A pledge by food manufacturers to cut saturated fat levels is ‘a drop in the ocean’ in the fight against obesity, a top public health expert has said.
Morrisons, Subway and Nestle are among firms signed up to the voluntary ‘responsibility deal’ between industry and government, reported the BBC.
And while Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said the approach ‘lacked credibility’, the Department of Health said it would ‘make a huge difference’.
It says the average man should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat a day, while the average woman should eat no more than 20g.
According to the British Dietetic Association, most people eat about 20% more than the recommended maximum levels – and a survey of 2,000 people for Sainsbury’s found 84% of those questioned did not know how much saturated fat was a healthy amount.
But the National Council for Hypnotherapy has trained hypnotherapists who can effectively aid weight loss and treat clients for snacking – a large contributor to Britain’s obesity problem.
Managing weight loss is one of the most effective results of hypnotherapy. Rather than just reducing calories that you are likely to put on again in the longer term, hypnosis gets the client in touch with the reasons why they unconsciously eat.
Certain types of people struggle to stop after a small piece of chocolate and feel compelled to finish the packet. Or they opt for the biggest, juiciest burger when a smaller one would do.
A hypnotherapist can help this person understand why and help them create new healthy self-management techniques.
But this will require more than one session as it weight loss means changing lifelong negative habits around food and body image.
The best results, therefore, are often achieved when the client commits to a programme of treatment. As well as stopping compulsive eating, hypnosis can increase motivation for exercise.
It can also help the client reduce portion sizes and so lose weight healthily, steadily and for the long term.
Losing weight with hypnosis is essentially about teaching the client to feel good about themselves. It focuses on making healthy changes to diet and lifestyle that will remain for the rest of their life.
And changes to diet do make a difference.
For instance, a recent survey showed that office snacking leads to women in the UK gaining a dress size a year. Biscuits are the most common vice, with 42 per cent regularly opening a pack, closely followed by chocolate (38 per cent), crisps (32 per cent) and cakes (13 per cent), reported the Daily Mail.
Cakes and biscuits brought into work by colleagues are one of the main temptations office staff give in to. In addition, 33 per cent admit reaching for nibbles to cope with stress and 22 per cent say they need a sugar rush to perk them up in the afternoon.
The report into the UK’s eating habits found that, on average, an adult eat at least two snacks a day, with around 30 per cent tucking into three or more. Women admit eating more than men, with a further 13 per cent of ladies scoffing four or more snacks a day.