When the diet starts to slip and you’ve grown tired of your rigorous exercise regime, finding an alternative method of weight loss can be tempting.
Here we explore the increasing use of gastric band surgery and hypnotherapy as a form of long-term weight control.
Every day we are bombarded with messages about the need to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Yet obesity rates in the UK continue to rise.
Whether the message simply isn’t getting through or the reality of sticking to a healthy and active lifestyle is just too difficult, more and more of us are seeking out alternative ways to change our eating habits.
Excessive weight comes at a high cost, not only to the individual but society as a whole. Heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are all complications associated with excessive weight, and for the NHS the bill for obesity related health issues is now more than £9 billion a year.
In an attempt to reverse these rising costs and help obese people take back control of their waistlines and lives, the popularity of gastric band surgery and gastric band hypnotherapy is on the increase.
Gastric band surgery involves placing a restrictive device around the upper part of the stomach to create a pouch that is only capable of holding a certain amount of food. As a result, a person who has had the procedure should feel full much sooner and their food consumption will be reduced.
In comparison, gastric band hypnotherapy entails convincing a person that they have had a gastric band fitted, without actually going through the procedure.
Gastric band surgery typically costs from £5,000 compared to a few hundred pounds for hypnotherapy. However the surgery is available on the NHS for people with potentially life-threatening obesity who meet certain criteria, and where other attempts at weight loss have failed.
Once in place, the gastric band is adjustable, enabling doctors to control your weight loss. It can also be removed.
In the majority of cases, gastric bands have been highly successful. Research has shown that people who stick to their post surgery plan, will lose around half their excess body weight. The effects of the procedure can also treat conditions associated with obesity, such as diabetes.
However patients may experience unpleasant side effects such as nausea and regurgitation, and any surgery carries risks.
It is also important to have realistic expectations as mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, might not disappear with the weight.
With hypnotherapy there isn’t a needle or scalpel in sight. It involves re-educating the mind to the point where, if you believe something strongly enough, your body should conform to that reality.
It usually draws on a number of techniques, including neuro linguistic programming, visualisation and cognitive behavioural therapy.
The hypnotherapy is intended to mimic a gastric band surgical procedure, often implementing the use of sound and smell to make the experience more authentic.
Afterwards, it is expected that clients will experience the same sensation of fullness after a few mouthfuls of food as a patient who has actually undergone surgery.
As well as promoting weight loss, hypnotherapy is intended to address any emotional and psychological issues, which can cause a person to begin over eating in the first place, and to alter a person’s perception of food.
However the treatment is not as well known as gastric band surgery so the results are not yet widely confirmed and additional follow-up sessions may be needed to achieve long-term success.
For more information visit the NHS gastric bands and hypnotherapy sites.
