Smoking is a habit which has a serious effect on our health and is becoming socially unacceptable. We can break the smoking habit. It is possible to do it 'cold turkey' but most people who try this approach find it very difficult and that they are smoking again within a short periods of time. We can use nicotine patches, sprays and gums but they are costly, require us to have them to hand when we need them and are only part of the solution as we continue the nicotine addiction. Vaping is an alternative but has similar issues as patches etc. Hypnotherapy is a well established way to break the smoking habit for good and I offer the therapy for the cost of 10 packets of cigarettes. Call Mike Egan 0879877087 or email therapy@mikeegan.ie

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test please ignore Now, consider someone who feels 'not good enough' or who worries all the time. That's a fairly constant low level of bad feeling. See how that can lead to an equally fairly constant craving for food to cancel out some of that negative mood? That's one common way to look at the link between low self esteem, stress, worry, trauma, and other things that cause bad feeling, and the comfort eating phenomenon. There are lots of ways to improve this. Overcoming the anxiety, or the trauma that's at the root of it, in cases where that's the big issue, is the way I recommend. No matter where you are in the Western world and most parts of Asia and South America, I can find someone who can help with this. (You'd be amazed where some people live who ask me for help, and generally I can find someone local to suggest, who has the right skill set to assist). Simply tackling the weight issue if there is a feeling of 'not good enough' underneath, normally isn't enough and results in starting out knowing or expecting to fail. That's the battle over before it begins. After 35+ years of constant anxiety and depression I got very lucky and got the help I needed and went from 'knowing I'd fail' in almost every aspect of life, to finding things much easier than I'd ever expected and finding success more achievable too. Have hope, look for what would make the biggest difference in life and try for that change. Whenever I talk about self-sabotage, over-eating, and comfort eating I get a lot of enquiries for help with weight. I don't do that. Sorry. I specialised in the last few years in anxiety and trauma. That's what I work with when it comes to therapy. That's where I see my contribution being most important. So, if you want help with anxiety, I can try and find someone for you, but I'm not connected to the weight-loss therapists as much as I am for anxiety. Take some time and think about the feelings present when the urge to overeat or comfort eat comes up. Those feelings are the best guide to where success lies. Resolve those emotional triggers and we're onto a winner. Have a great week, and feel free to comment or ask any questions here. All the best, John

Test please ignore One bedrock element of anxiety is a deep-rooted feeling of not being good enough. Feeling others are more capable, feeling judged, or an uneasy feeling of being inferior. Comfort eating, eating when we don't feel hungry and not noticing when we're full, frequently go with those feelings. So, what's going on? Most commonly, when we worry consistantly over many years, what it actually is, is anxiety switched on all the time. This is a system designed to make us alert in a crisis and to change how we think, a system meant to deal with a short term danger, that stays switched on 24/7. That's really what anxiety is. It's intent is good – keeping us alive, but it doesn't factor in happiness or success, just safety. When that system is active, we are geared to look for the danger: what's wrong? how will this fail? where is the risk? These are the natural thoughts from that part of the brain. Everything is designed to see and avoid trouble. But when it's active and there is no real danger, those same neural circuits take whatever actually is happening and apply that logic. That translates in everyday life to 'did I say the wrong thing?', 'what do they think about me?', 'I didn't do that as well as I should', they'll find me out', 'I can't succeed', 'why would anyone love someone like this', and more. All these feelings share the system of looking at everyday events and trying to find something of danger. We can always worry about people, our health, and even worry about worry itself; 'will I panic in the presentation?', 'what if I panic while driving on the motorway?' and so on, are all just aspects of the 'worry generator' being left on when not in a crisis. Anxiety makes things personal. It's function is to make us change our behaviour in order to avoid danger. For example: We take a walk by the river and a bear comes along and eats our friend Tom. If we don't take it personally it feels very different. 'That was tough luck for Tom, wasn't it?' feels less urgent than 'Why didn't I stop Tom from being killed?” Anxiety refers everything internally to get us to avoid danger. It's a great system. It turns the lesson of 'I slipped on ice' into 'I need to be careful on ice'. But when it's left on all the time it turns 'I chatted with Mary' into 'I wonder if I upset Mary? I must have sounded like a fool...' Same system, wrong time and place. It creates a constant re-enforcing of 'I always get it wrong' as an emotion we're constantly left with. That's where the 'We're not good enough' feeling can really build. So where does the comfort eating come in? Again it's a very simple system at work in the mind here, and it's all about escaping a bad feeling. If we're anxious or have a low level negative feeling or even a subconscious one, the mind will be aware of it and be trying to resolve it. It uses the logic of BAD FEELING = SIGNAL OF POSSIBLE DANGER = NEED TO GET AWAY FROM POSSIBLE DANGER. So, we're worrying about something. That's our bad feeling. This puts the Mind on alert to a possible danger. Now the Mind wants to make a change that will get rid of that feeling of danger and give us a safer feeling. All good, it's just our brain looking out for our safety. But if there is no action to take (there's no immediate risk like a mugger to avoid, just some negative thought we're holding onto in our head) the mind still needs to work to get away from the feeling of danger. So, it tries to replace or overwrite that feeling. Distraction is one option it uses that can help. You see this a lot in procrastination. Feel bad about the task? go watch a movie = bad feelings reduce. However, a very common response is instead to create a good feeling to replace the bad or at least cancel some of it out and thus make us feel safer on an unconscious level. So, what can create a swift good feeling? Eating! Particularly sugar, fatty foods that seem to release more dopamine (the neuro-chemical the brain uses to convey sensations of pleasure). This gives some temporary release from the bad feeling as well as creating the good feeling from eating. The amount of dopamine released, will vary from person to person but for all of us the lure of Ice cream, or our favourite food of choice can be stronger when we feel down.

Test please ignore After 35+ years of constant anxiety and depression I got very lucky and got the help I needed and went from 'knowing I'd fail' in almost every aspect of life, to finding things much easier than I'd ever expected and finding success more achievable too. Have hope, look for what would make the biggest difference in life and try for that change. Whenever I talk about self-sabotage, over-eating, and comfort eating I get a lot of enquiries for help with weigt. I don't do that. Sorry. I specialised in the last few years in anxiety and trauma. That's what I work with when it comes to therapy. That's where I see my contribution being most important. So, if you want help with anxiety, I can try and find someone for you, but I'm not connected to the weight-loss therapists as much as I am for anxiety. Take some time and think about the feelings present when the urge to overeat or comfort eat comes up. Those feelings are the best guide to where success lies. Resolve those emotional triggers and we're onto a winner. Have a great week, and feel free to comment or ask any questions here. All the best, John

Test please ignore That's one common way to look at the link between low self esteem, stress, worry, trauma, and other things that cause bad feeling, and the comfort eating phenomenon. There are lots of ways to improve this. Overcoming the anxiety, or the trauma that's at the root of it, in cases where that's the big issue, is the way I recommend. No matter where you are in the Western world and most parts of Asia and South America, I can find someone who can help with this. (You'd be amazed where some people live who ask me for help, and generally I can find someone local to suggest, who has the right skill set to assist). Simply tackling the weight issue if there is a feeling of 'not good enough' underneath, normally isn't enough and results in starting out knowing or expecting to fail. That's the battle over before it begins.

Test please ignore So, what can create a swift good feeling? Eating! Particularly sugar, fatty foods that seem to release more dopamine (the neuro-chemical the brain uses to convey sensations of pleasure). This gives some temporary release from the bad feeling as well as creating the good feeling from eating. The amount of dopamine released, will vary from person to person but for all of us the lure of Ice cream, or our favourite food of choice can be stronger when we feel down. Now, consider someone who feels 'not good enough' or who worries all the time. That's a fairly constant low level of bad feeling. See how that can lead to an equally fairly constant craving for food to cancel out some of that negative mood?

Test please ignore All good, it's just our brain looking out for our safety. But if there is no action to take (there's no immediate risk like a mugger to avoid, just some negative thought we're holding onto in our head) the mind still needs to work to get away from the feeling of danger. So, it tries to replace or overwrite that feeling. Distraction is one option it uses that can help. You see this a lot in procrastination. Feel bad about the task? go watch a movie = bad feelings reduce. However, a very common response is instead to create a good feeling to replace the bad or at least cancel some of it out and thus make us feel safer on an unconscious level.

Test, Please ignore If we're anxious or have a low level negative feeling or even a subconscious one, the mind will be aware of it and be trying to resolve it. It uses the logic of BAD FEELING = SIGNAL OF POSSIBLE DANGER = NEED TO GET AWAY FROM POSSIBLE DANGER. So, we're worrying about something. That's our bad feeling. This puts the Mind on alert to a possible danger. Now the Mind wants to make a change that will get rid of that feeling of danger and give us a safer feeling.

Test please ignore Anxiety refers everything internally to get us to avoid danger. It's a great system. It turns the lesson of 'I slipped on ice' into 'I need to be careful on ice'. But when it's left on all the time it turns 'I chatted with Mary' into 'I wonder if I upset Mary? I must have sounded like a fool...' Same system, wrong time and place. It creates a constant re-enforcing of 'I always get it wrong' as an emotion we're constantly left with. That's where the 'We're not good enough' feeling can really build. So where does the comfort eating come in? Again it's a very simple system at work in the mind here, and it's all about escaping a bad feeling.

test please ignore That translates in everyday life to 'did I say the wrong thing?', 'what do they think about me?', 'I didn't do that as well as I should', they'll find me out', 'I can't succeed', 'why would anyone love someone like this', and more. All these feelings share the system of looking at everyday events and trying to find something of danger. We can always worry about people, our health, and even worry about worry itself; 'will I panic in the presentation?', 'what if I panic while driving on the motorway?' and so on, are all just aspects of the 'worry generator' being left on when not in a crisis. Anxiety makes things personal. It's function is to make us change our behaviour in order to avoid danger. For example: We take a walk by the river and a bear comes along and eats our friend Tom. If we don't take it personally it feels very different. 'That was tough luck for Tom, wasn't it?' feels less urgent than 'Why didn't I stop Tom from being killed?”

Test, please ignore One bedrock element of anxiety is a deep-rooted feeling of not being good enough. Feeling others are more capable, feeling judged, or an uneasy feeling of being inferior. Comfort eating, eating when we don't feel hungry and not noticing when we're full, frequently go with those feelings. So, what's going on? Most commonly, when we worry consistantly over many years, what it actually is, is anxiety switched on all the time. This is a system designed to make us alert in a crisis and to change how we think, a system meant to deal with a short term danger, that stays switched on 24/7. That's really what anxiety is. It's intent is good – keeping us alive, but it doesn't factor in happiness or success, just safety. When that system is active, we are geared to look for the danger: what's wrong? how will this fail? where is the risk? These are the natural thoughts from that part of the brain. Everything is designed to see and avoid trouble. But when it's active and there is no real danger, those same neural circuits take whatever actually is happening and apply that logic.