping other women in midlife and beyond live healthy, fulfilling lives. She is also the "chief health adviser" to her husband of 25 years, college-age twins and teenaged son. BOTTOMLINESECRETS.COM Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy About Us Contact US Bottom Line Publications | 281 Tresser Boulevard, 8th Floor | Stamford, CT 06901 You received this free E-letter because you have requested it. You are on the mailing list as healthwellness82@gmail.com. Or... a friend forwarded it to you. 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