Using Food Hypnosis for Picky Eating

If you have a child or even an adult in your family who is a picky eater then maybe it is time to think about using hypnotherapy for fussy eating to help. Food hypnosis for picky eating and fussy eaters is a great solution to resolving problems around limited diets. I personally have helped hundreds of our clients overcome their fussy eating issues with therapy sessions to help them eat a more varied diet.

Fussy eating habits are becoming increasingly common and we know that many children and adults struggle to eat a normal diet because of their food fears. Yet it doesn’t have to be this way and we know that most of our clients can change their eating habits and taste a wider range of foods with hypnosis sessions.

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What Is Selective Eating Disorder?

So what exactly is Selective Eating Disorder?

Well, the problem actually has a number of different names from fussy eating, to picky eating to selective eating and ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Disorder). In general, the problems are very similar in that the person with negative eating habits severely limits their food intake. This typically leaves them eating a small number of foods that they consider to be safe or acceptable.

A client who is a picky eater will typically choose to eat what we call “beige foods”. These fussy-eating foods usually include bread, crisps, pizza, pasta, chips, chicken nuggets and other carb-heavy meals. Typically the child or adult will actively avoid foods like fruit or vegetables. This can obviously have negative health benefits.

In extreme cases, the avoidance of certain foods becomes a more serious eating disorder as restrictive eating becomes severe enough to make a client become underweight.

Can Hypnotherapy Help With Picky Eating?

Hypnotherapy helps picky eating by using the power of suggestion, therapy and analysis. Firstly it helps to relax and calm the mind which lowers food worries making it easier for people to eat new food. It also helps to alter old outdated thoughts in the subconscious mind and helps them to be replaced with new habits. Finally, it can help to address the root causes of the problem so that therapy can be aimed at the bigger issues.

The Reasons Fussy Eating Habits Develop

We have seen hundreds of clients for picky eating over the years and from our experience, not one of the people we have seen was born with the problem. Fussy eaters develop a problem eating certain meals not because of genetics but because of parents, anxiety and issues such as traumas in childhood.

The most common problem of fussy eating habits starts when children are young and refuse to eat certain foods. Parents start to worry that their children aren’t eating enough and rather than persevere with the healthy foods they should be eating they allow them to eat their favourite foods instead. It isn’t long before the child learns that if they make a fuss their parents will continue to give them what they want and before long all they are eating at mealtimes is their carb-heavy foods. Whilst it can be easy to blame parents they believe they are doing the best for their children not realising the harm it is causing.

Another reason why picky eating develops is related to anxiety and trauma around food.

As an example, one of our clients choked on a strawberry when they were young leaving them with food fears. The panic they felt at that moment left them worrying about eating new foods and so they continued to stick to the foods that they knew until our therapy helped them.

One client we saw experienced a childhood where there were constant arguments around the dinner table making them anxious around food. Healthy eating wasn’t something they cared about as all they wanted to do was leave the table.

Parents forcing children to eat foods they disliked as a child and forcing them to stay at the table until they have done that can also create a problem with food. There isn’t always one standard reason for the problem but hypnosis for picky eating can help to address these root causes.

It is also worth noting that a link between picky eating and children who have spent time in care was also found in studies as children were less engaged with food.

Child Hypnosis for Eating New Foods

Food hypnosis for picky eating involves working with children, young adults and even adults to help them expand the repertoire of foods that they eat. This should never be done in a stressful or pressurised environment and where possible we want people attending our sessions to have a willingness to be there.

Our typical clients tend to be over the age of 10 years old as the person attending sessions has started to understand that healthy eating is important and that they don’t want to feel different from their friends and family. Younger children are usually still at the stage where they are happy to continue to eat their safe foods and may actively resist therapy.

Once a child is at the age that they want to make changes to the foods they eat and create a healthy eating environment we find that hypnotherapy sessions are more successful. For adults, it is easier. Every adult picky eater who calls us for help is ready and willing to make changes to their bad habit or fear or phobia.

Hypnosis to Eat Vegetables Is Only Part of The Story

Hypnosis for picky eaters isn’t just about making people eat more vegetables it is designed to help expand the number of foods that people will eat.

Eating a narrow range of foods means that picky eaters are likely to be missing out on essential vitamins and minerals which may impact their health and create weight loss. When we help them to eat a better-balanced diet their nutrition is improved and this should have knock-on health benefits.

We don’t however expect a picky eater to love everything that they are given during our program, especially in the initial phases. We all have different tastes so whilst we may eat vegetables I can guarantee that most people won’t eat them all. The key to our sessions is helping our clients explore new tastes without fear or worry.

We never force our clients to continue eating something they actively don’t like. Instead, we get them to try a wide array of new foods whilst in hypnosis, and any foods which are neutral or positive are added to their diet.

Over time we find that most of our client’s taste buds develop as they get used to the new flavors and creating balanced meals becomes easier.

Why Confidence Building Therapy for Picky Eaters Is Important

Hypnosis for picky eating also involves the therapist using a certain amount of confidence-building. We help to build our client’s confidence in their ability to eat the healthy option as well as parents’ confidence to push the boundaries of what they give their children.

Years of unhealthy eating and an inability to know how to resolve the problem can leave a picky eater feeling demoralized and thinking that there are no solutions to the problem. Yet from our experience, most of the people that we see for selective eating problems are able to learn to eat a variety of foods and change old habits with hypnotherapy.

We love to build our client’s confidence in themselves and teach them our methods to overcome the problem usually in as little as three or four sessions.

Self-Hypnosis for Picky Eating

We also use self-hypnosis for picky eating as a self-help method for our clients to use at home. Teaching our clients how to relax into a relaxed state of hypnosis before they try new foods can help to dramatically drop anxiety and stress around eating.

When the brain or subconscious mind is more relaxed fear reduces and it becomes easier for a picky eater to try something new. Once this has been done a few times our clients feel even more relaxed and more willing to go further and push the boundaries around what they are eating. Over time we can test a variety of foods with our clients to widen their eating capabilities.

A simple relaxation and stress reduction download such as the one we sell in our shop is usually enough to calm the mind and help a picky eater.

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Online Therapy and Hypnosis for Picky Eating

If you would like to try food hypnosis for picky eating then we conduct sessions online worldwide. Just fill out the form below to get in touch with a therapist. Please note our sessions are held on UK time only currently.