Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume 4 Issue - 6, 1 December 2019 | Page 7

EFFICACY OF HYPNOTHERAPY FOR
WEIGHT LOSS
That great American comic and showman, Jackie Gleason, a man who was
no stranger to the “Battle of the Bulge” once joked, “The second day of a
diet is always easier than the first. By the second day you’re off it.” Joe E.
Lewis, one of the greatest nightclub comics of all times, once said, “I went
on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days, I lost
two weeks.” Henny Youngman, the “King of the One-Liners”, once quipped,
“I’m on an easy diet. I never eat when my wife is talking.”
The above quotes illustrate, in a humorous way, the futile efforts of so many
people who have tried to lose weight, have perhaps succeeded for a while,
at least, but ultimately lost their personal “Battle of the Bulge”. Overweight
is a national epidemic in the United States (as well as in most developed
countries in the world). The statistics are frightening! According to the
National Centres for Disease Control, 73% of Americans are overweight
and 34% of them are classified as clinically obese. I'm sure this problem is
not isolated to the USA but is epidemic in all industrialised nations world-
wide.
These increasing rates raise concern because of their implications for
Americans’ health. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many
diseases and health conditions, including: Hypertension, elevated
cholesterol and triglycerides, Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease,
stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and respiratory
problems, and certain cancers. The problem is so acute that overweight
and obesity has recently overtaken cigarette smoking as the leading cause
of preventable death in the United States today.