Social hypnosis: eggs and being slim
You often believe all sorts of things about the world and life. I noticed this again yesterday when I was watching the Keuringsdienst van Waarde. It was about eggs and chickens. And like everyone else, I also had my thoughts about eggs, which eggs are good and healthy and which are not. Well, so apparently I had been in an egg hypnosis for a long time, because what I was thinking, what I was convinced of, was not true at all.
Just the other day, I bought a carton of eggs and checked the contents of the carton. When I saw that it contained white eggs, I exchanged the box for one with brown eggs, because "the white ones are not as good as brown ones. That's just in my head, but how do I actually know that? I don't have any proof of that or anything. It's just an idea. And now that idea has been completely turned around by that program. I'm still reeling from it!
It's not something that changes your life. No. It's not about that. It was more the realization, "If I already believed that so strongly about eggs, what else do I believe?
How does egg hypnosis actually come to be? Brown eggs are 8 cents more expensive in the supermarket and they (that TV show) wanted to know why. So they went to farmers to ask what is the difference between brown and white eggs now.
Well, so that difference is zero. The only difference lies with the chickens and their wattles. In the egg, there is no difference except the color of the shell.
So was it because of the packaging material? This was also a minimal difference.
The difference was that the supermarket just charges 8 cents more because we consumers only want to eat brown eggs.
Who find that a purer egg ... Yes, let me not dwell on that further.
For example, in Japan too! In lots of other countries they also think that's a better egg than brown, but not in the Netherlands. And that chicken farmer said, 'I've decided to keep only chickens that have white eggs, because that's better for the environment.' Then I thought, Huh? Better for the environment?
There was also a farmer who only had chickens that laid white eggs. The farmer did this because it was better for the environment. Because an egg is always at least a free-range egg in the supermarket.
Battery-farmed eggs (which are no longer sold) used to be white eggs. When free-range eggs became available, farmers started raising chickens that laid brown eggs, so it would be clearly visible that those were free-range eggs. This began in the 1980s, and that’s how the belief that brown eggs were better took hold.
This was purely marketing and commercially better. White eggs sold worse. Then they called the brown eggs "free-range eggs," and that's how hypnosis came about and it just kept going. Until now! The price is still 8 cents more expensive, per egg!
But so now that idea is completely outdated. Indeed, white eggs are thus better for the environment because those chickens live longer (2 or 3 months) and lay more eggs. They also eat less food than other chickens. So fewer raw materials are needed. So it is much more efficient and therefore better for the climate.
So that white eggs are worse is wrong thinking and bears no relation to how things really are. This was a really big idea for me and really mindblowing that my idea was wrong and that I was full of hypnosis that started in the 80s.
The difference is in the minds of those who are hypnotized. And the only ones who benefit are the supermarkets. They throw 8 cents on top, because they keep the hypnosis going. I fell for it. Maybe you did too? Snap out of it! Haha. If you eat eggs, eat white eggs! They're better for the environment. And better for the climate. More sustainable. And cheaper! Better on all sides. Get out of that hypnosis! And eat white eggs from now on.
Are there any other strange beliefs held by society as a whole that aren’t actually true?
Be sure to listen to this podcast as well:
Being Slim Hypnosis
In the ’70s and ’80s, a number of hypnosis trends emerged that were actually quite strange. For example, people come to me and other hypnotists not only because they want to be slim (which is, of course, always fine), but also because they aren’t really struggling with being overweight at all.
So what's actually going on there? A lot of women, and increasingly men too, are inherently unhappy with their weight. Very strange actually.
There are a number of factors that may play into this, namely:
- The rise of television.
- The rise of the diet industry.
- Gut Flora Change.
Television and being slim
In any case, television has always been the greatest mass hypnotist. Watching television gave you ideas about what was normal and what wasn’t. Most of the actresses who appeared on television were incredibly slim, because the camera adds 5 kilos. Just take a look at the first episodes of *Friends* and the last ones—in the beginning, they were all skin and bones.
When you see that every day, and there is an ever-increasing chance that you will see that every day, because suddenly everyone has a television in their home, you start thinking that you must be that slim, too. Only the physique of actresses and models was often very different from that of the average person[1].
So there you go already. Right now the media is trying to do something about it, but then again they go the extreme other way with people who are very overweight. A "normal" weight still seems to have no place in societal hypnosis.
Diet industry and being slim
Of course, television also brings the opportunity for more advertising, and certainly the internet as well. The diet industry also plays a significant role in promoting the idea that being slim is the ideal[2].
Then when your family (who have also been in that hypnosis for decades) also stresses the importance of being slim, it totally creates pressure to be slim.
Even eight-year-olds associate being slim with their self-esteem and improving it.
Not at all convenient!
Change in gut flora
As if it weren’t difficult enough to deal with all those images and the pressure from the industry, our gut flora has now changed to such an extent that it’s much harder to be slim than it was thirty years ago[3].
Even if you eat the same and exercise as much as people used to, now it's harder to stay as slim.
How do you get out of social hypnosis?
So I came out of the social hypnosis of the egg by watching an episode of the Food Standards Agency. I took in knowledge and that information was added to the existing information, allowing me to change my whole beliefs about eggs quickly and easily.
So a very good way out of social hypnosis is to educate yourself and learn. If a particular belief makes you unhappy, such as the belief that being late is by definition a tragedy, when for many people five minutes really doesn't matter that much, it's time to examine whether the belief is true.
- How important is branded clothing really?
- How important is it that your hair is just right?
- How important is a job as a manager?
- How important is an expensive car?
Do you find it difficult to let go of beliefs about “how things should be,” even though they don’t make you happy at all? If so, it might be helpful to seek assistance from a hypnotherapist.
A hypnotist helps you figure out what beliefs, for example, make you unhappy or hinder you from moving forward in your life.
Then the hypnotist also helps you change those beliefs. For example, as read earlier, there are children as young as eight years old who link being slim to self-esteem and improving self-esteem by becoming even slimmer.
This is actually very strange, because self-esteem consists of so many more factors than whether you are slim or not. That question doesn't really belong there at all. Yet, there is a chance that these children will carry that belief into their adult lives.
For example, you are helped by the hypnotist by taking you back to the moment a belief was created. In fact, many beliefs are formed before the age of eight, and most people do not "update" their beliefs.
This is something you do right with hypnosis.
For example, when you go back to the moment a belief was formed, a hypnotherapist applies the regression technique. With this technique, you can relive the moment but add other elements to it in your imagination. For example, your adult self can intervene or speak to your younger self. You can view the moment from the perspective of others and empathize with their feelings. This alone can cause your beliefs to change, and it can even influence the societal conditioning you wish to break free from.
Another technique you can learn is self-hypnosis, specifically repeating affirmations. You first determine these suggestions with a hypnotist before using them at home. For example, these could be affirmations that help you develop new habits or have more confidence in yourself.
For example:
I always buy white eggs.
I have a body to match my physique.
I'm smart.
I can develop.
These are just examples. Depending on your beliefs and goals you have come to the hypnotist for, you may receive other suggestions.
Would you like to learn more about how hypnosis works and how you can use it to help yourself and others? Then join the free online masterclass on hypnosis.
Would you like to dive a little deeper into the subject? Then you can also attend a seminar, where I hypnotize people live and help them with their problems. Click here to see when the next seminar will be held.
Instead, if you want to learn a variety of techniques directly to help yourself and others, enroll in one of our training courses .
[1] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-07752-001
[2] https://cmapspublic2.ihmc.us/rid=1JWW1ZDY3-11P9HDT-5HNV/body%20awareness.pdf
[3] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/why-it-was-easier-to-be-skinny-in-the-1980s/407974/