We get a lot of information from a huge range of media - magazines, telly etc - where people are trying to sell us something.
There is masses of information coming to us about food - not just the tv programmes and adverts, but the variety of food in the supermarket and the range of eating places in the high street. These are "messages to eat".
And on the other hand, we get messages about what we should look like. There was a report published this week seeking to control the images of women portrayed in the media, with all that airbrushing, which puts pressure on girls to present themselves as sexy before they are old enough to know what is going on. And at the same time, these images encourage men to consider women as only interesting if they are sexy.
This sort of advertising puts a huge pressure on women to conform to unrealistic expectations. And is the major cause of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder and body dissatisfaction and perhaps surprisingly, obesity.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Friday 26 February 2010
Thursday 25 February 2010
Images of women in the media
Permit me to bang on again about images of women in the media. Have a close look at how women's bodies are used in advertising.
While advertising car tyres with naked ladies is now considered old-fashioned, the current images are pretty ropey. Images of men show them bigging it up on the squash court, or smiling in their car, working on a building site and usually you see the face or the whole, clothed body. Women on the other hand are portrayed crawling on the floor in great need of a simmett. Or leaning against a man. Or offered to us in body parts. And mostly scantily clad. Read more here.
Portrayal of women still shows us as being submissive sex objects. Click here for an interesting read on why we should become media literate. It is important, because we are bombarded with these messages about our role in life - be sexy, be thin, be available. Whereas the real women that we are want to be busy, active, indepe
ndent.
And airbrushed images give an idea of an unattainable perfection - even the stars don't achieve it in real life.
Ads are designed largely by men for men. Look at this ad.
The following blurb comes from a great essay which you can read here. (Assigment Sex Sells from the University of Aberystwyth)
" Not only does the model here, expose much of her upper torso, but her hand provocatively pulls on her clothes and her left hand playing suggestively with her earring. The model is also looking directly into the camera, whichever angle you view it from her eyes are staring straight at you. Please also note how the fragrance name ‘J’adore’ is shaped around the models breast, connotations of love, sexual desire and seduction are prominent here. note how the fragrance name ‘J’adore’ is shaped around the models breast, connotations of love, sexual desire and seduction are prominent here".
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
While advertising car tyres with naked ladies is now considered old-fashioned, the current images are pretty ropey. Images of men show them bigging it up on the squash court, or smiling in their car, working on a building site and usually you see the face or the whole, clothed body. Women on the other hand are portrayed crawling on the floor in great need of a simmett. Or leaning against a man. Or offered to us in body parts. And mostly scantily clad. Read more here.
Portrayal of women still shows us as being submissive sex objects. Click here for an interesting read on why we should become media literate. It is important, because we are bombarded with these messages about our role in life - be sexy, be thin, be available. Whereas the real women that we are want to be busy, active, indepe
ndent.
And airbrushed images give an idea of an unattainable perfection - even the stars don't achieve it in real life.
Ads are designed largely by men for men. Look at this ad.
" Not only does the model here, expose much of her upper torso, but her hand provocatively pulls on her clothes and her left hand playing suggestively with her earring. The model is also looking directly into the camera, whichever angle you view it from her eyes are staring straight at you. Please also note how the fragrance name ‘J’adore’ is shaped around the models breast, connotations of love, sexual desire and seduction are prominent here. note how the fragrance name ‘J’adore’ is shaped around the models breast, connotations of love, sexual desire and seduction are prominent here".
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Wednesday 24 February 2010
Are you food savvy?
This is an interesting and fun quiz on healthy eating!! Some of the answers are surprising. And there are other quizzes to take too.
We are all bombarded with food information every day, and it is had to sort out the valuable food messages from all this confusion.
When we are trying to control our weight, we are automatically routed to think about dieting. But most people who go on diets end up putting weight on. Why is this. The cycle of Diet Deprive and Deny makes us even more interested in food. We get food-obsessed. And we start believing silly things. One of my clients the other day recounted this overheard conversation:
Mmm, this chocolate bar contains 150 calories....
Well, try the Weight Watchers one, it is only 113.
Changing your way of eating so that you maintain a good weight and good health is not about just saving a few calories here and there. Hypnotherapy will help you identify your problem habits, work out a way to overcome them and then support your motivation, so that you automatically make positive choices. Much easier.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
We are all bombarded with food information every day, and it is had to sort out the valuable food messages from all this confusion.
When we are trying to control our weight, we are automatically routed to think about dieting. But most people who go on diets end up putting weight on. Why is this. The cycle of Diet Deprive and Deny makes us even more interested in food. We get food-obsessed. And we start believing silly things. One of my clients the other day recounted this overheard conversation:
Mmm, this chocolate bar contains 150 calories....
Well, try the Weight Watchers one, it is only 113.
Changing your way of eating so that you maintain a good weight and good health is not about just saving a few calories here and there. Hypnotherapy will help you identify your problem habits, work out a way to overcome them and then support your motivation, so that you automatically make positive choices. Much easier.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Monday 22 February 2010
Eating in front of the telly
Research suggests that sitting for hours in front of the telly will get you fat. Men who watch more than 3 hours of TV a day are twice as likely to become obese as those who watched less than one hour per day. Read it! This isn't a gender thing, just that the research was done on men.
In part, this is because you are sitting down doing nothing, so your metabolism slows down to be similar to sleeping. Even talking on the phone uses more calories than watching the box! Do something! Being active reduces your risk of low mood and depression too (a lot of eat more when we are depressed.)
We also tend to eat snacks while watching the TV. And at peak times (and in childrens tv time as well) we are watching adverts for chocolates and drinks, and a whole range of snack food. Advertising wouldn't be done if it didn't work. Recent research shows that from only half an hour of telly a day, the increased snacks triggered by advertising could lead to 10 pounds weight gain in a year.
If you are engrossed in the telly, then you are not fully mindful of the food you are eating. You could eat a whole meal's value of calories without even noticing.
So if you are concerned about your weight, here are some tips.
1. Watch less telly.
2. Measure out a portion of snack, so that you are more aware of how much you are eating. Research shows that if you eat from a large package, you will eat more than if you eat from a small package. Store the remainder out of easy reach, so that if you refill your portion, you are aware of what you are doing.
3. Work on being aware of what you are eating.
Try to make a few small changes every week. If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try hypnotherapy with me.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
In part, this is because you are sitting down doing nothing, so your metabolism slows down to be similar to sleeping. Even talking on the phone uses more calories than watching the box! Do something! Being active reduces your risk of low mood and depression too (a lot of eat more when we are depressed.)
We also tend to eat snacks while watching the TV. And at peak times (and in childrens tv time as well) we are watching adverts for chocolates and drinks, and a whole range of snack food. Advertising wouldn't be done if it didn't work. Recent research shows that from only half an hour of telly a day, the increased snacks triggered by advertising could lead to 10 pounds weight gain in a year.
If you are engrossed in the telly, then you are not fully mindful of the food you are eating. You could eat a whole meal's value of calories without even noticing.
So if you are concerned about your weight, here are some tips.
1. Watch less telly.
2. Measure out a portion of snack, so that you are more aware of how much you are eating. Research shows that if you eat from a large package, you will eat more than if you eat from a small package. Store the remainder out of easy reach, so that if you refill your portion, you are aware of what you are doing.
3. Work on being aware of what you are eating.
Try to make a few small changes every week. If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try hypnotherapy with me.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Sunday 21 February 2010
Working mothers in trouble again
New research shows that children of working mothers lead unhealthier lifestyles than where the mother does not work. Most women work nowadays, so the report refers to the majority of us.
What are the things that constitute an unhealthy lifestyle, according to this report. Well, it is the things that I bang on about, which are bad for all of us, and which are marketed actively at adults and children alike - sugary drinks, crisps, snacks. None of us need them, even though they are nice (they are designed by experts to be nice!) I don't know what the non-working mum is doing, but maybe she is cooking more, rather than relying on processed packaged foods. Cooking at home and eating together at a table are things I support.
Sweets too are a problem. Cardiff University research shows that eating sweets everyday in childhood is linked to adult aggression. They haven't identified why. But we already know that certain foods cause hyperactivity in our children. We are lucky in this generation to have generally more cash, and we give treats to our children every day - making them routine rather than treats. Perhaps our grannies who kept the biscuit tin and the sweetie jar hidden till Sunday were doing the right thing by us after all.
The other thing was that children of working mothers are less active. Women lead busy lives. Perhaps we ought to all get a bit more active and spend less time in front of the telly. There was no mention of the role of the dad in this research. What was he doing?
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
What are the things that constitute an unhealthy lifestyle, according to this report. Well, it is the things that I bang on about, which are bad for all of us, and which are marketed actively at adults and children alike - sugary drinks, crisps, snacks. None of us need them, even though they are nice (they are designed by experts to be nice!) I don't know what the non-working mum is doing, but maybe she is cooking more, rather than relying on processed packaged foods. Cooking at home and eating together at a table are things I support.
Sweets too are a problem. Cardiff University research shows that eating sweets everyday in childhood is linked to adult aggression. They haven't identified why. But we already know that certain foods cause hyperactivity in our children. We are lucky in this generation to have generally more cash, and we give treats to our children every day - making them routine rather than treats. Perhaps our grannies who kept the biscuit tin and the sweetie jar hidden till Sunday were doing the right thing by us after all.
The other thing was that children of working mothers are less active. Women lead busy lives. Perhaps we ought to all get a bit more active and spend less time in front of the telly. There was no mention of the role of the dad in this research. What was he doing?
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Saturday 13 February 2010
Take care who you sit next to!
Without realising it, our eating is affected by the person we sit next to.
If it is a really fat person, then we will eat a bit less than them. Their weight serves as a warning to us. But if we sit next to a skinny with a huge portion, then we automatically, without thinking, get the idea that it is okay to pile on the food. This research is from the University of Chicago. Click here for a Youtube of an actress in a fat suit affecting the portions taken by students in a cafeteria.
We are affected by all sorts of cues when it comes to eating. Knowing what triggers your eating will help a lot!
http://www.carolinebrowntherapy.com/
If it is a really fat person, then we will eat a bit less than them. Their weight serves as a warning to us. But if we sit next to a skinny with a huge portion, then we automatically, without thinking, get the idea that it is okay to pile on the food. This research is from the University of Chicago. Click here for a Youtube of an actress in a fat suit affecting the portions taken by students in a cafeteria.
We are affected by all sorts of cues when it comes to eating. Knowing what triggers your eating will help a lot!
http://www.carolinebrowntherapy.com/
Friday 12 February 2010
New Rule! Use Cutlery!
One of the big changes in our lifetime compared to our mother's or grandmother's time, is eating with our hands. In those days, they didn't really have access to much handfood, and they ate their meals with cutlery sitting at the table. They weighed on average 10lbs less than we do now.
Of course it is not just about cutlery, but going through the ritual of laying a table for your meal makes you more aware of your eating. It becomes a planned event. Compare that with eating out of the packet, on the hoof etc. Mindless eating, automatic eating is one of the ways in which we are getting heavier. Think of the things that we eat without thinking, and you will realise that these are handfoods rather than sitting-at-a-table-with-cutlery foods - pizzas, burgers, pies, sweets, chocolate, cakes, popcorn, crisps. And these foods are full of fat and salt or full of fat and sugar - the fastest way to gain weight.
So a simple rule is Always Eat with Cutlery. And you will find that you are easily giving up the most calorie-packed foods.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Of course it is not just about cutlery, but going through the ritual of laying a table for your meal makes you more aware of your eating. It becomes a planned event. Compare that with eating out of the packet, on the hoof etc. Mindless eating, automatic eating is one of the ways in which we are getting heavier. Think of the things that we eat without thinking, and you will realise that these are handfoods rather than sitting-at-a-table-with-cutlery foods - pizzas, burgers, pies, sweets, chocolate, cakes, popcorn, crisps. And these foods are full of fat and salt or full of fat and sugar - the fastest way to gain weight.
So a simple rule is Always Eat with Cutlery. And you will find that you are easily giving up the most calorie-packed foods.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Monday 8 February 2010
How to manage cravings
Cravings seem to arise out of the blue and we are overcome with the need to eat the craved item, often sweet things for women. Well, the key thing to know is that like a screaming child, if you ignore them, they eventually stop, and if you keep ignoring them, they will stop for ever altogether.
So how to ignore cravings.
Well, one way is to identify what is triggering them. It is not hunger. It could be your routine. For example, if you have always had a snack at 3.00pm your cravings will arrive on the dot. If you always eat in the car on the way home, they will be there too. If you walk past a sweet shop and always buy chocolate or crisps with your paper, you will repeat the actions on and on. So these are environmental and habit-based triggers for cravings. Change your route, have no food in the car, stop snacking at 3.00pm. And if the trigger is boredom, develop a portable hobby so that you can distract yourself. And if I might bang on about this again, if you always munch away at chocs and crisps in front of the telly, just turning the telly on turns your belly on.
Changing behaviour in these relatively small ways is quite easy. You don't have to deal with everything all at once. One or two a week is quite enough. Then what?
When cravings come, ignore them. Distract yourself. This could be by going for a walk, phoning a friend, washing the car. Just tapping your finger onto your hand for a few minutes is also quite distracting.
Cravings disappear in only a few minutes. You can handle that!
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
So how to ignore cravings.
Well, one way is to identify what is triggering them. It is not hunger. It could be your routine. For example, if you have always had a snack at 3.00pm your cravings will arrive on the dot. If you always eat in the car on the way home, they will be there too. If you walk past a sweet shop and always buy chocolate or crisps with your paper, you will repeat the actions on and on. So these are environmental and habit-based triggers for cravings. Change your route, have no food in the car, stop snacking at 3.00pm. And if the trigger is boredom, develop a portable hobby so that you can distract yourself. And if I might bang on about this again, if you always munch away at chocs and crisps in front of the telly, just turning the telly on turns your belly on.
Changing behaviour in these relatively small ways is quite easy. You don't have to deal with everything all at once. One or two a week is quite enough. Then what?
When cravings come, ignore them. Distract yourself. This could be by going for a walk, phoning a friend, washing the car. Just tapping your finger onto your hand for a few minutes is also quite distracting.
Cravings disappear in only a few minutes. You can handle that!
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Thursday 4 February 2010
The diet industry is growing fatter and fatter
The diet industry is vast - about $70billion a year. Huge food companies, like Kraft, have diet product businesses - fattening us up on the one hand and then selling us stuff when we want to lose weight. And the reason Big Business are in the diet industry, is because we keep failing at maintaining our diets. We put the weight back on again and again. Pretty much everyone does. None of us can keep up a lifestyle of diet, deny and deprive for long.
I bang on about changing behaviour and habits rather than going on diets. Diets are fine in the short term, if you want to go on the beach in the summer, then a crash diet will help.
I think Julia Roberts was speaking the truth in Notting Hill when she said she had been hungry for 10 years. And in an interview with Jenny Murray on Radio 4, Joan Collins said that it was her job to keep looking good, so she spent up to 8 hours a day primping, preening and exercising, before she went out to face her public. What are they telling us here? Well, it is that they have made a lifestyle choice. They have habits that help them to achieve the goals they have set for themselves (pretty tough goals, but the rewards of obviously huge for them!)
So let me bang on again. If you feel you are heavier than you want to be, look at your lifestyle. What habits do you have that encourage weight gain?
Most of us do not get fat by eating 3 meals a day. Research has shown that the calorie content of our 3 meals has been flatlining. It is the hidden 4th meal that puts on the pounds. Getting out of established habits is not easy, but you will have done it lots of times. When you change job, you change habits. When you get a new partner, you change your habits too.
Think about these new habits, making one or two changes each week. Don't do it all at once.
www.arolinebrowntherapy.com
I bang on about changing behaviour and habits rather than going on diets. Diets are fine in the short term, if you want to go on the beach in the summer, then a crash diet will help.
I think Julia Roberts was speaking the truth in Notting Hill when she said she had been hungry for 10 years. And in an interview with Jenny Murray on Radio 4, Joan Collins said that it was her job to keep looking good, so she spent up to 8 hours a day primping, preening and exercising, before she went out to face her public. What are they telling us here? Well, it is that they have made a lifestyle choice. They have habits that help them to achieve the goals they have set for themselves (pretty tough goals, but the rewards of obviously huge for them!)
So let me bang on again. If you feel you are heavier than you want to be, look at your lifestyle. What habits do you have that encourage weight gain?
Most of us do not get fat by eating 3 meals a day. Research has shown that the calorie content of our 3 meals has been flatlining. It is the hidden 4th meal that puts on the pounds. Getting out of established habits is not easy, but you will have done it lots of times. When you change job, you change habits. When you get a new partner, you change your habits too.
Think about these new habits, making one or two changes each week. Don't do it all at once.
- No more fizzy drinks. Even diet ones. You are training your taste buds to want sweet stuff. And they don't refresh thirst. Train yourself to drink water when you are thirsty.
- Cut down the takeaways. You really don't know what they contain. Just look at the orange fat floating on the surface.
- Don't watch the telly when you eat (you don't notice your food and you eat much more). Eat at a table whenever you can.
www.arolinebrowntherapy.com
Wednesday 3 February 2010
Using your belly as a bin
The generation that was told to eat everything on their plate find leaving food very tricky.
So when you go to the fridge and see the remains of a meal, there is a powerful urge to eat it, to avoid waste. Don't tidy your fridge by eating up the contents.
These suggestions from your childhood are persistent and powerful. What can you do to overcome them?
Well, hypnosis can embed new suggestions, permitting you to throw food away. In hypnosis, you can learn to always leave your plate half eaten. Breaking the instruction to eat everything up needs a bit of support. However, many of us feel strongly about food waste. Hypnosis can help you develop new habits, simple things - like cooking smaller quantities or cooking a bit more so that you can store some in the freezer. Sometimes we just need to be able to focus.
You may feel that to be eco-friendly, you can't use the oven to heat up or bake just a small portion. So you could think about getting a small table top oven.
You might keep a dog - scraps and bones are apparently the ideal diet! Or chickens, so when you throw food out it doesn't feel so wasteful. Whatever works for you.
But your belly is not the bin. Don't fill it with rubbish.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
So when you go to the fridge and see the remains of a meal, there is a powerful urge to eat it, to avoid waste. Don't tidy your fridge by eating up the contents.
These suggestions from your childhood are persistent and powerful. What can you do to overcome them?
Well, hypnosis can embed new suggestions, permitting you to throw food away. In hypnosis, you can learn to always leave your plate half eaten. Breaking the instruction to eat everything up needs a bit of support. However, many of us feel strongly about food waste. Hypnosis can help you develop new habits, simple things - like cooking smaller quantities or cooking a bit more so that you can store some in the freezer. Sometimes we just need to be able to focus.
You may feel that to be eco-friendly, you can't use the oven to heat up or bake just a small portion. So you could think about getting a small table top oven.
You might keep a dog - scraps and bones are apparently the ideal diet! Or chickens, so when you throw food out it doesn't feel so wasteful. Whatever works for you.
But your belly is not the bin. Don't fill it with rubbish.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Tuesday 2 February 2010
Disturbed body image affects men too
Most research on body image relates to women. But a nice piece in the American Journal of Psychiatry shows that men are trying to achieve bodies that women don't actually want of them.
They worked with men from 3 different countries (culture is a very important driver in body image) and found that the men wanted about 12 pounds more muscle, which they thought was attractive to women. However, the women wanted normal looking men. The researchers suggest that maybe this mismatch is one of the reasons why men are increasingly using steroids.
Striving after unachievable goals just makes you unhappy.
What makes you happy? Here is a really good list from the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing in Glasgow, drawing on sources such as Assen Alladin - a great cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who shows us the huge benefit we get from doing difficult work, and Diener and Seligman at the University of Illinois, who found that happy people developed and maintained their kinships and friendships. If you are finding you are not as happy as before, then meet up with a hypnotherapist and start work on getting happy.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
They worked with men from 3 different countries (culture is a very important driver in body image) and found that the men wanted about 12 pounds more muscle, which they thought was attractive to women. However, the women wanted normal looking men. The researchers suggest that maybe this mismatch is one of the reasons why men are increasingly using steroids.
Striving after unachievable goals just makes you unhappy.
What makes you happy? Here is a really good list from the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing in Glasgow, drawing on sources such as Assen Alladin - a great cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who shows us the huge benefit we get from doing difficult work, and Diener and Seligman at the University of Illinois, who found that happy people developed and maintained their kinships and friendships. If you are finding you are not as happy as before, then meet up with a hypnotherapist and start work on getting happy.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
