"But I have thrown my money away on more foolish things than that. ... I didn't know how it would work, or if it would work or if it could work. I thought, 'What's the worst that could happen?' "

A certified hypnotist for more than 10 years, Kania says she helps people gain control of their eating. "They usually end up as a last resort with me," says Kania, who helps clients develop healthy eating and exercise regimens. Kania likens her work with hypnosis to reprogramming the brain with healthier habits. "Diets alone don't work," said Kania, citing the often quoted statistic that 95 percent of the people who lose weight regain it all in four years. "We are not only what we eat. We are what we think." Dr. David Spiegel, who works in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, says hypnosis is a highly focused state of attention. He likened it to getting caught up in a movie. He said not everyone is hypnotizable. About 70 percent of adults are somewhat hypnotizable and 10 percent very hypnotizable. "Most children are hypnotizable," said Spiegel, who said that adults lose the ability as they mature. "We don't know why." Spiegel has done studies using hypnosis as a means to develop the mental resolve to lose weight. He found it effective for people who wanted a modest weight reduction. "Anything that works even a little bit is worth considering," said Spiegel. "I am surprised there is such a good result for someone who had to lose that much weight."

Couture doesn't know exactly what Kania has suggested to him to help him lose the weight. He does know he passes on some unhealthy foods he could never pass on before and he thinks twice before eating something calorie rich and nutrition poor. "What does she say to you that makes you so successful? I don't know," said Couture. "That's the whole thing -- I don't know. It's not like I am standing in a buffet line and I hear her voice in my head." Both Kania and Spiegel say the public seems to have some unnatural fears about hypnosis. Both say under hypnosis, no one can do something completely uncharacteristic, though inhibitions are lowered. "I think people are far more afraid of it than it warrants," said Spiegel, who advises people to find a licensed practitioner with psychological training.

Couture learned to balance his diet, eating heavier meals earlier in the day. He also plans out what he eats before work, and often brings a lunch. "After a month of following that, it became second nature," said Couture, whose health has improved drastically since losing the weight. "Now it's been so many months, I don't even look at it as a diet anymore."Couture still plans to lose another 30 pounds. The biggest change he's noticed is in his attitude. "I am always in a good mood. Before, I was always mopey," said Couture. Kania's work with Couture and other clients to lose weight grew out of her work to help people stop smoking. She found most clients resumed the habit when they gained weight after stopping.

"Food is a drug. When you abuse food, it is used as a drug," said Kania, a former addictions counselor. "If it's not an addiction, it's an obsession with the idea of being thin. In this country we are being hypnotized into thinking being thin means being loved and being successful."

Whenever you have a thought, your body is eavesdropping. If you think something bad is going to happen, the body tenses. If you picture yourself vacationing on a warm tropical beach, the body relaxes. Any thoughts people have trigger a physical responses, said, Addie Kania, a Haverhill Certified hypnotherapist who mostly uses her skills to help people lose weight and beat addictions.  “The number one drug of choice in the United States is food—it affects brain chemistry,” Kania.

Winter is a hard time to lose weight because lack of sunlight causes the serotonin level in the brain to drop, which can cause depression. Sunlight affects serotonin production, as does exercise, sugar and carbohydrates, therefore sugar and carbohydrate-rich foods can make people feel better, which makes them eat when they are lonely, angry, tired, and bored.  “When you reach for food and you know you’re not physically hungry, you’re not reaching for food for hunger, you’re reaching for need,” said Kania who uses hypnosis to help change thought processes. “Your thoughts affect your body.  When you think a thought your body is eavesdropping,” said Kania, who sees hypnosis as good tool to help people relax and reduce stress. Kania also uses hypnosis to help people with illness because 70 percent of the things patients see doctors for are stress-related like irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure and heart disease.

In 1956 the American Medical Association validated hypnosis as a tool to treat many things, but recently, a study at the University of Connecticut showed that use of hypnosis in conjunction with support from programs like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, doubled the odds that clients would lose weight, said Kania. At the University of Utah another study was done on patients given hypnosis prior to surgery.  The results were a more relaxed patients and optimum healing. Kania said so many people are overweight in the United States that obesity is considered an epidemic and obesity often causes diabetes.  The connection between the two is so prevalent that a new name has been coined for it – diabesity. But besides the risk of diabetes, being overweigh also cause heart disease, some cancers, stroke and even pulmonary problems, said Kania, to a packed house at Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital on Jan. 4 – World Hypnosis Day.

During the seminar at Whittier, Kania demonstrated how thought affects the body by asking people to take a deep breath, close their eyes and picture themselves in their kitchen. “Imagine yourself walking to the refrigerator.  Open the door and find a large, yellow lemon. Take it out please, and place it on the counter. Get a sharp knife and cut it in half.  Now bring the lemon to your face and smell it, now take a bite, said Kania as she watched people’s faces pucker and some even began to salivate in response to the sourness of the lemon. “I saw your faces.  There was no lemon – only a thought,” said Kania.  “Your mind is a bio-computer.  The subconscious records thoughts and the computer totally runs you.”

Kania said many people fear hypnosis because when they hear the word they think of hypnotists on stage who make people quack like ducks or reveal deep, dark secrets. “That’s not what hypnosis is abut.  Hypnosis does not take away your control, in fact, it enhances it,” said Kania, who said her clients some to her so they can have more control over their behavior. “Over the course of a day people say so many mean things to themselves – I’m not good enough; I’m stupid; I’m undeserving.  If we change the way we think about ourselves we get different results.  Plant good seeds.  You can’t plant poison ivy and expect to get roses,” said Kania.

Hypnosis is a different experience for different people. “When a hypnotist tells people to picture themselves in a garden, an artist will see the garden, others will smell the flowers, come hear the birds and cricket, others will feel the relaxation they normally feel when they are in one,”, said Kania. Self-hypnosis is an option when people are alone.  “Listen to your own breath, slow it down, and your heart rate will slow along with the chatter in your mind,” said Kania, who uses hypnosis for weight loss and addiction, but also for positive things. She does visualization exercises t help improve performance for athletes.  And she helps people improve their work skill.

“The two things people fear most are death and public speaking,” said Kania who uses hypnosis t help people overcome fear. She said she does in-service training for health professionals, like nurses who use it along with massage and reiki to help patients relax. Kania rarely uses hypnosis as adverse therapy, for example, making people think of food as repulsive to get them to stop eating. “That’s not healthy.  We have to eat to survive.  That’s the last option.  I think I’ve used it twice over the course of my career”, said Kania