Sam came to me with a number of unhealthy eating patterns she just couldn’t break free from no matter what she tried. She would eat everything in front of her, then go back for more, she would snack compulsively on whatever was available and she had a sweet tooth.

In hypnosis, when we asked her subconscious mind what was going on, she went back to a scene in her childhood when she was made to eat everything on her plate, even if that meant sitting for hours at the table in front of cold, unwanted food. She also recalled sneaking into the cupboard to steal some sugar because no treats were allowed at home. This “stealing” of treats was exciting and, because her mother imposed a highly restrictive regime, it made her feel like she was gaining some control for herself for once.

Sam had “learned” that you have to carry on eating what’s there even if you’re not hungry. Her subconscious mind had also associated a feeling of freedom and being in control with eating what you want and eating sweet treats. But of course, in her adult life, this binge eating of sweet stuff was giving her the opposite of freedom and control: it was giving her a feeling of self-loathing as she felt that food was controlling her and she wasn’t the size she wanted to be.

I used various techniques in the rest of the Rapid Transformational Therapy session to clear away these unhelpful, redundant associations that had got stuck in Sam’s subconscious since childhood. And then we programmed in empowering new beliefs and eating patterns, recognising that she has all the freedoms and control she wants in her current, adult, life – without bingeing on sugar.

A few hours after the session I had a text from Sam telling me her sister had brought round her favourite cakes that afternoon and while she would normally have eaten the lot, she simply didn’t fancy them. 18 months on and Sam is eating sensible portions, choosing healthy foods, and binge eating is firmly in the past. She says she’s not following a restrictive diet, it never feels like a battle, she’s just naturally drawn to the good stuff and alienated from junk. And she’s also wearing her favourite stonewash jeans which she never thought she’d fit into again!