Pictured: Mark O'Donoghue
A Staffordshire hypnotherapist has launched two new packages to
help people lose weight and stay on track with their New Year's
Resolutions.
Stoke-on-Trent-based Life Change Consultant Mark O'Donoghue, MD
of Purple Smarties in Burslem, has created the systems to provide
advice and support which focuses on the causes of weight gain,
rather than the weight itself.
The packages use MP3 recordings on subjects like stress,
motivation, and cravings, and take a Japanese approach called
kaizen, which encourages people to make small, incremental changes
instead of big ones which cause lots of disruption.
One of the packages, called the Virtual Gastric Band, is
described as a 'gastric band for the mind' as it creates the
illusion that the stomach is smaller - as if the listener had had
an actual gastric band fitted.
Mark O'Donoghue said: "Many diets are quick, temporary fixes
which focus on the weight issue itself and can be dangerous in the
long-term because the body is being starved of vital nutrients.
"People are not usually psychologically prepared for the diet,
or coming off it, and often put on more weight.
"It is much more effective if they get to the bottom of the
reasons for the weight issue, for example lots of people comfort
eat for emotional reasons.
"Our recordings would help them deal with the reason for their
comfort eating - for example low self-esteem - and keep the weight
off for good."
The packages come with an MP3 player, which has the recordings
pre-loaded onto it, and a tape measure.
Mark O'Donoghue is a qualified hypnotherapist, and a member of
the NRH (The National Regulatory Register of Hypnotherapists).
He specialises in a range of treatments including
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Visual Coding Displacement
Therapy (VCDT), and Hypnotherapy.
He also offers Smoking Cessation Therapy, and has a success rate
of 92% from the 286 clients he has helped through NHS Stop Smoking
Sessions, compared to the national average of 22%.