Dear Miriam, 
I have been on so many diets… I’ve lost and found my extra pounds so many times. I’m starting to realize that there may be more to my situation than meets the eye. Any suggestions?
Sincerely,
Rita F.

Dear Rita,

If you’ve been on many diets and have found yourself returning to your old eating habits, there’s most probably an emotional cause which requires release. One that comes with many pounds of pain. Some of us constantly struggle with our weight, feeling hopeless when it comes to overcoming our craving for food. If this is how you feel, then most probably, there are some areas of your life that are toxic or unresolved. Here are a few of the most probable ones:

Current issues; love and/or work relationships, finances, and money issues, motherhood guilt, and adult sexual traumas

Childhood and/or adolescence; unresolved (and unexpressed) pain and suffering, psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse

I would like to stress the link between traumatic sexual experiences (past, recent, or current) and decreasing self-esteem and chronic overeating. Every weight over-conscious woman I’ve ever worked with has searched for a sense of self-acceptance and relief in her relationship with food. Another way to say it is: Many of us have an unhealthy coping mechanism that involves emotional hunger, which manifests as a physical necessity to eat. The whole issue of being ’emotionally overweight’ can be summarized easily.

If we were not so emotionally hungry, we would not be eating as much. If we didn’t eat as much, we wouldn’t have so much extra weight. The primary feelings that lead to that emotionally fueled hunger are unresolved and under-expressed (sometimes even unremembered) anger, fear, and shame. Only after you release the pain and suffering of stress and abuse, can you come to redefining your self-worth and begin accepting yourself and rebuilding your self-esteem. When we are ready to release the past with all of the attached pain, the weight is no longer needed; it will be released, and our chronic unhappiness will be lifted. My newer clients often ask me, “Why should I go through the pain of my past? How long will it take? Why can’t you just hypnotize me to lose weight?” I urge my clients to uncover that buried pain from the past that deprives them from today’s happiness, joy, and aliveness.

It takes as long as it has to. Obviously, your desire and readiness to release the past are major factors.

Love,
Miriam

P.S – In case you don’t catch why people ask about hypnotism, I use hypno-counselling for habit-modification, stress reduction, discovering family patterns, weight releasing goals, sources of anxiety, depression, and compulsive eating, among other things.