Wellbeing

I can resist everything except temptation

When we first arrived in Marlborough from the cold climes of North Yorkshire, I remember well that Marlborough was called the Gourmet Province… mussels, salmon, wine, luxury foods. But now every second building seems to house fast food, fatty food, unhealthy temptations. And wine is now ever more available. This has become a battle of the bulge for many. How easy is it now to pop into a dairy, a café, even a petrol station to grab a pie, or a sandwich or a bar of chocolate? What about the profusion of fast food takeaways to grab at the end of a long and tiring day? Bridget was a typical client who felt uncomfortable, frumpy and desperately wanted to regain control over her eating, in fact, over her life. She would have loved to go into a shop and buy some lovely clothes, but had lost all confidence. While she was phoning me to make an appointment, she had just polished off a bar of chocolate. The first time I met her, I explained to her that, while she was sitting in my super comfortable chair, she would feel more relaxed than she had ever felt. And during this time, I would be able to address the bad eating and lifestyle habits she has got into by using a wonderfully successful technique called Virtual Gastric Banding After asking her many questions, including what she felt had contributed to her weightgain, I felt I had a clear picture. For many clients, weight gain could be caused by emotional trauma, stress, anxiety, boredom, loneliness, so this was an important consideration for me. In Bridget’s case, it was what she called ‘sugar addiction.’ Having found out so much about her, her life, and her background, I explained what we would be doing over the four sessions. I told her emphatically that this was not about dieting, or depriving herself, but just about controlling the amount of food, and the type of food she was eating. I would do this by getting her to use her imagination so she would no longer be interested at all in eating any sugary and fatty foods. By doing this, she would start to crave a healthier lifestyle and begin taking exercise on a daily basis. This would happen automatically. (Of course, she was fortunate in that she was physically able to take exercise. For those who can’t for some reason, we come up with alternatives.) We laid out some very simple rules, she agreed readily and we went ahead with the first session. Many clients are really puzzled at this point. They walk out of my door feeling super relaxed, but otherwise feeling that nothing has changed. However, when they return the following week, the most common remark is “Wow, Chris, the week was weird, what did you do?” In Bridget’s case, she told me that I had ruined her life! She had not only had no sugary stuff all week, but even chocolate had totally lost its appeal. She no longer even thought about it – it had the appeal of soap powder. Some clients drink a little too much wine – and suddenly, wine no longer has the appeal it used to. So, what happens with weight loss? Simply, it happens, sometimes slowly, sometime fast. But providing people follow the simple rules, which include listening to an MP3 recording every day, they feel better, have more energy, are more motivated and excited about life. So go ahead, appreciate all the wonderful food and wine Marlborough has to offer – but do so in moderation, in a way that becomes easy and automatic.

Give Chris a call today to take control and change your life.

Owing to client privacy and confidentiality, the client’s name/s in these articles are changed.