listen & Lose with The Cd diet

**An Encouraging Word, Vol. 5**

an occasional note from Jean Fain

 Harvard Medical School psychotherapist & hypnosis instructor

 Published Sept. 20, 2006

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Read on if you’re interested in losing weight without the deprivation associated with dieting. Feel free to forward “An Encouraging Word” to a friend. If you didn’t receive this note directly from Jean Fain and you’d like to subscribe, send an email to the address above with the word “subscribe” in the subject field. If you’d rather not receive future announcements, send an email with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject field.

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If you’ve tried and failed on more than a handful of diets, you are well acquainted with hopelessness. It’s reasonable to expect a new weight-loss plan would only deliver more of the same.  Hopelessness can feel safer than getting your hopes up and having them dashed again.

I can recite the grim weight-gain statistics, but as a psychotherapist who specializes in eating issues, I prefer to renew hope. Of course, you can choose to abandon all hope after reading this newsletter, but before you make a beeline for the ice cream scoop, here’s some hopeful news: resurrecting hope and losing weight can be as effortless as flipping a switch, even in the face of powerful forces beyond your control, from super-size me portions to crazy-busy schedules that leave little time for exercise and healthy food preparation.

Seriously, many of my clients have been losing weight and keeping it off by hitting the play button on their CD players.

The CD Diet is a program I developed with my clients’ encouragement to ensure their long-term success. When I first lay out my weight-loss recommendations, you can almost see cartoon light-bulbs shining over their heads. But that illuminating moment doesn’t last. Repeating my recommendations over and again, however, helps keep them fresh in mind. CDs, it turns out, are an efficient, cost-effective way to refresh these positive suggestions. I don’t have to keep repeating myself, and they don’t have to keep paying me.

The CD Diet works because it elicits three essential responses that most dieters overlook: relaxation, hope & positive thinking.

1. RELAXATION

When you listen to my weight-loss CDs (“Eat to Live & Lose Weight!” and “Mindful Eating”), you’re eliciting the relaxation response – you’re purposefully slowing your heart rate, your breathing, and your pulse. When you’re relaxed, you’re calmer and wiser and it’s easier to make healthier choices, like choosing a handful of peanuts over a Snicker’s bar. When you’re stressed, you’re more impulsive and, well, stupid. Stressed to the max, three Snickers bars can seem an entirely sensible snack. 

2. HOPE

Just as important, listening to a CD you can borrow hope when you’re feeling little or next to none.  It’s one thing to read a diet book and find inspiration in a new plan, but people don’t generally have the time or the inclination to reread the same book every day.  Most, however, have 15-20 minutes to listen to my voice once, even twice a day. You may not believe you can lose weight, but I do, and hearing me say so resurrects hope. Even after you turn off the stereo, my voice goes with you and continues to inspire you to make healthy choices throughout the day.

3. POSITIVE THINKING

The power of suggestion is not to be underrated. The mind is a sponge for both negative and positive suggestions. When your friends remind you how impossible it is to stick to a diet, how they can’t stomach one more slice of low-carb bread, permanent weight loss can feel like a losing battle. Conversely, when you receive positive suggestions like, “Fresh fruits and vegetables are becoming more and more appealing,” or when you allow yourself to try that yummy low-fat recipe from your favorite cooking show, the battle of the bulge becomes an adventure for the senses.

It’s really as easy as settling into a comfortable chair, putting on headphones and listening and losing. Good health and mindful eating, it turns out, are contagious. Taking charge of your eating can inspire others to follow suit, and, in the best case scenario, has the power to reverse our gross national weight gain. 

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Stay Tuned…

Speaking of CDs, I’m wrapping up my latest recording project, a CD devoted to relaxation called “Float to Health and Wellbeing.” The idea is to give you another option when you’re stressed, or just think it’s time, finally, to sit back, take a deep breath and melt despite all the world’s troubles. Just pop in this CD and listen. Listeners will learn to elicit the relaxation response, that’s the powerful technique that will, almost immediately, help you feel calmer, more focused and better able to handle stressful situations. And over time, measurably improve your health and wellbeing, significantly enhance the quality, if not the quantity, of your life. With its calming combination of guided imagery and positive suggestion, the CD is designed to send you floating into deep relaxation. The release is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 1. Watch my website for more information.

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In addition to seeing clients in private practice, Jean Fain teaches hypnosis at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and she writes for O, The Oprah Magazine, among other women's magazines. More information about Jean Fain’s services and weight-loss CDs is available on her website (www.jeanfain.com).

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(Click the Newsletter link below to read other volumes of "An Encouraging Word.")

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