A MET Approach to Untangle Emotional Attachments to Food - Forever

Inspired by this work, Liz developed a seven-week program designed to tackle specific body and food issues. She decided upon a group workshop format, meeting once a week, to allow participants to work through complex issues, easily and safely, and to mutually support each other. Having just completed the last series of workshops for 2006, Liz shares here some of the successful approaches she has developed to unravel emotional attachments to food and collapse core issues forever.

Obesity is very much a hot media topic again with the latest proposal from the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is to pay for obese patients to attend slimming clubs. Many of the women who signed up for Liz’s course were already seasoned dieters and repeat graduates of orthodox weight loss methods. Many of them had lost four or five stones (56-70 pounds) in the past only to regain the lost weight and often, additional weight too. In fact, they were a prime example of the phenomenon of yo-yo dieting, which often has a catastrophic affect on a person’s metabolism and also a detrimental impact on long-term health prospects.

Liz approached Sally Baker, a body therapist and Advanced MET Practitioner assist with the group dynamic.

The course was designed so that each week had a specific topic. The focus of the inaugural meeting was to teach the participants classic EFT and the continuous tapping approach developed by fellow antipodeans, Steve Wells and Dr David Lake. These techniques were then applied to explore the presenting ‘truths’ of the group and collapse any negative or self-limiting beliefs.

Liz very much encouraged the group to take responsibility for themselves from the outset. Participants were advised to shelve any pre-occupation they had with counting calories or weighing themselves and to tap instead. They were advised not to give anything up or to do anything differently, but just to tap as they shopped or ate or thought about food and to see what thoughts came up for them and to then in turn tap on those thoughts or beliefs.

Early in the workshops Liz took time out to focus the group on any doubts they had about how stupid the whole tapping thing looked and what a strange process it all was.

Borrowing benefits played a key role in the weekly meetings. Liz encouraged the group to use symbols or key words on the tapping rounds if they didn’t feel comfortable disclosing actual details.

Between groups there was homework set in the form of work sheets to be completed. These served several functions. As well as a starting point for the next group meeting, the work sheets also acted as a focus for participants’ own work and encouraged them to look below the surface at whatever issues or emotions were driving them. By teaching the group the Emergency Stop protocol they were prepared for any intense memories or thoughts emerging that may have felt distressing or overwhelming.

On the initial booking form they had been asked to supply specific brand information on the foods they most often craved. When it came to the specific week in the workshops to tackle food cravings Liz had purchased the actual range of chocolates and crisps they had stipulated, thus allowing accurate testing.

A big issue came up at about the mid point of the seven weeks. Interestingly, by then most had acknowledged cognitive shifts and had managed to effortlessly make positive changes in their eating and increase their levels of physical activity. At that point they were happy; impressed by the effectiveness of the tapping and pretty much blown away with the progress they had made. Then, incredibly, they began to sabotage their progress by ‘forgetting’ to tap. Their comments about ‘no time to tap’ or ‘completely forgot to tap’ etc were explored and successful collapsed with focused tapping allowing them to release their fears about change and get back on track.

As the course progressed and the participants grew more confident in the process, gaining deeper understanding of their limiting beliefs, some of them with deep therapeutic issues were guided and supported, on a one-to-one basis, by either Liz or Sally. Both therapists found that a combination of EFT and TAT along with basic muscle testing to be highly effective in facilitating letting go of old pain and making cognitive shifts.

The majority of participants lost weight. They, over the period of seven weeks, uncovered and demolished long held beliefs about themselves, often from their earliest years, tapped the emotional load down from old memories and let go of self-sabotaging habits that had kept them firmly stuck. A couple of the group members who had hidden their feelings beneath layers of food or alcohol were able to address the real issues in their lives that were making them over eat and make practical changes. Once they had addressed their core issues, it was no longer necessary for them to overeat and they simply stopped.

Since running these workshops Liz has established a monthly peer group allowing previous workshop participants to meet and share their experiences in a supportive,

committed environment. Liz and Sally are on hand to assist and guide their independent work as and when required.

Liz has received excellent testimonials from the workshop members, some of which are here.

‘Space felt very safe. Everyone felt respected and their opinions valued. Thanks to both of you. It’s changed my life’. S.H. South East London

‘Thank you from my heart. I was drowning. Rescue remedies the both of you’. K.P. West London

‘Love the workshops. Have learnt so much about myself and for the first time in my life feel completely at peace with food’. P.J. South East London.

Liz’s next workshops called ‘Working on the Body’, are scheduled for mid February 2007. They include a seven-week, women only course and a series of weekend workshops for men and women.

Emotional Freedom Techniques together with other very simple techniques in the MET ‘family’ are easily learnt and once learnt can be applied to any issue. They are tools for life that can change beliefs about ourselves and set us free – forever.

For further information or to contact Liz Hogon please visit her members page here