Scientific research at Tufts-New England Medical Center has proven that all of the popular diets are effective when dieters can stick to them. Atkins - low carb; The Zone - low glycemic index; Ornish - low fat; Weight Watchers - low calorie.

But research has provided convincing evidence that very few people can stick to their diet because their appetite is out of control. So to be successful with a diet, hypnosis for weight loss can be quite helpful.

Webster's Dictionary defines "Appetite" as: "The desire for gratification of some want, craving, or passion." So "appetite" is eating and drinking for relaxation and pleasure.

Many people confuse hunger with appetite. Hunger is defined as "The body's call for nourishment." In other words, when the body needs energy, that's when you feel bona fide hunger. By that characterization, it is not possible for a person who is overweight to "be hungry."

However, it is possible for you to have feelings that you interpret as "hunger." And the stomach contracting in expectation of being fed causes those feelings.

When you were a child and you got restless, your mother would put a nipple into your mouth to calm you down. You would get distracted, become relaxed and often go to sleep. That sequence of events was repeated hundreds of times so that your unconscious mind was programmed: When something goes into your mouth, you get relaxation and pleasure from it.

Now that you are a grownup, if you feel agitated, you crave something in your mouth for relaxation and pleasure - food!

People Also Get Cravings and Urges Because Of Conditioning.

When you connect eating with any other behavior, the other activity will trigger cravings for food and a compulsion to eat. This is called a conditioned response. For example: If you eat when you see someone else eating, you will automatically get an urge to eat each time you see someone else eating.

What About Compulsive Overeaters Who Eat Because Of Emotional Reasons?

A compulsion is defined as an "irresistible impulse." One of the presuppositions of NLP is: All behaviors are driven by a positive intention. In other words, our unconscious mind only motivates behaviors that benefit or protect us in some way. In NLP terms, we say that being fat is a behavior when it provides a positive outcome or intention.

By now you are probably wondering what the positive outcomes of being fat just might be. The list is as long as the list of people who have an appetite that is out of control. But I'll give you a classic example: A person gets their heart broken in a relationship. So to protect the self from getting the heart broken again, the unconscious motivates the self to become overweight to keep the self out of relationships and prevent another broken heart.

A big secret to suppressing your appetite is called an NLP six-step reframe. With an NLP reframe, we respect the fact that the unconscious is motivating us to eat for relaxation and pleasure. And if we are eating compulsively because being fat is protecting us, we respect that also.

In an NLP reframe we compromise with our subconscious. In the scenario of eating for relaxation and pleasure, we ask our subconscious mind to assume the responsibility for substituting some new behaviors. The alternate behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same relaxation and pleasure. But they must also be more consciously acceptable to us. When the mind is motivating us into alternate behaviors that provide the relaxation and pleasure that we require - we lose our appetite on this score.

If you are an emotional overeater we do an additional reframe. We ask your subconscious to assume the responsibility for finding and substituting new behaviors in place of being fat. These new behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same positive outcomes. But they must be behaviors that are more consciously acceptable to you as an individual. When your subconscious mind is motivating you into alternate behaviors that provide the same protections that you require, you lose the urges to overeat.

As far as feeling cravings because of conditioning (conditioned responses), we utilize various hypnotic and NLP techniques that erase those conditioned responses. That breaks the connection between the behaviors, and obliterates the compulsions.

When your appetite has been eliminated and all of your compulsions to overeat have been dealt with, you can easily stick to any type of healthful diet indefinitely so that it becomes a permanent lifestyle change.

Compulsive eating and appetite suppression is a complex topic. I can only scratch the surface of it in this article. But you can read several additional articles on this topic on my website.