Visualizing Eating Habit Changes

I recently read Paul McKenna's "I Can Make You Thin". Initially I hesitated to open that book, because I believed it was another weight loss diet approach. To my surprise, the author promoted all the intuitive eating principles (eat when hungry, foods you enjoy, stop when full) that I have used for the past 8 years. However, he also presented visualization techniques and includes with his book a CD which describes a relaxed visualization technique, reminiscent of weight loss hypnosis. I really liked his suggestions about visualizing my body at my ideal weight, visualizing myself eating very slowly and savoring each bite, but especially feeling calm in situations where I normally felt stress and wanted to eat to cope with emotions. Those suggestions covered my 3 eating challenges, (1) motivation to practice new habits; (2) believing I can actually eat differently (slowly and focused); and (3) coping with emotional stress without using eating to calm myself.

Above all, Paul McKenna's approach focusses on changing beliefs about eating by encouraging the reader to visualize themselves actually doing something different. However, I didn't previously didn't realize I lacked motivation to change. So I waffled between eating intuitively (only when hungry and stopping when full) and eating to distract myself from emotional pain, because I AM fairly thin. Nevertheless, I realize consistently eating according to hunger/fullness keeps me thin. When I increase my emotional eating, I gain weight or develop other health-related problems (like headaches or candida after bingeing on sugar too often). So visualization can motivate me to continue doing what I know works. Also visualization allows me to practice focussing while I eat and coping with stress without eating, even before I confront food or feelings.

I've listened to the CD visualization exercise for the past 3 days. I noticed that I now prefer to eat without distractions. I'm eating much more slowly. I no longer crave more after I finish my meal. I don't 'need' desserts or something sweet after I feel full. When I'm upset about something, I don't want to eat something or crave specific foods. I feel my emotions and experience sadness, frustration, confusion, or anxiety, rather than hunger. However, I don't feel so overwhelmed by those feelings that I want to eat to distract myself. I recall specific suggestions from the CD addressed situations like eating slowly, focusing on my meal, and feeling calm rather than scared of emotions.

I'm beginning to appreciate the importance of not only visualizing goals, but also visualizing myself practicing specific steps or new habits to reach those goals. I don't endorse all the techniques in Paul McKenna's book. I prefer to acknowledge the source of my emotional stress and challenge the beliefs and self-talk that increase my stress, rather than use the 'tapping' technique. However, the visualization exercises on the CD certainly influenced my attitude and eating habits during the past few days.