Look into my eyes

I have a problem with food. Nothing so serious as anorexia or bulimia but an irritating problem nonetheless. I have days when I simply cannot stop eating. I can eat a good meal and be nicely full but my tastebuds are still insisting that they are not satisfied so I have to have something sweet. Then they decide that they need something savoury. Then back to sweet and so on it goes, yo-yoing between the two until it's time for bed. Even then, I can wake up in the middle of the night and my first thought will be "I need food". Fortunately, I've learned not to give in to these middle of the night tastebud demands.

Funnily enough, my boss has a similar problem and a few years ago she went to a hypnotherapist to help her deal with it. As part of the package she had a cassette tape given to her to listen to at home. She lent me the tape this week to see if it would help me. I've had hypnotherapy before and it was not a great success so I had my doubts but on the basis of nothing ventured nothing gained, I felt it was worth giving it a go. I got myself all settled and put the tape on. It starts with getting you to relax your body and takes you into a semi-trance like state. I was still completely aware of what was going on and really thought it wasn't working, until the time she suggested trying to open the eyelids to test how relaxed you are - if you are, you can't open them. I couldn't open them. Panic? You bet I did!

However, I persevered and fell asleep half way through. Which I think is part of the plan as she then makes suggestions that are supposed to sit themselves into your subconscious. Things like sweet things - all you're doing is putting a teaspoon of sugar in your mouth and greasy foods - a frying pan swimming with fat. Yeah, OK, whatever, it's going to take something fairly hard-hitting to wean me off my sweet tooth. When I finally woke up, I have to say that I felt very relaxed and had the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. If nothing else, that was a bonus.

But then the next day when I got my usual sweet craving and started to wonder what I could find in the cupboard to satisfy it, all I could picture was putting a teaspoon of sugar in my mouth, which, let's face it, is a pretty disgusting thought. So I'm happy to report that it seems to be working! The sweet cravings haven't disappeared but I seem to be able to dismiss them without caving in and not giving them another thought. Yay! Target weight of 10 stone here I come!!