Fat Kills You

Can the colors on your plate tell you what health benefits you are getting?

As researchers are learning more and more about the foods we eat there is one hot topic that keeps coming up?.phytochemicals. You may have heard the latest craze for lycopene found in tomato products boasting its heart health benefits. Phytochemicals are biologically active chemicals (not classified as vitamins or minerals) found in foods that our bodies may use as part of their disease-fighting arsenal. A single tomato or orange contains, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of phytochemicals. This is very exciting news for researchers since many of these phytochemicals act as antioxidants and also provide other benefits for cancer prevention. They have also found that the color of the edible part of our fruits and vegetables can tell us what class of phytochemicals it contains and therefore, what health benefits we can obtain. Finally! Now when your mother says eat your vegetables, their good for you? we can see how they are good for us!

Blue/Purple (blueberries, grapes, eggplant, plums)
Health Benefits:
a lower risk of some cancers,
aids in memory function, and
healthy aging

Green (spinach, broccoli, salad greens, green peppers, honeydew, kiwi)
Health Benefits:
a lower risk of some cancers,
vision health, and
strong bones and teeth

White (onions, bananas, garlic)
Health Benefits:
healthy heart, and
a lower risk of some cancers

Yellow/Orange (oranges, yellow and orange bell peppers, yellow watermelon, carrots)
Health Benefits:
healthy heart,
vision health,
improved immune system, and
a lower risk of some cancers

Red (strawberries, red bell peppers, pink watermelon)
Health Benefits:
healthy Heart,
improved memory function, and
a lower risk of some cancers

Now you can enjoy a colorful plate of food and improve your health at the same time!

© Meri Raffetto, 2004

About the Author

Owner of Real Living Nutrition Services, Meri Raffetto is a Registered Dietitian and a recognized professional in the area of nutrition and wellness. She offers individual nutrition counseling and has developed one of the only non-diet online weight management programs available on the internet. For more information or to sign up for Real Living’s free nutrition newsletter, visit http://www.reallivingnutrition.com.

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Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuiders’ training regimes.

It is useful, therefore, to describe in detail the processes involved in actually doing these exercises. This will help beginners to start out using the correct techniques before moving on to potentially more dangerous heavy weights. If it also helps more experienced lifters to redress some of the little faults that have almost imperceptibly crept in over the years, all the better.

In this article we’ll take a close look at the incline dumbbell bench press.

MUSCLES TARGETED: pectoralis major

STARTING POSITION

Grasp two dumbbells using a closed, pronated grip.
Assume a supine position on a bench.
Press the dumbbells to an extended elbow, parallel arm position above the face.
This is the starting point for all repetitions.

DOWNWARD MOVEMENT

Lower the dumbbells together towards the chest and aligned with the nipples.
Keep the wrists rigid directly above the elbows.

UPWARD MOVEMENT

Push the dumbbells upward until the elbows are fully extended.
Keep the wrists rigid directly above the elbows.
Do not arch back or raise chest to meet the bar.
Repeat or finish set.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Exercises to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

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Everywhere we look in the western world we are inundated with pictures, images, icons and inferences of the ‘perfect’ female shape! The truth is that many of these images are altered or enhanced in some way and do not depict the typical female form. The pressure to lose weight is immense when we are bombarded every day with media selling products based on slimness, sex appeal and fashion. The constant message is that slimness will make you desireable.

With the current demographic trends in western countries, and faced with a sea of high fat, high sugar combined with physical inactivity; it is time to pay attention to our weight but not for any reasons of desirability. The most important reason for wanting to be a healthy body weight is for health rather than for how your body looks.

Overweight and obesity are major public health problems in western countries. Since the 1980s both adult men and women have become heavier, with obesity rates more than doubling in the last 20 years! Children are also becoming heavier. There is a growing concern that we are inadvertently training our overweight children to become obese adults. It has been said, we are digging our graves with out teeth! So just why should we be concerned with achieving a healthy body weight?

Overweight linked with diabetes.

In January 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association featured two studies that highlighted the topic of obesity and its impact on health. The first study focused on the relationship between obesity and diabetes, as well as the growing concern of diabetes in the U.S. between the years 2000 and 2001. The numbers don’t look good, with an alarming 5.6% increase of obesity in both men and women-from all ethnic groups, age ranges and educational levels. The occurrence of diabetes also increased-up 8.2% from 2000.

Overweight linked with premature death.

The second study found that obesity appears to markedly lessen life expectancy, especially among young adults. The researchers compared Body-Mass Index (BMI) to longevity and found a correlation between premature death and higher BMIs. For example, a 20-year-old white male, 5′10″ weighing 288 pounds with a BMI of greater than 40 was estimated to lose 13 years of his life as a result of obesity. Findings were similar for women with higher BMIs, who were estimated to lose an average of eight years. While these studies reference extreme levels of obesity, there are still millions of overweight people in developed countries with a life expectancy rate that is three to five years less than their healthy-weight counterparts.

Overweight linked with heart disease.

Overweight people tend to have higher blood pressure and higher blood cholesterol, which are major risk factors for heart attack and other blood vessel disease. Being overweight can contribute to problems in the joints, and is also associated with other serious diseases such as diabetes.

How you tell if you are overweight

As we are all different shapes and sizes, there is not one recommended weight for your height. Instead there is a range of weights that are healthy for your height. One way to check your weight is to calculate your Body Mass Index or BMI.

Your BMI is a ratio or comparison of your height and weight expressed in a number. To find out your BMI you need to divide your weight (measured in kg) by your height (measured in m) squared. If you do not know your measurements in the metric system you can find any number of BMI calculators online that will do the conversion for you into empirical measures. One such calculator is at the website listed below.

The accepted definitions of weight categories by BMI are:

Underweight - BMI less than 18.5

Healthy weight - BMI between 18.5 and 24.9

Overweight - BMI equal to or greater than 25 and up to 29.9

Obese - BMI equal to or greater than 30

These BMI values only apply to adults aged 18 years and over and are based on studies of Caucasian populations. Therefore, they are not applicable to children and adolescents and they may not be appropriate for people of other cultural backgrounds.

Another way to check your weight is to measure your waist circumference, using a tape measure. This gives you an idea of whether you have a lot of fat stored around your middle. Waist circumferences associated with increased health risk are:

For men - Waist circumference greater than 94cm

For women - Waist circumference greater than 80cm

Being a healthy weight can help:

• improve blood cholesterol levels, blood pressure and blood glucose levels
• reduce your risk of other health related problems
• improve self confidence and self esteem
• make it easier to be physically active.

If you are obese or overweight?try not to gain additional weight. This will help you in years to come as people tend to increase weight with age. Better still look after your body and follow a healthy lifestyle incorporating a nutritious, delicious, health enhancing weight loss program. Just by losing 10 pounds you can significantly improve your overall health.

(c) Copyright Kim Beardsmore

About The Author

Kim is successful a weight loss coach who will cut through the diet-hype, reach your goal weight and never ‘diet’ again. No public ‘weigh-ins’, meetings that cost you money or fads…simply results you’ll love. You can receive a free, no obligation consultation today. http://tinyurl.com/5c9cw. Are you interested in a fantastic home business? Visit: http://tinyurl.com/62wo6.

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OK, first let’s get something straight here…

If you think that buying a shake or taking a few pills will all of a sudden make you huge, then you are mistaken.

No supplement will help you if you are not training and dieting correctly — they will just give you very expensive urine. All aspects of your program have to be in order for you to get the maximum benefit from sports nutrition supplements. From my experience, supplements enhance your program by:

1. Adding an element of convenience: Using food supplements like Meal Replacement Powders and whey protein help to eliminate the common problem of ‘not enough time’, by providing you with an quick efficient way to get your required nutrients each day.

2. Increasing strength and decreasing recovery time: Using vitamin and amino acid supplements help to minimize the negative side effects of weight training and speed your recovery.

The Benefit of Convenience

There are many ‘old school’ trainers and bodybuilders who profess the uselessness of supplements. They are constantly preaching that they don’t work, and that you don’t need them. Well, to tell you the truth they are correct, somewhat. Remember that not too long ago there were no supplements. Bodybuilders built huge physiques without meal replacement powders, creatine or prohormones.

There was no such thing as exercise ‘machines’. They used multi-jointed, compound free weight exercises that not only increased their muscular size, but also make them incredibly strong. So, if you look at that way it can be done and you don’t need any supplements. However, the decision whether or not to use supplements should involve the consideration of other factors that may come into play when speaking of dieting today. The first of which is time.

Many people today just do not have the time to live, eat and breathe food. Very few people like to cook, and even fewer cook on a regular basis. When was the last time that you actually had six meals that you actually cooked yourself? Many of those who are against dietary supplements continue to preach that you should get all the nutrients that you need from your diet. ‘Eat a balanced diet and you will get all the nutrition you need’. Well, 100 years ago that may have been true, but today this type of advice is questionable.

The fact is, most people’s idea of a good meal is restaurant or (even worse) fast food. To ask someone to eat specific amounts of protein, fat and carbs seems like an impossible request considering that most people can’t even get their minimum requirements of good fat or fiber. Experts will continue to spout ‘eat a balanced diet,’ while Americans feast on nutritionless fast food and sugar. Not only do our bodies have to deal with the ever-increasing external stresses of everyday life, they also have to combat nutrient-depleting, tissue damaging exercise.

If I did not have the option to supplement my diet with whey protein, I probably would not have gained as much weight as I have. Now, I’m not saying that the whey protein is why I gained weight, but it did help me a great deal.

I am usually very busy and I just don’t have the time, nor the desire to eat six, planned whole food meals per day. Supplements like meal replacement powders and whey protein fill in this gap for me.

I typically have three real food meals and three protein supplement meals — that makes up my required six meals each day. When I’m away from home, or not able to get an adequate meal, my MRP is always right there when I need it. It gives me a quantifiable amount of protein so that I can keep track of my nutrient intake. In my opinion, this is much better than just grabbing something and then trying to guess at how much protein, fat or carbs you just ate. Getting in all of your required meals and nutrient amounts is crucial to your success.

My mass diet requires a very high daily protein intake — Over 300g per day. Just to give you example of how much that is, here are some examples of what 300g of protein is equal to:

Tuna — 50 oz of canned tuna (the average can is 6-8oz.), which is 1,750 calories and 25g of fat

Chicken — 38 oz of chx breast (equals about seven 6oz breasts), which is 1,313 calories and 38g of saturated fat

Beef — 43 oz of lean ground beef (about 2.7 pounds of meat), which is 3,214 calories and 215g of saturated fat

Eggs — 50 large whole eggs, equals 3,750 calories and 250g of saturated fat

Egg whites — 100 egg whites, equals 1,600 calories and almost no fat

Pure whey protein — 15 scoops of EAS Precision Protein, equals 1,500 calories 7.5g of saturated fat

It is very possible to get this amount from eating whole foods only — But it will take work. Also, as you can see from the above numbers, getting all of your protein from regular food will also bring a lot of unnecessary elements like extra saturated fat. Yes, our goal to gain mass is to eat a lot of calories (including fat), but your main fat intake should consist of unsaturated fats that are liquid at room temperature like olive oil, flaxseed oil, sunflower oil and safflower oil. Whey protein supplements will help to give you the extra protein without the fat.

Increased Strength and Decreased Recovery

In addition to a whey protein supplement, I recommend that everyone should be taking a multi-vitamin, plenty of vitamin C, and glutamine. Creatine can also be added if you are over 18.

Multi-Vitamin

Weight training increases the body’s need for many minerals like magnesium and selenium. The multi-vitamin ensures that I am not deficient in any major essential vitamin or mineral. Deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness and suppression of the immune system, muscle cramping and fatigue.

I always take a multi-vitamin without iron, because grown men do not need additional iron. We get enough from our food. Men and postmenopausal women should never take iron supplements unless they have iron-deficiency anemia, which is only diagnosed by blood tests. The body has no way to eliminate excess iron except through blood loss. Women who menstruate are protected from iron overload, obviously. Iron is also an oxidizing agent that can cause damage to the heart and arteries, and is a major risk factor in arteriosclerosis.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C essential to prevent free radical damage, which is accelerated after the heavy trauma of weight training. It is also essential is helping to repair connective tissue which helps decrease the amount of time you are sore. I train very heavy and extremely hard. When I train my legs, I am usually sore for about 5-6 days afterwards.

If I do not supplement my diet with vitamin C, I would normally be sore for almost 10 days! So, it really helps me to recover and get back to training. I typically take around 3,000mg in divided doses. That would equal quite a few oranges!

Glutamine

Glutamine is an amino acid that is produced by our bodies, but most of the time our bodies demand so much, that it can’t create enough. I supplement my diet with glutamine to increase my levels of glutathione. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant, which helps to combat the stresses of exercise trauma, and prevent muscle protein breakdown.

I especially believe that it helps prevent my body from breaking down my new muscle while I am asleep, so I never go to bed without taking it. I take about 15g per day (in divided doses), which would be impossible to get naturally.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine’s purpose is to supply our muscle with energy. It is also found in red meat, but you would have to eat an enormous amount of meat to get the same benefits as taking pure creatine powder. Everyone knows about creatine so I will not go into it here, but I do want to say that the major benefit from taking creatine is that it will increase your strength.

This will enable you to lift heavier weights, which will stimulate more muscle growth. Many people make a big fuss over the muscle volumizing effects of creatine, because if you stop taking it, you lose that extra fluid that creatine brings into your cells. So what! You certainly DO NOT lose the extra muscle creatine helped you to gain.

I can honestly say that I could not have built the body I have today without the convenience and enhancements supplements provide. I simply don’t have the time or desire to do it any other way. This is a choice that you must decide for yourself. You will be spending your money on these products, so make sure that you know their place in your program.

Don’t get caught up in product hype. Supplements will help, but they will NOT do the work for you.

Former “skinny guy” Anthony Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass. The most widely used weight gain program in the world. This unique program contains the complete diet, supplements and weight training program he used to gain 32lbs of mass. For more information on how to build more muscle go to http://www.fastmusclegain.com

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We can all learn something new every day! And good doctors are constantly alert to learning from all of their patients. It takes a lot to surprise me after twenty years in medicine but - I hold my hand up - this is a new one!

I had never heard of cherry juice or fresh cherries being used to treat gout or for gout pain relief until I heard it recently from a patient (who had been told it by his pharmacist, who had heard it from a relative etc etc). Anyway - a quick search for the “treatment of gout” on google turned up one (rather ancient -1950) research paper and a whole stream of anecdotal reports about the positive effect of cherries and their juice. It seems that consuming about half a pound of fresh cherrys a day or half a litre of fresh cherry juice can significantly lessen the pain and swelling of gout.

I’ve never had gout and I hope you haven’t either but I can tell you it’s one of the most painful conditions known in medicine.

Our blood contains a salt called uric acid. It’s there all the time in everyone but is normally fully dissolved in the way that sugar is fully disolved in a hot cup of tea. But … if the tea cools down … what happens to the sugar? It comes out of solution as little sharp edged crystals. Well, guess what - that’s exactly what happens in an attack of gout pain.

A change in the blood chemistry allows the uric acid to crystalise out of solution and form little jaggy crystals (like bits of broken glass) in the joints. For some reason the first joint of the big toe is the most commonly affected - and the pain when walking is horrific. Quite literally “like walking on broken glass” as many of my patients describe it.

Anyhow - back to those cherries.

My patient swore that taking the cherry juice had made a big impact on his gout pain and had provided rapid gout pain relief. You might want to try this yourself if you have gout or you might want to recommend it to a friend or relative.I’m not clear whether tinned cherries can have the same effect.

The most commonly quoted explanation of the effect is that cherries contain flavonoid compounds that may lower uric acid and reduce inflammation. As I described above, uric acid is the body salt that triggers gout attacks.

I have found nothing published to suggest that taking regular cherry juice lessens the risk of you having an attack in the first place but if you suffer from gout regularly it may be worth a try. Cherry juice, cherry pie, ice cream with cherry sauce? Mmmm - sounds good to me!

Dr Gordon Cameron MD is based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Joint pain, arthritis pain and frozen shoulder are among his areas of special expertise. He has published an excellent e book called How to Live with a Frozen Shoulder and is a regular contributor to magazines and textbooks Visit Dr Cameron’s website for more information about whiplash injury and other joint related conditions.

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Atkins diet was unknown 35 years ago. Though it seems that ancient people - athletes particularly - followed a strict diet which is likewise Atkins basic.

Strict diet and severe exercises for Ancient Greeks

Long before dr Atkins finished his theory about ketosis and established his famous diet, ancient people had undertaken it, without any clue at all. Not only they were eating Atkins-style, but also they were strongly practicing regular exercise, as dr Atkins now recommends. Ancient Greeks spent a lot of time educating their bodies. Gymnastic exercises were very appreciated, children were trained and directed to follow a daily training program. After years of strict diet and heavy gymnastics, Greeks finally admitted that “too much and too strict” is not good for health, because this regimen exhausted the human constitution.

Greek Olympians followed meat-only diet

In fact, we talk about Greek people who ate fruits, vegetables, a lot of fish, breads. This was a regular eating regimen for ordinary Greeks, with the amendment that fish was the most common meat eaten in that seafaring region. Quite interesting is the fact that Greek olympians had a bit different eating regimen, a meat-heavy regimen, like the low-carb Atkins’s (not so refined, of course, no phases at all). The goal was to develop a lot of muscles and meat was enormously necessary. But not any Greek could daily afford meat on the table. Only upper social strata from Greece could afford it. The olympians also ate more rich-protein legumes which their bodies needed to keep a boost of energy.

Moreover, according to food historian Francine Segan, an ancient Olympic runner was put to undertake a meat-only diet. It seems that this tough exclusive diet was a must to win a competition. That works for runners. The fact that runners ate only meat started a sort of meat diet craze, pointed out the historian. Another condition to complete athletes’ diet was to expel bread right before competition, eating dried figs instead. Francine Segan admitted that he discovered that while he was searching information about famous Mediteranean cuisine.

Their diet was directed according to Pausanias. Those practicing heavy exercise ate pork and a particular kind of bread. Also, it seems that beef was later introduced in the ordinary diet of the athletes. Goat meat is mentioned, too, in “A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities”. Meat consumption was highly encouraged, as on the Atkins diet plan. Fats, too, since pork, is a fat meat.

Ancient preoccupation with health, diet and exercise is praiseworthy. A low-carbohydrate daily regimen, along with regular exercise are a simple and efficient scheme for losing weight and shaping the body. The ancient people knew it by trying it only. No theories, no calories, no ketosis, no debates around. Maybe they didn’t need to know how it works. “Mens sana in corpore sana” worked best for them.

About The Author

Dana Scripca writes for http://www.dratkinsdietplan.info/ where you can find more information about the Atkins Diet

Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared: mailto:danascri@gmail.com

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We all need fat in our diet on a daily basis. However, not all fats are created equal ? there are healthy fats and unhealthy fats. Many people know that monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the healthier variety, and that saturated fats should be avoided. But did you also know about trans-fats? Read on to learn more about this unhealthy fat:

What are trans-fats?

Trans fats are fats that have had hydrogen added to them in order to make them solid at room temperature and last longer. Many packaged foods, margarines, and vegetable shortenings contain trans fat. If you read the label and see "partially hydrogenated oil" you can be sure that you are eating these unhealthy fats.

Why are they bad?

Trans-fat has come under scrutiny lately because of its harmful effects on our health. These fats can raise your LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, raising the risk of coronary heart disease. In some studies, trans fats have been shown to have an effect on learning and concentration in laboratory animals, as opposed to animals who were given foods containing other types of fat. Trans fat are as bad for you, if not worse than, the saturated variety and should be avoided at all costs. According to the Food and Drug Administration, as of 2006, all food manufacturers will be required to list "trans fat" on their nutrition labels.

How can I avoid them?

The best way to avoid trans fat is to eat whole, fresh, unprocessed foods. Fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains are your healthiest choices. If the ingredients on a package list "partial hydrogenation", avoid consuming them.

Stacy Tabb is an author and publisher of many successful informational websites, including an antiaging website aimed at the prevention of age-related conditions.

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The most recent shocking news related to Atkins diet UK is while dieting Atkins, people don’t feel the drive to eat more.

British population is largely enjoying Atkins diet

Though The United Kingdom doesn’t have to tackle serious issues regarding overweight and obesity, there are enough British dieting. It is said that about two fifths of the British population are currently dieting in some form or another - 58% have tried dieting in the past five years. An estimated three million people in the UK have tried the controversial Atkins Diet, suggests a poll; 7% of men and 10% of women had given it a try. Despite all the warnings coming from dieticians, the Atkins diet is extremely popular, as it is in the United States. Why on earth is this diet so largely voted ? Nutritionists are puzzled and are trying to explain this. The public already knows that Atkins is more effective than standard diets (those low-fat or controlled-calories diet) in losing weight; no one could persuade them to give up Atkins. Up-to-the-minute research point out that, in the Atkins diet, lowering appetite is the one responsible for losing pounds, not ketosis. Atkins diet UK has recently given some challenging topics to talk about.

Secrets from dieters’ diaries

A very recent BBC show disclosed a completely new point of view regarding Atkins diet’s success. On 12 August 2004, a few specialists were invited by narrator Barbara Flynn to debate Atkins advantages and drawbacks. The Atkins diet was “chopped” by Prof. Joe Milward, Dr. Theodore Vanitallie, Dr. Gary Foster, Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr. Paul Robinson, Prof. Joseph Donelly, Dr. Susan Jebb, prof. Arm Astrup.

Participants shared a shocking finding. Ketosis has nothing to do with pounds’ dissapearance; actually, by lowering appetite, Atkins dieters are losing weight! Nutrition experts have always been terrified by the fact that Atkins encouraged so many fats and had no limits to calories. The Atkins theory overturned all that dieticians had been trying to induce for years. People “wrongly” believed that, if you want to get thinner, all you have to do is eat less or reduce calories. This theory was swept away by the Atkins dietary approach.

Ketosis - out; appetite - in

Confused by the spectacular results, the nutrition care community couldn’t make this out. The conclusion was drawn after diaries of a group of Atkins dieters were scanned. Reading all the notes, it was clear that Atkins followers have a higher command of their appetite. By eating protein-rich foods regularly, they do not need to eat large amounts, British specialists from BBC show conclude. Appetite is somehow normalized by the food the dieters are actually eating. It is so simple, so unexpected. The father of this dietary approach had also mentioned it, among others, but only after private diet diaries had been “scanned”, the appetite’s relevance finally became prevalent.

The recent BBC show guests said that this finding is extremely interesting because appetite is one of the most fundamental human instincts. It is argued that it is hugely important, since without eating appropriate and sufficient food a human being cannot survive or move, or act, or think, or work. Moreover, hunger drive is considered “incredibly powerful”. The bottom line is that the Atkins way of eating acts like an “appetite killer” and this is tremendously important to understand the diet’s mechanism.

About The Author

Dana Scripca writes for http://www.dratkinsdietplan.info where you can find more information about the Atkins Diet.

Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared: mailto:danascri@gmail.com

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The Gestalt approach to therapy can be termed "phenomenological-existential" as it is concerned with an awareness of the here-and-now, working away from concepts and towards pure awareness (Clarkson, 1989). By the client becoming aware of their thoughts, feelings, etc the goal is for the individual to achieve insight into the situation under examination. As Yontef (1993) writes, insight is gained by studying the phenomomenological focusing, experimenting, reporting, and dialogue of the client. The philosophy behind this approach is that most people do not function in the world based on how the world, including themselves, is, but through a filter of self-deception, whereby one does not have a clear picture of oneself in relation to the world. Living that is not based on the truth of oneself leads to feelings of dread, guilt, and anxiety (Yontef, 1993).

The historical antecedents of Gestalt therapy are the experiences of its co-founder, Fritz Perls. Trained as a psychoanalyst, Perls rebelled against the dogmatic style of Freud’s approach (as had other notable founders of schools of psychotherapy, Jung and Adler. In the preface to the 1969 edition of "Ego, Hunger and Aggression" Perls wrote of this period of time as follows, "Started seven years of useless couch life." (Perls, 1969)), and incorporated aspects of holism into the belief that ultimately the individual is responsible for creating his or her existence.

Additionally, the early decades of the 20th century are notable for their refutation of Newtonian positivism and its replacement with phenomenology. These two themes were then combined within the scaffolding of Gestalt psychology to produce an approach centred on the individual’s relationship to their existence. The structure that Gestalt psychology offered was that perception should be considered as the recognition of patterns and relationships between items in the perceptual world which fulfils the central human need of giving meaning to perceptions, experiences and existence (Clarkson, 1989).

Reductionist approaches could neither account for the richness of perception, and its immediacy (for example, see Koffka, 1935; Gibson, 1966), nor take into account the importance of the observer. This led Perls to the idea that the actual awareness of an individual is more trustworthy than an interpretation of any data that a person might provide a therapist with and is primarily a description of movements between ‘figure’ and ‘ground’. The figure is the item of attentional focus at any one time, and the ground is the remainder of perceptual awareness. These movements, or ‘cycles of experience’ can become disrupted by being incomplete or unresolved and it is this ‘unfinished business’ which Gestalt therapy attempts to address. These ideas probably did not constitute a therapeutic approach until 1951 when Perls opened the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, despite the fact that the first recognisable Gestalt therapy book was published in the 1940’s (Perls, 1969).

Accompanying this combination of ideas, based on the thinking of Gestalt psychologists, philosophers (e.g., Lewin, 1952), and politicians (e.g., Smuts), was the fundamental concept of the person as basically healthy, striving for balance, health, and growth (Clarkson, 1989). The unfinished business referred to earlier is seen as an obstacle to these processes, restricting the person’s ability to function fully, often termed by Gestalt therapists as ‘dis-ease’. Van de Riet (Van de Riet et al., 1980) encapsulates the idea that dis-ease is a consequence when people do not experience themselves as being psychologically and physiologically in balance with their environment.

"As action, contact, choice and authenticity characterize health in gestalt therapy, so stasis, resistance, rigidity and control, often with anxiety, characterize the state called ‘dis-ease’"

The stasis, resistance, rigidity, and control prevent graceful flow through cycles of experience.

Having briefly outlined the core of Gestalt therapy it is necessary to consider some of the techniques that Gestalt therapists use in order to consider how they might be incorporated into hypnotherapy. Although there are techniques that are closely associated with a Gestalt approach, there are two caveats we must bear in mind. First, as Berne (1970) noted, gestalt therapy does use any techniques exclusively:

“Dr. Perls is a learned man. He borrows from or encroaches upon psychoanalysis, transactional analysis, and other systematic approaches. But he knows who he is and does not end up as an eclectic. In his selection of specific techniques, he shares with other ‘active’ psychotherapists the ‘Moreno’ problem: the fact that nearly all known ‘active’ techniques were first tried out by Dr. J. R. Moreno in psychodrama, so that it is difficult to come up with an original idea in this regard” (Berne, 1970: 163-4).

Second, that in Gestalt therapy, technique is considered secondary to the relationship developed between the therapist and the client, as Resnick (1984) writes:

“every Gestalt therapist could stop doing any Gestalt technique that had ever been done and go right on doing Gestalt therapy. If they couldn’t, then they weren’t doing Gestalt therapy in the first place. They were fooling around with a bag of tricks and a bunch of gimmicks” (1984: 19).

Based on these two caveats we might argue that anything of an ‘active’ nature which is incorporated into hypnotherapy would constitute Gestalt, or alternatively that without explicit training in the Gestalt client-therapist relationship there is nothing we could do which would be Gestalt. However, as the spirit of Gestalt therapy is very much identified by its use of specific techniques that is the approach that will be taken in the following discussion.

The techniques that are associated with Gestalt therapy are closely related to the idea that clients should want to work towards self-awareness through a mastery of their awareness processes. This is in contrast to patients who firstly are actually seeking relief from discomfort, although they may claim that they wish to change their behaviour, and secondly clients who expect that relief will come via the efforts of the therapist. Thus, Gestalt therapy is "an exploration rather than a direct modification of behaviour?the goal is growth and autonomy" (Yontef, 1993). The techniques are modifications and elaborations of the basic question, "What are you experiencing now?" and the instruction, "Try this experiment, or pay attention to that, and see what you become aware of or learn" (Zimberoff & Hatman, 2003).

Perhaps the most well known of all techniques that are identified as Gestalt is the empty chair. This is where clients project their representation of a person or an object, or part of themselves into an empty chair and they then present a dialogue between what is projected into the chair, and themselves. In some cases the client moves between the chairs, but either way, the idea is that inner conflicts become expressed and so the client heightens their awareness of them. This in turn forces the client to take responsibility for their difficulties so that they can make choices to resolve the sources of unfinished business (Stevens, 1975). As Becker (1993) writes, this is the whole point of Gestalt, to "take people who are conditioned and automatic and put them in some kind of aegis over themselves."

Similar to the empty chair, another common technique is known as topdog/underdog. A dialogue is performed between two aspects of the client’s personality, the topdog representing the introjecting demander of perfection, expressed by "should" and "must", and the underdog, which is a manifestation of resistance to external demands. Through the dialogue "resolution, compromise, understanding or permanent divorce becomes possible" (Clarkson, 1989). This is attained by the individual becoming aware of their internal battles, which often lead to feelings of guilt, anxiety, and depression.

The Gestaltist focus on awareness is not confined to awareness of cognitive processes, such as dialogue, but also physiological processes through a process termed bodywork. This involves the client consciously noting where they experience tension in particular situations, or how their pattern of breathing changes. Once aware they can learn strategies to reduce these reactions, which have produced both physical and mental discomfort.

As Zinker (1978) writes, "this may include the person’s awareness of his body, its weight on the chair, its position in space, its minute sounds and movements." Here the individual is taking responsibility for their body and taking charge of choosing how they want to react. Sometimes these tensions are based on a preoccupation with earlier circumstances. If the client is not responding to the current circumstances then they are seen as projecting the past to the present, so old patterns of responding, rather than new, experimental approaches are dominating their life (Parlett & Hemming, 2002). Working to release the physical manifestations of those old patterns can lead to greater engagement and awareness of one’s thoughts and feelings (Zimberoff & Hatman, 2003). This approach is also known as establishing sensation function (Clarkson, 1989) and is considered useful for clients who have become ‘alienated from their senses’ or those with narcissistic attributes who have ‘experienced it all’ (Clarkson, 1989).

The importance of bodywork is made clear by Becker (1993) who suggests that physical expressions are closer to truth because the mind is engaged in deception and sabotage: Perl’s basic assumption was that the body and its total processes are somehow anterior to and bigger than the mind. Gestalt conceives of the mind as an interference, as a way of blocking the total momentum of the organism in some way. Not only that, but the mind is not even the noble part of the organism that we always thought it was. For most people the mind and the creations of the mind work against the body. They work against the best interests of the total person.

In line with other psychodynamic approaches, Gestalt therapy includes dream work. The Gestalt position is dissimilar to Freud, in that Perls did not think of the unconscious as an inaccessible region of the mind which dreams could provide access to if interpreted correctly ? Freud’s ‘royal road to the unconscious’ was Perl’s royal road to integration. His view was more in line with Jung, who saw dreams as existential messages for the dreamer. In dream work the client is typically asked to relate the dream in the present tense as if they were experiencing the dream in that moment. From this the client develops an awareness of the existential message and how it consists of projected parts of the self.

The above descriptions of some of the techniques associated with Gestalt therapy should neither be considered exhaustive nor exclusive. As cited earlier, Resnick (1984) amongst others clearly believes that Gestalt therapy is not and cannot be tied to particular techniques, it is about the relationship between the client and the therapist.

An important part of this relationship is that the therapist is acting to guide the client towards greater self-awareness, responsibility and ownership of emotions, thoughts, sensations etc in order to complete any ‘unfinished business’ so that s/he may move smoothly through cycles of experience. The experienced therapist is able to adapt to the particular client in order to achieve this, relying on a wealth of techniques and skills. This essence of Gestalt therapy allies it more closely with cognitive behavioural approaches than typical psychodynamic methods because it relies less on interpretation of the client and more on their active participation. It is perhaps this that makes it possible to incorporate aspects of Gestalt therapy into hypno-therapeutic practice.

Interestingly Levendula (1963) suggests the view that a Gestalt therapist would be in a more advantageous position if he would combine his approach with hypnotic techniques. For example, the Gestalt therapist teaches the increasing of awareness through experimental exercises. The hypnotherapists can achieve this much more easily by directing the patient’s attention to become sharply aware of an idea or sensation or memory which thereby becomes a "bright Gestalt" while the rest of the perceptual field recedes into a background. The hypnotic state itself corresponds to the Gestalt-background principle, and the Gestalt formation becomes more or less an automatic function of it. ?the combination of Gestalt therapeutic principles with hypnosis enriches both approaches.

From this it is clear that Gestaltists are being advised to incorporate hypnotherapy into their practice. The following discussion will consider whether hypnotherapists can introduce aspects of Gestalt therapy into their work.

One of the central tenets of Gestalt therapy is that clients experience events in the present, that is they re-enact past events in the present. By re-living them they can focus on their experiences, both psychological and physiological and thus gain understanding. Awareness was considered "the key to unlock insight and ultimately bring behaviour change" (Zimberoff, & Hartman 2003). Bringing the experienced past into the experiential present is one important property of hypnosis.

Through hypnotic age regression, working with dreams etc clients can re-experience events that have occurred at some other time as if they were happening in the here and now. This is not merely a cognitive reliving of a copy of the event, but a fully nuanced resurrection of the experience. As Zimberoff, & Hartman (2003) state, "Keeping the client’s awareness on concrete detail is a constant in hypnotic age regressions, because it promotes presentness emotionally and viscerally (emphasis in original). Of equal importance is that the client’s awareness can be focused on different aspects of their experience through repeated re-experiencing of it, allowing for a detailed, and concrete re-living of the experience in all its original strength and from physiological and psychological perspectives. This then fulfils Rosen’s (1972) view that "Patients move best when they are moved" (emphasis in original).

It is clear that the Gestalt concern with realistic, present, re-experiencing of events is an important aspect of hypnosis. The concerns of Gestalt therapy with direct insight, rather than insight through interpretation would be a novel addition to hypnotherapy. To include this perspective is a philosophical and conceptual shift rather than a technical one and depends on the therapist’s own preferences. However it is quite possible to achieve.

Hypnosis is also useful in intensifying aspects of an experience, by directing the client to pay closer attention to particular details. For example, someone who wishes to stop smoking might be asked to strongly feel the sense of relief and strength from being able to take deep breaths of fresh, clean air. Greenberg and Malcolm (2002) have demonstrated that success in using such techniques as the empty chair are at least partially determined by the degree of emotional arousal experienced during the use of this technique. Here we can envisage that the client can be asked to imagine a dialogue, or in the case of multiple actors in the re-lived scenario, a conversation, where they can concentrate on aspects of themselves or others that are blocking their ability to resolve past issues.

Many hypnotic techniques are relatively passive in that the client is asked to view an event, rather than to participate in it, but there is no conceptual reason why this more active, almost didactic approach could not become a more integrated aspect of hypnotherapeutic practice. Indeed, in clients who are able to speak whilst hypnotised it might allow the therapist even greater understanding of the experiences that the client is reliving, and for the therapist to take a more active, flexible role in directing the client’s interactions.

As described earlier, Gestalt therapy makes use of experimentation in order for client’s to experience new sensations, and to become aware of old patterns of responding. For this to work we are effectively asking the client to suspend disbelief, for example to suspend the idea that they cannot say something to their parent. This may be difficult for some clients, especially where they have developed strong conscious strategies to protect them from predicted negative outcomes. Hypnosis, by inducing an altered state of consciousness, may be able to circumvent these strategies, allowing the client to explore options in a safe fantasy world that is experienced as vivid and real. S/he can then explore conversations with others, actions etc that may not be considered options when in a non-hypnotic state.

As suggested earlier, this active participation of clients is not common, but there is no reason why clients who have strong powers of visualisation cannot be directed under hypnosis to engage in experimentation. Usefully as a single scene can be replayed many times under hypnosis it allows the client to perform a variety of experiments and to compare and contrast the resultant emotions etc. Naturally they can also be directed to pay close attention to the details of these new experiences, so that they can be vividly recalled post-hypnotically.

As Gestalt therapy is primarily concerned with the client’s willingness to take responsibility, and the therapist’s ability to develop novel ways in which the client can come face-to-face with aspects of their life they have projected onto others, or denied control of, the main way in which hypnotherapy can incorporate aspects of Gestalt technique is twofold. Firstly hypnotherapeutic practitioners must be trained in Gestalt conceptual philosophy so they fully understand their role, and have the intuition and flexibility to carry it out in a range of situations and across a broad spectrum of clients. Secondly, just as Freud selected patients who were willing to accept his fundamental law of psychotherapy, perhaps the hypnotherapist must be selective at consultation with clients who show a motivation to change and a willingness to take responsibility for that change. Without these two features hypnotherapy cannot truly address "the key problem of people in our times?inner deadness" (Clinebell, 1981).

References

Becker, E. (1993). Growing up rugged: Fritz Perls and Gestalt therapy. The Gestalt Journal, 16(2). Available at http://www.gestalt.org/becker.htm

Berne, E. (1970). Review of gestalt Therapy Verbatim by F. Perls (1969). American Journal of Psychiatry, 10, 163-4.

Clarkson, P. (1989). Gestalt counselling in action. London: Sage.

Clinebell, H.J. (1981). Contemporary growth therapies. NY: Abingdon Press.

Gibson, J.J. (1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems. NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Greenberg, L.Sl. & Malcolm, W. (2002). Resolving unfinished business: relating process to outcome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70(2), 406-416.

Koffka, K. (1935). Principles of Gestalt psychology. NY: Harcourt, Brace & World.

Levendula, D. (1963). principles of Gestalt therapy in relation to hypnotherapy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 6(1),22-26.

Lewin, K. (1952). Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers. London: Tavistock Publications.

Parlett, M. & Hemming, J. (2002). Gestalt therapy. In W. Dryden (Ed.) Handbook of individual therapy. London: Sage.

Perls, F.S. (1969). Ego, hunger and aggression. NY: Vintage Books (first published in 1942).

Resnick, R.W. (1984). Gestalt therapy East and West: Bi-coastal dialogue, debate or debacle? Gestalt Journal, 7(1), 13-32.

Rosen, S. (1972). Recent experiences with Gestalt, encounter and hypnotic techniques. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 32, 90-105.

Stevens, J.O. (1975). Gestalt Is.Utah: real people Press.

Van de Riet, V., Korb, M.P., & Gorrell, J.J. (1980). gestalt therapy, an introduction. NY: Pergammon Press.

Yontef, G. M. (1993). Awareness, dialogue, and process: Essays on Gestalt therapy. Highland, NY: The Gestalt Journal Press.

Zimberoff, M.A. & Hartman, D. (2003). Gestalt therapy and heart-centred therapies. Journal of Heart-Centred Therapies, 6(1), 93-104.

Zinker, J. (1978). Creative process in Gestalt therapy. NY: Vintage Books.

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Weight loss programs often have big claims. Understand the “science” behind weight loss, and you’ll zero in on the achievable ones.

The key is to try not to simply accept or reject the the “claim” but to see which kind of program is scientifically more viable — and therefore capable of living up to its claim. To understand weight gain and weight loss thus, we need to understand that the body actually has a three-sided energy equation …

… there is ENERGY INPUT (what we eat), ENERGY OUTPUT (what we use in activity) and ENERGY STORED (fat layer in the body is solidified stored energy).

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What happens in the body of someone fat, overweight and not fit? Too much input for all the wrong reasons, too less output through a less active lifestyle, and too much storage therefore (i.e. excess fat build up).

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Very many people believe that the mind makes the body crave food and hate exercise! But the mind does not thus directly affect the input and output of energy … it’s very important to understand this.

The mind actually affects the the third item — the “storage issues” of energy. A mind that subliminally perceives the outer environment we live in as difficult, hostile, threatening etc. sends signals to the body that fat stores must be fortified in case of sudden or future crisis needs. And an obedient body responds!

It automatically adjusts its behavior — by creating a craving for energy input and creating a loathing for energy output. This is why our behavior seems involuntary, out of control. And this is why our weight loss programs seem unsustainable.

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Even among exercises to take up, it’s best to choose one that is itself non-threatening and natural — for if the mind sees the exercise itself as too strenuous or threatening, the purpose is defeated. That’s why the world of the long-term fit people is so full of those who have chosen walking — the ultimate natural and non-threatening exercise, among all weight loss programs.

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