The Michael Phelps Diet

I have seen many clients who wish to either reduce their weight or just manage it better.  During the programme I ask people to complete a food diary for me to see what they are eating and when etc.  This gives me a very good idea as to what emotions are being attached to which foods.  I read in the Times newspaper the diet which Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has while in competition.  I have not seen one with quite so many calories before!  Here is the article out of the Times:

Michael Phelps is rewriting Olympic history on almost a daily basis - and now we know how.

It all comes down to a fried-egg sandwich. Or to be more precise, three fried-egg sandwiches and the cheese, tomatoes, onions and mayo. And that's just for starters.

"Eat, sleep and swim, that's all I can do," Phelps said after winning his eleventh Olympic gold medal. Boy can he eat.

The 23-year-old's diet is almost as staggering as his performances in the swimming pool and involves him taking on about 4,000 calories every time he sits down for a medal - something more plausibly associated with competitive eating than championship swimming.

When asked what he needed to continue his gold-medal winning streak, he said, "Get some calories into my system and try to recover the best I can."

The average man of the same age needs about 2,000 calories a day, but with Phelps due to swim 17 times over nine days of competition in Beijing he is bringing a whole new spin to the phrase 'a breakfast of champions'.

Phelps wakes up at about 5am and sits down to a breakfast of three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. He follows that with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelette, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, he puts away about half a kilo of pasta, before tucking into two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread. To help wash that down he drinks another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really goes to town, with another half kilo of pasta and an entire pizza for good measure. And don't forget another 1,000 calories in energy drinks.

Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One five-egg omelette. One bowl of grits. Three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar. Three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch: One pound of pasta. Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread, plus 1,000 calories of energy drinks.

Dinner: One pound of pasta, an entire pizza and even more energy drinks.

As the headline in the article says this one is not to be tried at home!  Well I am off for my breakfast of home-made muesli and rice milk!

Share and enjoy.

Peter

Just before I trained to be a hypnotherapist my tutor and good friend Jonathan Atkinson told me what was achievable using hypnotherapy.   I was completly astounded.  He spoke about things such as overcoming phobia's,  become the weight you wanted to be with the weight management programme which we associate with using hypnotherapy, but then he told me all sorts of exciting changes that he had achieved with his clients.   Many of changes he achieved were  physical ones-even more exciting. 

Since I qualified, I have gone on to accomplish physical changes in my clients where this has been required which is so rewarding and satisfying.  Unfortunately due to confidentiality I am unable to tell you about these exciting changes I have seen in people.  I read with interest about a study at Liverpool University by forensic psychologist Dr Simon Duff who says that hypnosis can reduce the symptoms of dementia.  Hurray, there is hope for us when we grow older!  His article goes on as follows:

Hypnosis shown to reduce symptoms of dementia

Liverpool, UK - 28 July 2008: A scientist at the University of Liverpool has found that hypnosis can slow down the impacts of dementia and improve quality of life for those living with the condition.

Forensic psychologist, Dr Simon Duff, investigated the effects of hypnosis on people living with dementia and compared the treatment to mainstream health-care methods.  He also looked at how hypnosis compared to a type of group therapy in which participants were encouraged to discuss news and current affairs.

They found that people living with dementia who had received hypnosis therapy showed an improvement in concentration, memory and socialisation compared to the other two treatment groups. Relaxation, motivation and daily living activities also improved with the use of hypnosis.

Dr Duff said: “Over a nine month period of weekly sessions, it became clear that the participants attending the discussion group remained the same throughout.  The group who received ‘treatment as usual’ showed a small decline over the assessment period, yet those having regular hypnosis sessions showed real improvement across all of the areas that we looked at.

“Participants who are aware of the onset of dementia may become depressed and anxious at their gradual loss of cognitive ability and so hypnosis – which is a tool for relaxation – can really help the mind concentrate on positive activity like socialisation.”

Further research will now take place to establish whether hypnosis maintains its effects on dementia as the illness progresses, over longer periods of time.

Dr Dan Nightingale, co-author of the research and leading dementia consultant at the Abacus Clinic in Newark, added: “Evidence to date has shown that we can enhance the quality of life for people living with dementia through the correct use of hypnosis.  We have now developed a course for clinicians who wish to incorporate hypnosis into health care plans.”

This is very exciting news.  Not only can we use hypnosis to treat a very wide variety of conditions during our lifetime, from having a hypnobirth to when we grow old and being able to treat dementia.  However, I believe that keeping ourselves active-mentally and physically, and keeping a positive mental attitude we can keep away conditions such as dementia and other age related conditions.

Keep positive, share and enjoy.

Peter

A warm welcome to my new, bigger and better website.   There is more information, news and I will be writing a blog each day.   There are some new and exciting things coming including: an online hypnotic store, blogging each day, a secure page for clients to log-in for more of the information they require and a guest book where you can leave your suggestions where we can improve this website and for you to tell us     about your positive experiences about hypnotherapy. (They can be anonymous if you wish!)

PS tell   your friends about our changes and we look forward to hearing from   you soon.

Best wishes.

Peter.