I love my body, in all of its transitions, its imperfections, and squishiness. I love it SO MUCH that I do something every day to make it better. I didn’t always feel that way. I hated my body for a very long time.

I have worked with hundreds of men and women who found themselves stuck in the same vicious cycle of feeling bad about how they look and feel and soothing those feelings with food. Inevitably, they end up feeling worse about themselves because of it.

This is one of the reasons why loving your body is so important, no matter where you are in your journey. When you begin to recognize the amazing, accomplished, deserving person you are, you begin to realize that you deserve better. You can start seeing food as something to be enjoyed, to fuel your body, and get it to the shape and size you want it to be. In the end, doesn't loving your body mean making sure that it stays healthy and fit in order to live a long, full life? 

You Are Awesome!

You deserve happiness and the good feelings that come with knowing that you are okay the way you are. 

Start with the stress. Stress does things to our minds and bodies that can keep us from being our physical and emotional best. So when we start by de-programming stress, we get a head start on everything else. Use abdominal breathing, meditation, hypnosis, or walking to naturally lower your stress and begin feeling better.

Let go of the garbage. We carry around a scrapbook of everything we have ever seen, done, and experienced. Some of it is good, and some of it reinforces limiting beliefs and holds us back. Getting rid of the “extra weight” you don’t need to be carrying around anymore is a great way to get in shape mentally and emotionally.

Change the way you think. We know that we need to eat right and move right to feel right, though most of these simple things seem much more complicated in our minds. When we simplify nutrition and movement, we gain a sense of control that lets us take charge. You don’t need a complicated diet plan or exercise plan to get in shape. You can start by reducing one of your meals by half, or adding more steps to what you already take each day. Remember to keep your goals small and build on them as you continue to succeed.

Get to know how awesome you are. Building your self confidence through acceptance, emotional healing, and finding your inner strengths is easy with the right tools. The result is a better sense of who you are and why you are so incredible.

Listen to your body. Think about how your stomach feels right now. You know if you’re satisfied, full, or a little hungry. Listening to your body will help you to give it what it needs, when it needs it, so that you can easily stay on track.

Create mindfulness. Most of us have had the experience of absentmindedly grabbing a snack or eating through an entire bag of chips without realizing it. When we eat without thinking we aren’t listening to our body signals. Before you put anything in your mouth to eat or drink, check for real physical hunger. If you’re hungry, choose a healthy option. If you aren’t hungry, then tend to whatever the feeling is. Being mindful of what you are eating and why keeps you from overeating and allows you to take better care of your body.

Motivation is the key. You have the motivation, it’s in there somewhere, and you can learn to harness it so that it works for you instead of against you. You can move aside or just get rid of the things that are standing between you and your motivation and take advantage of all that extra energy.

Hypnosis provides a safe, easy, tool for creating new, permanent, healthy habits and behaviors to start living your best life. Whether you are starting new activities, or you want more motivation for the things you enjoy, hypnosis can help. 🍥

A lot of us have put on a few extra pounds this last year. Now that the days are longer and warmer, this is the perfect time to reshape those eating and moving habits so we can feel stronger and healthier.

People who succeed with losing weight and keeping it off for the long term have changed the way they think about food, eating, exercise, and their bodies. Here are some of the strategies I share with my clients to help them change their relationship with food.

1. Think More. 

Most of us have had the experience of snacking and having the whole bag gone before we knew it. When eating becomes a mindless behavior, it is time to be more mindful.

We eat for the experience of the meal just as much as we do to fuel our bodies. So allow yourself to enjoy the experience. Eat without distractions. Put away your phone, turn off the TV, and make it an event. Pay attention to every bite and you’ll wind up eating less and enjoying it more.

2. Listen to Your Body.

You check the fuel gauge in your car so you’ll know when you need to fill up and when you have enough gas to get to where you’re going. And you wouldn’t try to fill up the gas tank of your car when it is already full. Your body has a fuel gauge called hunger. It may be a strong physical feeling or a more subtle emotional nudge that lets you know when you need to fill up your tank. 

Listen to your body. Before you put anything in your mouth, check your internal fuel gauge for real physical hunger. If you are hungry, then choose something healthy and eat it slowly. If you aren’t really hungry, then your body is looking for something else, like rest, water, or activity.

3. Don’t Eat Your Emotions.

Most of us have had the experience of getting something to eat when we are bored, or sad, or lonely, or stressed. There are a couple problems with this cycle of eating in response to an unpleasant feeling. The first problem is that eating in response to emotions means you eat more than you need, and that causes you to gain weight.

The second problem is that there is no food or drink that will satisfy any feeling you have except real physical hunger. Sure, those snacks will distract you for a bit, but the unpleasant feeling will come back again, and again, and again until you deal with the feeling.

When you find yourself reaching for something to eat when you know you aren’t even hungry, take a moment to look for the feelings behind the desire to snack. If you are stressed, take a break. If you are tired, you need sleep or rest. If you are anxious, there is something that needs your attention.

All of our feelings are good, even the unpleasant ones. Practice taking some time to identify what your feelings are trying to tell you. You will find that you are better able to satisfy yourself, without gaining weight.

4. Move More

As you start to lose weight, your body will look for easy fuel to burn, and it will start by burning muscle. Gradually increasing your physical activity every day will ensure that you keep your muscle and burn fat instead. 

Create a goal for yourself to take one more step than you did yesterday. That’s all, just take one more step than you did yesterday.Keep a small notebook in your kitchen and write down your total steps each day. Even though your device will keep track of this for you, writing it down keeps you more motivated, and you can enjoy that feeling of accomplishment when you write down your steps for the day.

5. Celebrate Every Victory - No Matter How Small

When you only eat one cookie instead of the whole pack, celebrate your control! When you decide you don’t really want the birthday cake at the office, celebrate your ability to choose! When you take the stairs when you really want to ride the elevator, celebrate your strength!

Success breeds success, so by celebrating the little wins, you are motivating yourself to do the things that make you win more. Set yourself up for success, and don’t be afraid to praise every little thing you do that gets you closer to your goal.

At the same time, don’t beat yourself up. You are learning new skills, defining new behaviors, and establishing new limits. Give yourself room to learn, which means failing every once in a while.

The Role of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is so successful in helping people to shed unwanted weight because it changes the way you think about food, eating, and exercise at the source. Hypnosis allows you to create new behaviors and new healthy habits easily and quickly, so that you are more in control of how you think, feel, and act.

Hypnosis can clarify the emotions that have been impacting your relationship with food and your body. It can allow you to better understand those emotions and release the ones that have been holding you back.

Hypnosis creates new neural-pathways in your brain. If your default response to stress is to eat ice cream, the feeling of stress is linked physically in your brain with the response of eating ice cream. Using hypnosis, you are able to break that connection and create a different automatic response to stress. This process is called neuroplasticity and changes the way certain brain cells communicate with each other.

Hypnosis uses your own imagination as a blueprint. Hypnosis lets you imagine yourself as a smaller size living in your healthier body, and uses that as a blueprint to create the new you. Because you are using your own thoughts and feelings, the changes you want to achieve are accepted by the subconscious mind as true, and you see results quickly with less resistance.

You don’t need to take my word for it though! Click the links below to get instant access to my hypnosis audio program “End Emotional Eating” and start enjoying the benefits for yourself.∎

Click HERE for your Free “Abdominal Breathing for Anxiety and Stress Relief” tool

November is American Diabetes Month. Considering the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and all the challenges it brings and the increase in stress and depression, things are especially difficult for people living with diabetes and for those who love them.

If you have diabetes,  either type 1 or type 2, you have an increased risk of developing depression. And if you're depressed, you may have a greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes. The good news is that diabetes and depression can be treated together. And effectively managing one can have a positive effect on the other.

About Depression and Diabetes

Though the relationship between diabetes and depression isn't fully understood there are some things we know:

• The rigors of managing diabetes can be stressful and lead to symptoms of depression.

• Diabetes can cause complications and health problems that may worsen symptoms of depression.

• Depression can lead to poor lifestyle decisions, such as unhealthy eating, less exercise, smoking and weight gain — all of which are risk factors for diabetes and diabetic complications.

• Depression affects your ability to perform tasks, communicate and think clearly. This can interfere with your ability to successfully manage diabetes.

Weighing the Options

There is no “magic bullet” when it comes to treating depression or managing diabetes. It is important to weigh the benefits and costs of treatments. While antidepressant medications can be effective in lessening symptoms, they do not address the underlying cause of the depression and have many side effects that can further complicate diabetes. 

Some of the most common side effects of antidepressant medications are nausea, increased appetite and weight gain, loss of sexual desire, fatigue and drowsiness, insomnia, dry mouth, blurred vision, and constipation. Each of these things can impact one’s ability to manage their blood sugar consistently. So, it makes sense to start exploring other ways of treating depression in diabetics. When we are able to treat the causes of depression along with managing the symptoms, the overall success improves.

Diabetes programs that focus on behavior have been successful in helping people improve their metabolic control, increase fitness levels, and manage weight loss and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. They can also help resolve depression, lover stress, and improve your quality of life.

Effective Treatments for Depression

Medications for both diabetes and depression, along with lifestyle changes including regular exercise, and different types of therapy can improve both diabetes and depression.

Healthy eating when you have depression may also mean avoiding certain foods and beverages. For example, foods and drinks that are high in added sugars, such as processed foods, soft drinks, and sugary snack foods, may cause blood sugar levels to go up and down dramatically during the day. This may have a negative effect on mood and energy levels. It’s also a good idea to avoid alcohol, which can make depression worse. For some people, caffeine may also contribute to depression.

Exercise can also have a positive effect on your mood and energy level. Not only does exercise reduce depression, it gives people a sense of self-mastery and empowerment. Because exercise is a tool people can learn to use on their own, the results are often more effective and longer lasting than taking a medication. Walking is one of the best exercises for your mind and body, and can be done almost anywhere.

Talk therapy, or psychotherapy, is another valuable tool to combat depression. Two kinds of therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy, have been found to be especially useful in treating depression. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) helps you look at how negative thoughts and behaviors may be contributing to your depression and teaches you how to make positive changes in how you think. Interpersonal therapy can help you improve your relationships with family and friends, so you feel better.

Talk therapy can last anywhere from several weeks to several years and can be one-on-one with a therapist or in a group. Many people combine therapy with other treatments, such as medication, diet and exercise, and complementary therapies.

Hypnosis may be one of the last things you’d think to add to your diabetes management plan, but you’d be missing out on some pretty significant benefits. Today, medical doctors are recognizing the benefits of hypnosis as a treatment option, so that you can have the best of both worlds by adding hypnosis to their diabetic treatment plan and helping their patients have more control.

As most people with diabetes already know, blood sugar is impacted by just about everything, including emotions, sleep patterns, stress, illness, physical activity, and eating habits. All these aspects of our lives are habit-driven, and hypnosis is one of the most efficient and effective tools for changing habits.

Your mind and body are complicated and have many different moving parts with many different needs. The best and most beneficial treatment involves combining different methods. In the same way that combining diet and exercise is more effective when losing weight, adding hypnosis to your diabetic treatment plan can make all of your interventions more effective.

Be Mindful

If you have diabetes, watch for signs and symptoms of depression, such as loss of interest in normal activities, feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and unexplained physical problems such as back pain or headaches. If you think you might be depressed, seek help right away. Your doctor or diabetes educator can refer you to a mental health professional.

We encourage people with diabetes and their loved ones to learn as much as possible about the latest medical therapies and approaches, as well as healthy lifestyle choices. This, plus good communication with a team of experts, can help you feel in control and better able to respond to changing needs.

Making healthy choices and taking steps to manage your diabetes can mean the difference between living with diabetes and thriving. It's time to thrive by finding a balance of nutrition, physical activity and mental health management.∎

Karen Gray is a Certified Professional Hypnotist, a Certified Hypnosis Instructor, a Registered Nurse, and the Director of Green Mountain Hypnosis. For more information on how you can use hypnosis to change your life, click the link below

Consider that almost 30 million people in the United States have some form of diabetes, and one in four are undiagnosed. November has been designated as National Diabetes Month to boost awareness about the risk factors, symptoms, treatments, and types of diabetes.

In the treatment of diabetes, there are at least two absolute truths.

One. Everything affects your insulin needs. 

Two. Steady glucose and insulin levels decrease the occurrence of complications.

Stress, illness, hunger, hormones, altitude, physical fitness, diet, activity, depression, insecurities, ability to move, pancreatic motivation, heart function, circulation, respiratory status, lymph systems, and emotional states - literally everything in and around your body affect how much insulin your body needs. When you are able to control and stabilize these things, you have better control over your diabetes.

Diabetes is a physical disorder and, like most other physical states, it is heavily impacted by psychological stresses as well as self-care behaviors and medication. Experts agree that changes in lifestyle is the cornerstone of diabetes treatment. Any intervention that is able to achieve good control of blood sugar, prevent complications of diabetes, improve a patient's quality of life, and decrease diabetes risk factors is certainly worth exploring.

Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of hypnosis as part of the integrative treatment of many conditions that traditional medicine has found difficult to treat. In fact, hypnosis has shown not only to reduce anxiety in medical conditions but also change physical parameters and has been effective in the management of diabetes, including regulation of blood sugar, increased compliance, and weight loss in adults as well as adolescents.

One of the most problematic complications of diabetes is a diabetic foot ulcer. Hypnosis has proven to be effective in increasing peripheral blood circulation and decreasing diabetic foot problems. Hypnosis is also used to decrease the feedback of diabetic neuropathy, easing the discomfort or eliminating it altogether.

Hypnotic suggestions can be a motivational coach and may be used effectively to alter beliefs and behaviors. Hypnosis is helpful in increasing compliance for exercise, diet, treatment compliance, fear of needles, and other lifestyle changes that may be required for diabetes management, including stress reduction that is associated with better metabolic control. 

Hypnosis is also a helpful tool to induce relaxation, decrease psychological components such as depression, and accelerate wound healing. Another advantage of hypnosis is that patients can be taught self-hypnosis. This means that they can continue to reinforce the suggestions at home, increasing the patient’s sense of control over the disease and enhancing treatment outcomes.

Hypnosis can help people with diabetes because it has been proven to be a powerful method of helping people to change. 

The Role of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a way to produce rapid, permanent change. You are probably already aware that it helps people quit smoking and lose weight. Here are some more specific ways that hypnosis can be an effective part of the treatment regimen for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics.

Improve Compliance

In many cases patients struggle to stick to their doctor’s plan for a healthier lifestyle. Hypnosis helps to remove the blocks that may be preventing you from following your diabetic care plan. Hypnosis can help you to avoid cravings and emotional eating, increase your motivation to exercise and test consistently, and remember to take medications. Once those issues have been resolved, it becomes easy and natural to follow better eating patterns, exercise more, lose weight and get control of diabetes.

Reducing Stress

Hypnosis is a very deep state of relaxation and that relaxation plays a critical role in better health. Controlling anxiety and stress is one of hypnosis’ best kept secrets as it relates to managing diabetes. Increased stress, whether physical or emotional, throws your blood sugar out of balance. Hypnosis allows you to change the way you react to stressful things so that you experience less stress, and your blood sugar stays more stable. 

The Subconscious Mind’s Effect on the Pancreas

Under hypnosis the hypnotherapist can tap into the subconscious mind and offer suggestions for the body to produce the proper levels of insulin. Because your whole body is regulated and controlled by the subconscious mind, the subconscious mind has the ability to relieve common ailments and diseases. Similar strategies are used under hypnosis to help mothers produce breast milk and alleviate pain during childbirth.

Reducing Depression and Emotional Eating

Studies show that people with diabetes are at an increased risk for depression which can lead to complications that make it more difficult to manage insulin levels. Hypnosis can reduce negative thinking and increase self-confidence, reducing symptoms of depression and helping to improve overall mental health and better manage diabetes.

Breaking the Cycle of Bad Habits

Hypnosis is used around the world helping millions to reduce and reverse negative behaviors that lead to diabetes like smoking, overeating, snacking on sweets, being sedentary and more. The power of suggestion to the subconscious mind can literally reprogram you to make better and healthier choices.

Fear of Needles

Fingersticks and insulin injections are a way of life for many diabetics, and a fear of needles can keep someone from following their treatment plan. Hypnosis is already used to help people resolve fears and phobias, and is perfect for those who struggle with needles.

Whether you are diabetic, or you know someone who is, you are probably aware of the struggles in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, balancing medications and exercise, and finding the best treatment that fits a person’s individual needs.  There are many ways that hypnosis can help from the moment someone is diagnosed with diabetes and throughout their treatment.∎

This article references medical studies found here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18058487

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5738869/