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Medical research at Tufts-New England Medical Center has provided irrefutable evidence that all popular diets work when dieters are able to stick to them. Atkins - low carb; The Zone - low glycemic index; Ornish - low fat; Weight Watchers - low calorie.

But researchers have also proven beyond a doubt that almost no one can stick to any diet because of their appetite.

So to be successful with a diet, you must suppress your appetite.

The Dictionary defines "Appetite" as: "The desire for gratification of some want, craving, or passion." So "appetite" is eating and drinking for relaxation and pleasure.

It's a mistake to confuse appetite with hunger. Hunger is defined as "The body's call for nourishment." In other words, when the body needs food, that's when you feel actual hunger. By that description, it is impossible for anyone to actually be hungry if they are overweight.

However, it is possible for you to have feelings that you interpret as "hunger." And the stomach contracting in expectation of being fed causes those feelings.

When you were a child and you got restless, your mother would put a bottle into your mouth to pacify you. You would get distracted, become peaceful, and often fall asleep. That scenario was repeated hundreds of times so that your unconscious mind was programmed: When something goes into your mouth, you get relaxation and pleasure from it.

Now that you are a grownup, if you feel tense or nervous, you crave something in your mouth for relaxation and pleasure - food!

People Also Get Cravings and Urges Because Of Conditioning.

When you pair eating with any other activity, the other activity will trigger cravings for food and a urge to eat. This is called a conditioned response. For example: If you eat when you drive your car, you will automatically get an urge to eat each time you drive your car.

What About Compulsive Overeaters Who Eat Because Of Emotional Reasons?

We define a compulsion as an "irresistible impulse." NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming has a presupposition: All behaviors are driven by a positive intention. In other words, our unconscious mind will only motivate us into behaviors that benefit or protect us in some way. So in NLP terms, being fat is a behavior when it provides a positive outcome for us.

You may be wondering what the possible positive outcomes of being fat could possibly be. The list of probabilities is as long as the list of people who are fat. But I'll give you a classic example: A person gets their heart broken in a relationship. So to protect the self from getting the heart broken again, the unconscious motivates the self to get fat to keep the self out of relationships and prevent another broken heart.

A big secret to getting rid of your appetite is called reframing. With an NLP Reframe, we respect the fact that the unconscious mind is pushing us to consume food for relaxation and pleasure. And if we are eating compulsively because being fat is protecting us, we respect that also.

In an NLP six-step Reframe, we bargain with our unconscious mind. In the case of eating for relaxation and pleasure, we ask our unconscious to assume the responsibility for substituting some new behaviors. The new behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same relaxation and pleasure. But they must also be more acceptable to us on a conscious level. When the unconscious is motivating us into alternate behaviors that provide the relaxation and pleasure that we require - we lose our appetite on this score.

If you are a compulsive overeater, we do an additional reframe. We ask your unconscious to accept responsibility for finding and substituting new behaviors in place of being heavy. These new behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same benefits. But they must be substitutions that are more consciously acceptable to you. When your unconscious is motivating you into alternate behaviors that provide the same benefits that you require, you lose the urge to overeat.

As far as feeling cravings because of conditioning (conditioned responses), we utilize various NLP and hypnotic methods that erase those conditioned responses. That breaks the connection between the behaviors, and eliminates the cravings and urges.

When your appetite has been obliterated, and any compulsion to overeat has been overcome, you can easily stick to any diet that you chose on an indefinite basis so that it becomes a permanent lifestyle change.

Alan B. Densky, CH is certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists. Alan opened his practice in 1978. You can learn more by going to his Neuro-VISION website. He maintains his own free hypnosis article library. And he offers free hypnosis newsletters and MP3's.

Alan B. Densky, CH is certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists. He has been in practice since 1978. Visit his Neuro-VISION Video Hypnosis website. He maintains his own hypnosis article library. And he offers free hypnosis newsletters and MP3's.