By Dr. Joseph Mercola
     with Rachael Droege

As said by George Bernard Shaw, "There is no sincerer love than the love of food."

Indeed, food is a part of life more primitive and fundamental than our most basic emotions. But, for many, food is so closely tied to emotions that it can quickly turn from that which nourishes and provides sustenance to that which causes harm.

The key to losing weight, looking young and feeling full of energy--in other words the key to living a truly healthy life--is to take control of the emotional challenges that are sabotaging your food choices. When you choose the right foods, you will naturally lose weight and your body will function at its most optimum level; even your appearance will reflect this renewed level of health. There is no secret potion needed, only simple, basic foods and the knowledge of how to overcome your emotional barriers.

The Weight Gain Culprits

Overwhelmingly, as evidenced by thousands of patients in my clinic, the main culprits behind weight gain are grains and sugars. High-carbohydrate foods like bread, grains, cereal, potatoes, fruit and sugar are converted to glucose (sugar) in the body. When your body can’t burn off this sugar, it accumulates in the blood, causing your blood sugar level to rise. In response to this, insulin is released to break down the sugar and store it.

Your body will actually increase its output of insulin to compensate for the higher blood sugar levels. Over time this causes progressively increasing levels of insulin and resistance to the effects of insulin.

Insulin resistance is one of the fundamental mechanisms behind aging and all of its related diseases, including obesity as well as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases.

When I explain the clinical basis of why grains and sugars are the driving force behind weight gain to my patients, they quickly understand and are ready, logically, to eliminate them from their diets. You can find out much more about the consequences of eating grains and sugars in my new book, Dr. Mercola's Total Health Program.

Of course, the hard part is not in understanding which foods to eat or avoid, the hard part is sticking to the program. Mentally, you know that you should eat lean proteins and fresh fruits and vegetables, but emotionally you have been conditioned to crave certain foods, such as grains and sugars. In other words, successful eating is not a battle of acquiring the right knowledge, but a battle against your own emotions.

Hidden Feelings Behind Food Cravings

Most people have tried a diet or two (or many more!) in their lifetime. What you may not be aware of is that perpetual dieting destabilizes your self-esteem and self-image. You briefly taste dietary success and then inevitably fail, returning to your previous, or an even heavier, weight.

What does this lead you to believe on a mental level? That you are an overweight person, and it’s impossible for you to permanently lose weight. Further, on an emotional level, negative emotions or memories can prompt your taste buds to crave fattening grains and sugars to the point of addiction. The cycle is further encouraged on a metabolic level, where your digestion and metabolism, overwhelmed by an excess of grains and sugars, tell your body to store fat.

It’s important to break this cycle so that you can return to a new home base--a home base where you are at your ideal, healthy weight. Breaking the cycle is where most people encounter problems, because behind food cravings lurk emotions that have to be dealt with before the cravings will subside.

Emotions are powerful. If you are feeling sad, lonely, anxious, or angry, or are in need of comfort, sex, compassion or calm, you may be tempted to eat unhealthy foods as a way to cope with these feelings. The feelings are so intense, and your desire to deal with them by succumbing to food cravings is so strong, because behind those emotions are beliefs, which may stem from as far back as childhood, telling you how to think, feel and act, often without your realizing it. These are the emotional barriers that you need to overcome.

Despite the fact that emotional barriers are by far the most common reason why people ultimately fail on their diets, most popular diet programs do nothing to address this issue.

Overcoming Emotional Barriers

Providing emotional solutions has proven to be immensely successful with thousands of patients at my clinic here in Chicago. There are various approaches out there for dealing with these challenges, from traditional counseling to prayer and meditation, but the one I most highly recommend, and have found to be most highly successful, is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over 5,000 years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest while you think about your specific problem--whether it is a food craving, a traumatic event, a pain, etc.--and voice positive affirmations.

This combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing positive affirmations works to clear the ‘short-circuit’--the emotional barrier--from your body's bioenergy system, thus restoring balance in your mind and body, which is essential for optimal health and the healing of physical disease.

More than any traditional or alternative method I have used or researched, EFT works to overcome food cravings and helps you reach dietary success. Once you identify and face the belief or emotion causing your food craving, you will find that adhering to the diet plan is not only easy--it is natural. When you give your body the foods it was meant to have, you will no longer be tempted by the unhealthy foods you once found irresistible, in fact, they won’t even taste good anymore!

You can view my free 25-page report on EFT for more information. I am also hosting my "Get Slim, Prevent Disease, Live Longer: The Mercola Eating Plan" seminar in several cities (New York, Houston, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver) in the coming months. The seminar explains EFT in-depth, and you will learn how to shatter your unhealthy food cravings and relieve emotional traumas that may be sabotaging your diet. Plus, you’ll receive my entire 10-hour EFT DVD series free, just for signing up.

In addition to EFT, you may want to try the Insight audio CD. Layered beneath the soothing sounds of natural rain, this audio CD will help you achieve dramatically powerful states of consciousness by introducing an unrivaled harmonically layered combination of frequencies and binaural beats to your brain. Just by listening you'll significantly reduce stress and anxiety, awaken your potential for long-term personal growth, dramatically increase your self-awareness, and raise your inspiration and motivation to new levels.

While EFT eliminates negative emotions sabotaging health and replaces them with positives, the Insight audio CD does a phenomenal job of enhancing and expanding emotional, mental and spiritual capabilities and health.

Start Your Journey to Renewed Health and Wellness

Don’t let negative emotions sabotage your efforts to feel good and uncover a more vibrant you. In addition to EFT, simple meditation techniques like slow, intentional breathing, journaling, or yoga can be quite helpful in relieving daily stress.

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