ations of society can be too much. As children we were rewarded with sweets and as adults we reward or comfort ourselves in the same way, sometimes using excess weight as an excuse to avoid relationships or high-powered careers.

Taking a holistic approach to weight loss will help address all the issues surrounding weight gain and will give you the best possible chance of achieving your goal – not only of losing w

With Christmas just around the corner, we are being bombarded with articles telling us how we can lose 10 pounds before the holiday. But most people know they will just put it all back on again during the festivities. And the beginning of January will see yet another spate of weight loss advice and new diets. However, there has recently been a great deal of discussion about the fact that instead of enabling us to lose weight, dieting may have exactly the opposite effect.

The problem is that if we deprive our bodies of food for a long time, our metabolic rate drops and so we need fewer calories to maintain our current weight. This seems incredibly unfair, but was actually a very useful mechanism when we were hunter gatherers and didn’t know where the next meal was coming from. Nowadays we have easy access to food, particularly junk food, twenty four hours a day and no longer need to prepare for possible famine. And to make matters worse, when our efforts to lose weight are unsuccessful, we tend to comfort eat, piling on even more pounds of excess flab.

So should we just give up, resign ourselves to being overweight and forget dieting? Healthy eating is important for general well-being and in terms of safe weight loss, but following a very low calorie diet is clearly not the answer. So what are the alternatives?

As young children, we knew when we had eaten enough and we even chose the food which our bodies needed, but with easy access to so much sugar, chocolate, chips and other addictive foodstuffs, we’ve lost that ability. In addition, we live such pressurized lives that taking time to cook healthy meals is difficult and living up to the expectations of society can be too much. As children we were rewarded with sweets and as adults we reward or comfort ourselves in the same way, sometimes using excess weight as an excuse to avoid relationships or high-powered careers.

Taking a holistic approach to weight loss will help address all the issues surrounding weight gain and will give you the best possible chance of achieving your goal – not only of losing we

weight, dieting may have exactly the opposite effect.

The problem is that if we deprive our bodies of food for a long time, our metabolic rate drops and so we need fewer calories to maintain our current weight. This seems incredibly unfair, but was actually a very useful mechanism when we were hunter gatherers and didn’t know where the next meal was coming from. Nowadays we have easy access to food, particularly junk food, twenty four hours a day and no longer need to prepare for possible famine. And to make matters worse, when our efforts to lose weight are unsuccessful, we tend to comfort eat, piling on even more pounds of excess flab.

So should we just give up, resign ourselves to being overweight and forget dieting? Healthy eating is important for general well-being and in terms of safe weight loss, but following a very low calorie diet is clearly not the answer. So what are the alternatives?

As young children, we knew when we had eaten enough and we even chose the food which our bodies needed, but with easy access to so much sugar, chocolate, chips and other addictive foodstuffs, we’ve lost that ability. In addition, we live such pressurized lives that taking time to cook healthy meals is difficult and living up to the expectations of society can be too much. As children we were rewarded with sweets and as adults we reward or comfort ourselves in the same way, sometimes using excess weight as an excuse to avoid relationships or high-powered careers.

Taking a holistic approach to weight loss will help address all the issues surrounding weight gain and will give you the best possible chance of achieving your goal – not only of losing w

unk food, twenty four hours a day and no longer need to prepare for possible famine. And to make matters worse, when our efforts to lose weight are unsuccessful, we tend to comfort eat, piling on even more pounds of excess flab.

So should we just give up, resign ourselves to being overweight and forget dieting? Healthy eating is important for general well-being and in terms of safe weight loss, but following a very low calorie diet is clearly not the answer. So what are the alternatives?

As young children, we knew when we had eaten enough and we even chose the food which our bodies needed, but with easy access to so much sugar, chocolate, chips and other addictive foodstuffs, we’ve lost that ability. In addition, we live such pressurized lives that taking time to cook healthy meals is difficult and living up to the expectations of society can be too much. As children we were rewarded with sweets and as adults we reward or comfort ourselves in the same way, sometimes using excess weight as an excuse to avoid relationships or high-powered careers.

Taking a holistic approach to weight loss will help address all the issues surrounding weight gain and will give you the best possible chance of achieving your goal – not only of losing w

ry low calorie diet is clearly not the answer. So what are the alternatives?

As young children, we knew when we had eaten enough and we even chose the food which our bodies needed, but with easy access to so much sugar, chocolate, chips and other addictive foodstuffs, we’ve lost that ability. In addition, we live such pressurized lives that taking time to cook healthy meals is difficult and living up to the expectations of society can be too much. As children we were rewarded with sweets and as adults we reward or comfort ourselves in the same way, sometimes using excess weight as an excuse to avoid relationships or high-powered careers.

Taking a holistic approach to weight loss will help address all the issues surrounding weight gain and will give you the best possible chance of achieving your goal – not only of losing w

ations of society can be too much. As children we were rewarded with sweets and as adults we reward or comfort ourselves in the same way, sometimes using excess weight as an excuse to avoid relationships or high-powered careers.

Taking a holistic approach to weight loss will help address all the issues surrounding weight gain and will give you the best possible chance of achieving your goal – not only of losing weight, but also of keeping it off.

What sort of treatment might you expect to find in a holistic program? This will vary depending on the practitioner’s skills and qualifications.

If comfort eating is a problem for you, psychotherapy can help discover the emotional causes.

Acupuncture is often used as a weight loss treatment and you need to be aware of the different types of treatment available. Addictions, including those related to food treated, are often treated using ear acupuncture. It is also worth considering holistic treatment, which treats the person as a whole, rather than just the weight or health problem. It is also important to ensure that you are working with a qualified practitioner.

While acupuncture can be effective, it is also expensive and some people just don’t like needles! An alternative is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which involves tapping on acupuncture points to unblock energy. This can be done with a practitioner, either in person or over the phone, and more importantly, it’s something you can learn to do at home, providing you with a great self-help technique, which costs nothing.

Qi gong is a form of Chinese exercise which can not only help tone up your body, but also increase your metabolism.

Combining healthy eating with one or more alternative techniques can increase your chances of achieving your ideal weight and staying there.

© Waller Jamison 2006