Have you ever seen that television show where some people just never ate vegetables? And did you feel like there was something recognizable in that? Do you also want to change it or just help others, like your children, to eat more vegetables? Then in this article I will go over ways you can make sure you do eat vegetables yourself and with a little help.
If you already have to gag from touching vegetables, it's your subconscious telling your body to react this way. After all, vegetables are healthy and it makes no sense at all that they would cause you to react this way. So your subconscious is actually sending the wrong signal to your body when you touch or eat vegetables.
The beauty of hypnosis is that it gives your brain the power to tell your body how to respond to certain actions, such as eating vegetables. In the process, it changes the signals the body gives to your brain.
Therefore, the goal of modern hypnotherapy is to help patients tap into the potential that is in their subconscious. Therefore, it is possible to learn new behaviors by giving more power to the control your subconscious has over your body.
Learning to eat vegetables
You may not have had an overly good cook in your earlier and later life, which is why you now find vegetables gross and you find it difficult to make vegetables tasty. Maybe vegetables are always too bitter for you. I can tell you as a vegetable eater, vegetables don't always have to be bitter. Vegetables can also be juicy and sweet, just like fruit actually.
To stop your body from having the reaction of gagging or even panicking , hypnosis can direct your subconscious to react differently to vegetables than before. This can be done, for example, with suggestions that put vegetables in a good light.
One suggestion might be:
"The nutrients from vegetables take care of every cell in my body and make me stronger physically and mentally."
"Vegetables are the healthy version of candy."
Depending on your beliefs about vegetables, the suggestions can be modified by the hypnotherapist so they actually hit your vegetable phobia if there is one.
If you are especially struggling to leave unhealthy snack foods behind and therefore want to eat vegetables then you can also use other suggestions.
A suggestion if you want to learn to snack on vegetables instead of cookies or chips when you have a craving is, for example:
"When you're hungry go eat vegetables."
A study on losing weight with hypnosis used "covert modeling" to encourage participants to actually perform the healthy behavior. Covert modeling is actually a fancy English word for visualizing. The idea behind this is that visualizing the behavior increases the likelihood that the behavior will actually be implemented. In the study, participants actually lost weight because they found it easier to go for healthy food than junk food.
Covert modeling is used in neuro-linguistic programming and cognitive behavioral therapy in addition to hypnotherapy.
Unfortunately, these results were only obtained for the short term, and that may have to do with the fact that the subjects studied did not have to apply self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis is important to enhance the effects of hypnotherapy and in some cases to maintain the effect. You can be given self-hypnosis techniques by your hypnotherapist aimed at your problems eating vegetables.
Vegetable eating children
Teaching your children to eat vegetables can be quite a struggle. Fortunately, children are still incredibly receptive to hypnosis. I'm talking about children past the toddler stage, though. For small children, the book Healing Stories by Paul Liekens can also be super helpful.
Through hypnosis, you can help children look at vegetables in a different way. Popeye has already been used to show that spinach makes you strong and always wins the girl (even if you don't necessarily want to at that age). You can also use hypnosis to find out why your child has trouble eating vegetables and thus do something against that belief.
A friend of mine didn't like an orange for a very long time because she once ended up in the hospital for kidney surgery. While recovering, she was in the pediatric ward where a nurse wanted to give her an orange. At that moment, another girl threw up from an orange and so she decided that was not good nutrition and did not have an orange for years. The belief was based on a special moment and while she was among children who were also recovering from surgery. Because of this, you can sometimes react strangely to food when you normally never have. Through hypnosis it is possible to find out if your child has also experienced something like this, for example at school, and that is why he/she does not want to eat vegetables.
In addition, children are also much more amenable to suggestions.
Other practical tips for learning to eat vegetables
Of course, hypnosis already helps you quite a bit, but learning to eat vegetables can also be made palatable in other ways. That's why I have a few more tips for yourself and for your children.
Let your child pick the vegetables at the supermarket.
Children eat their vegetables faster if they have chosen the vegetables themselves. You can also involve them in cooking so they can "taste" their "homemade food" afterward. You can also buy several kinds of vegetables yourself and give them the choice. Adding fruits that they already like also makes it a lot easier.
Make vegetables irresistible
Who says you can only cook vegetables? Baked vegetables are often much more flavorful. In doing so, you can also season them more easily. For example, use delicious olive oil with lemon juice and try different spices to find out what you really like them with.
You can also put sauces over vegetables. I sometimes eat bell bell pepper strips with mayonnaise as a snack, then I still had more vegetables than if I had chips with dipping sauce as a snack.
Give your child a veto
Above all, don't make a fight out of eating vegetables, but give them the choice. Some kids need to have seen new vegetables as many as 12 times before they try them, and they need to see you eating it too, so they can be sure it won't kill them 😉 . So persistence wins, but that can sometimes take a while if you don't want to eat the same vegetable 12 days in a row. So twelve weeks is more realistic.
Eat a smoothie
Smoothies are the health trend for eating enough vegetables now. Thereby, the advantage is also that it is tasty and easy. So throw some vegetables in the blender, add some water, yogurt and a banana and you've had your vegetable shot.
Make it easy
You can already buy many ready-made snack vegetables, such as a bag of carrots that have already been washed. Make sure that's the first thing you see when you pull open the refrigerator for a snack.
In short
Not being able to eat vegetables is very annoying. The cause usually lies in the subconscious mind. There was once a moment when you did not want or dare to eat vegetables and from then on something went wrong.
With hypnosis, you can help your brain direct your body's reactions. This is because hypnosis works on your subconscious that has more influence on signals to the body. Signals by the body are therefore reflected correctly.
By then applying self-hypnosis, you reinforce therapy.
Children can also use hypnosis to eat vegetables again, but it is not yet recommended for small children.
In addition, you can also help yourself by making vegetables more appealing through preparation. For example, you can serve herbs and sauce with them or make them into a smoothie. Involving your child in the choice and possibly the preparation of the food increases the chances that he/she will want to try new vegetables.
Want to learn more about hypnosis and self-hypnosis? Then check out the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' training courses and events.
Also pin this handy infographic as a reminder:
Sources:
www.fairmountassociates.com/articles/The-Possibilities-in-Hypnosis.pdf
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207148108409156
www.webmd.com/diet/eat-your-vegetables-15-tips-for-veggie-haters?page=2
