Is holiday weight gain inevitable? If you’re frightened of what’s going to happen now that the butter-laden cookies, lovingly fried potato latkes, creamy novelty cocktails, and globally-inspired holiday feasts of all kinds surround you, you’re not alone. And, certainly, your clients are among those who share your trepidation. 
 
Many of us have been trained to associate the winter holidays with overindulgence. We are told that it’s “tradition” to eat 600-calorie slices of fruitcake and iced sugar cookies, and that if we don’t clean our plates at Aunt Susie’s family gathering, there will be no presents or toys to play with. 
 
No wonder we all go a bit out of control during the holidays. Our inner children are in varying states of overstimulation, and in many cases, distress. There are  so many flashing lights, and they recall exhortations to “be good,” remember all the special celebrations, fancy clothing, and of course, yummy candy, cookies, and cakes. Some, also, remember unhappy holidays and have a need to soothe themselves with all that food. 
 
Our inner children, who still live on  as parts of our unconscious awareness, want to celebrate in big ways. Moreover, they may be convinced that there can’t possibly be any negative consequences, or they might not care. In either case, they don’t realize that they now live in adult bodies. 
 
By New Year’s Day, when the only thing we want to wear are stretchy pants, we start to notice that eating like a little kid with an unlimited budget in a candy store has led to weight gain. And, when we get to a certain age, it’s not so easy to release that weight. Some of us, as a result of feeling guilty or ashamed, only eat more, and gain more. Others of us restrict our food intake, and then go back to unconscious eating patterns a few weeks or months down the road.  
 

When the world was structured as an agrarian society, the feasts and the overindulgences that went on at this time of year made a lot of sense. It is dark in the northern hemisphere, and very cold outside.  
 
Without a lot of hours of sunlight, it made sense to pass time baking cookies and use up the foods from the harvest with extravagant feasts. Any extra weight that came along acted as insulation, so it made sense to accumulate additional body fat to get through the winter months.  
 
By February, the preserved food would start to run low, and by March people would be out cultivating the land, birthing calves, foals, and pups, getting plenty of exercise, and burning off that extra weight. Obviously, most of us don’t live on farms these days. Therefore, although it’s fine to enjoy holiday traditions, it’s wise to do so in moderation.  
 
But what about those inner children? One of them might say, “Marzipan is soooooooo good, and even though I’m stuffed, Grandpa’s going to be mad if I don’t eat at least a small dish of his special cranberry sauce.” Those inner children have difficulty with the concept of moderation, that’s for sure. 
 
Now that our inner children are not so little anymore, how can we control our impulse to indulge? 

You, or your clients, might be nervous about gaining weight, or aware of the fact that you’re not exercising moderation at the holidays or any other time. As awareness increases, it becomes possible to take charge of eating patterns and maintain a weight that is healthy and natural. 
 
How can you achieve a better way of moderating that impulsive child within? Go to the source of those impulses with Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy™ and the TRIM-LIFE™ program from The Wellness Institute.  
 
The TRIM-LIFE program is a way for therapists to build their practice through conducting group sessions with clients. The program includes: 
license to facilitate the TRIM-LIFE program 
online access to client video and audio programs 
lesson plans for six sessions 
facilitator resources and videos  
 
Whether it’s for you or for your clients, the six sessions of TRIM-LIFE™ training will uncover the reasons that underlie unhealthy relationships with food, and provide tools to transform them. 
 
Many people, for example, use food as a way to soothe uncomfortable emotions, fill an emptiness that originated in childhood or even earlier, or counteract a shock response that developed as a result of trauma. TRIM-LIFE uses hypnotherapy and the group process to allow people to get to the source of their food-related issues by facilitating the communication between the subconscious and conscious parts of the mind.  
 
The experiences uncovered in hypnotherapy are remedied by expression of the associated emotions and re-framing the negative conclusions and self-sabotaging behaviors that may have been created at the time of trauma. That is how, for instance, a sexually abused child who believes “I let people use my body,” who then decides to overeat and gain weight in order to be less sexually desireable, can break old patterns and create new and healthy behavior.  
 
Sharing experiences in a group setting is an incredibly valuable method of allowing people to realize that others share their feelings, and to share their own fears, disappointments, and triumphs. The heart-centered sharing that the group members engage in creates bonds among them that offer structure and support that often lasts beyond the scope of the program. 

It’s easy to become a TRIM-LIFE™ provider. TRIM-LIFE™ is available for purchase to graduates of the Six-Day Hypnotherapy Training and Certification Program. If you’re a therapist, and wish to participate in a program so that you can transform your eating patterns, you can do so through our network of current providers. Going through the program will certainly boost your confidence when it comes time to lead your groups. 
No one has to have the perfect body, or even an ideal weight, in order to be a TRIM-LIFE provider. The willingness to learn, grow, and transform is the key to acquiring mastery over your body and how you choose to nourish it. Modeling that and teaching people how they can do the same is going to lead to success that expands your practice and increases your own sense of personal well being. 
 
It’s holiday time, and many people are coming into contact with their fear of what unhealthy eating patterns can do to them. If you haven’t taken the Six-Day Hypnotherapy Training and Certification Program as of yet, there’s time to enroll. If you’re already a graduate, get your license for the TRIM-LIFE™ program now, so you can offer the help your clients need as early in the new year as possible.  
 
The Wellness Institute is on a mission to heal the healers, so if you need TRIM-LIFE™, don’t delay.  

Learn hypnotherapy in less than a week with the Six-Day Hypnotherapy Training and Certification Program 
and 
 
Become a TRIM-LIFE™ Facilitator right away!