Mind Body Medicine for Obesity, Weight Control, Weight Loss, Strategies for Weight Loss, Dieting, Holisticonline.com

Mind-body techniques offer a powerful set of strategies to lose weight easily, and for good. "As a man thinketh, so is he." It has been proven over and over again that what you are imagining right now will be what your life gives you in the future. Very often our mental image is in conflict with what we want to accomplish. We fill our mind with doubts and negative thinking. This does not help us in accomplishing our goal of a healthy, fit body. When you mentally prepare yourself to lose weight, your body responds to this subconscious coaching by learning that it wants to be thin. Fattening foods become less enticing, you begin to crave healthy foods and to desire to move around more, enabling you to reach the weight loss goals you've been yearning for for so long.

There are several mind-body techniques such as imagery and visualization that are very effective in your weight-loss journey. Hypnotherapy, guided imagery, and yoga may help with weight loss by altering the way you relate to food.

We become what we think or say. Picture yourself looking thin and wearing a sleek black cocktail dress can make that dream come true with proper actions.

The mind-body connection centers in the hypothalamus, the section of your brain that regulates the autonomic nervous system, which controls automatic processes such as breathing. The hypothalamus regulates two branches of the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic, which responds to stress and gets the heart pumping, and the parasympathetic, which calms the body's responses. These parts of the brain are set up so they'll respond to our thinking and feelings. So if your brain regulates your body and your thoughts regulate your brain, it only makes sense that you can affect many of your physical responses.

Roadmap to Losing Weight and Staying Healthy

Debbie Johnson, author of "Think Yourself Thin: The Visualization Technique that will make you lose weight without diet or exercise" recommends the following steps to lose weight and to stay "thin." It provides a great roadmap.

Use the unconscious to Push You forward

When you consciously control your thoughts, you can change your self-image and body. What do you want to achieve? Imagine it constantly. Pretend like a child that it is true now.

Accept and Love Yourself Just as You are Now

Write down your five best qualities and read them whenever you feel your self-image is waning.

Focus on Your Key Image (Remember to Relax)

Write down your key image for thinking thin. Focus on it daily.
Repeat your Key Phrases as much as Possible. Examples of key phrases:

"I am happy; healthy, and slim!"
"People are beginning to notice my new slim body."
"I love my new slender, graceful figure!"
"The more I think thin, the more I eat, exercise, and am thin."
"Every single thing I eat makes my body beautiful and slim."

Make a personal tape recording of your key image and phrase. Listen to it right before you go to sleep, in your car, or when relaxing.

Believe Only What Your Images Inside Convey to You

No matter what your outer circumstances may convey, you will become thin by believing that you are thin now. It has been proven over and over again that what you are imagining right now will be what your life gives you in the future. Do whatever it takes to convince the mind. Every cell in your body reacts to your thoughts. How do you want them to respond?

Be Grateful for Every Single Bit of Progress You make

Write love notes to God, or just say thank you inside for the progress you have made just by putting the effort forth with love. Accept every compliment as true. You will see results by doing so.

Remember Who You Are-and Have a Ball With This!

You are a glowing, loving being called Soul. No matter what happens, you have become a brighter light already, just by recognizing your own sovereignty over the mind, emotions, and physical self!

Make thinking thin as fun as you can, and you will automatically be operating from the highest perspective, that of Soul. The joyful, playful, childlike state will bring you best results. Play at imagining your key images as if it were a simple game. See how far you can go. You may be very surprised!

Here are descriptions and applications of specific mind-body interventions for weight control: