Lose Weight and Heal by Eating: With the Dietetics of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hypnosis, and NLP (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9791098240195)

Excerpt: I don't know if this resonates with you, but at one time I was astonished to notice that my clothes seemed to shrink after every meal. Have you ever sat through a family dinner that drags on? One of those endless gatherings where everyone has already eaten too much, and the kindly host, armed with an overflowing salad bowl, insists: "Come on, it would be a shame not to finish this - we're not going to throw it away, are we?" The message that kind of remark sends to our unconscious is the idea that - what should go in the "bin" - must go into our stomach... That pretty cheerfully sets the tone.

This surprisingly original work, written by an acupuncturist and psychotherapist, analyzes our relationship to food in the West in depth and offers effective methods for losing weight, drawing on the principles and tools of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as well as brief therapies such as hypnosis and NLP.

It stands out for its multitude of practical protocols and exercises, its tools for assessing eating habits, and its recipes adapted to the energetic state of each organ (whether in hyper- or hypofunction), thereby creating a holistic "Body, Mind and Energy" approach to reaching your goals.

Another strength of this book lies in its interactive tests derived from brief therapies, which allow you to evaluate and better understand your emotional and affective relationship with food.

The NLP protocols, designed to help you overcome obstacles to weight loss and avoid the "yo-yo" effect of restrictive diets, dismantle limiting beliefs and strengthen motivation and self-confidence. Techniques such as anchoring, reframing, and setting/achieving SMART goals are detailed, giving the reader the tools needed to work independently on eating habits. By building self-confidence and deprogramming negative beliefs, these strategies help establish a positive relationship with food, making weight loss both possible and effective.

The book also highlights the essential concepts of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, enabling a self-diagnosis in TCM. You will learn to balance these forces in your food choices. This concerns not only the taste of foods but also their classification by nature, color, and their impact on your organs, energies, and emotions.

Other tests based on TCM principles will help you determine which organs are in deficiency or excess, notably the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lungs, and Kidneys. Thanks to these evaluations, you can identify areas for improvement and adjust your diet accordingly.

Recipes According to Your Energetic State The book also offers a wealth of recipe sheets. Whether you suffer from hypofunction or hyperfunction, each recipe is designed to nourish the organs according to their state (Yin and Yang) and the interactions of the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). For example, you will discover which foods to cook to support a Spleen in deficiency, or light recipes to soothe a Liver in excess.