Research at Tufts-New England Medical Center has provided irrefutable evidence that all of the popular diets work when you stick to them. Atkins - low carb; The Zone - low glycemic index; Ornish - low fat; Weight Watchers - low calorie.

But researchers have also proven beyond a doubt that very few people can stick to any diet because of their appetite.

So to be successful with a diet, you must suppress your appetite.

The Dictionary defines "Appetite" as: "The desire for gratification of some want, craving, or passion." So "appetite" is eating and drinking for relaxation and pleasure.

It's a mistake to confuse hunger with appetite. Hunger is defined as "The body's call for nourishment." In other words, when the body needs energy, that's when you feel literal hunger. By that definition, it is impossible for a person who is overweight to "be hungry."

However, it is possible for you to have feelings that you interpret as "hunger." And the stomach contracting in expectation of being fed causes those feelings.

When you were a baby and you got restless, your mother would put a nipple into your mouth to distract you from that upset. You would get distracted, become relaxed, and often fall asleep. That scenario was repeated hundreds of times so that your unconscious mind was programmed: When something goes into your mouth, you get relaxation and pleasure from it.

Now that you are fully grown, if you feel nervous or tense, you crave something in your mouth for relaxation and pleasure - food!

People Also Get Cravings and Urges Because Of Conditioning.

When you associate consuming food with any other action, the other action will trigger cravings for food and a feeling of urgency to eat. This is called a conditioned response. For example: If you eat when you see someone else eating, you will automatically get an urge to eat each time you see someone else eating.

What About Compulsive Overeaters Who Eat Because Of Emotional Reasons?

We define a compulsion as an "irresistible impulse." NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming has a presupposition: All behaviors are driven by a positive intention. In other words, our unconscious mind will only motivate us into behaviors that benefit or protect us in some way. So in NLP terms, being fat is a behavior when it provides a positive outcome for us.

You may be wondering what the possible positive outcomes of being fat could possibly be. The list is as long as the list of people who eat compulsively. But I'll give you a classic example: A person gets their heart broken in a relationship. So to protect the self from getting the heart broken again, the unconscious motivates the self to become overweight to keep the self out of relationships and prevent another broken heart.

A big secret to getting rid of your appetite is called reframing. With an NLP Reframe, we respect the fact that the unconscious mind is compelling us to consume food for relaxation and pleasure. And if we are eating compulsively because being fat is protecting us, we respect that also.

In a Neuro-Linguistic Programming six-step reframe, we bargain with our subconscious mind. In the case of eating for relaxation and pleasure, we ask our subconscious to assume the responsibility for making us substitute some alternate behaviors. The alternate behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same relaxation and pleasure. But they must also be more consciously acceptable to us. When the unconscious is motivating us into alternate behaviors that provide the relaxation and pleasure that we require - we lose our appetite on this score.

If you are an emotional eater, we do an additional reframe. We ask your subconscious to accept responsibility for making us substitute new behaviors in place of being heavy. These new behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same protection. But they must be behaviors that are more consciously acceptable to you. When your subconscious is motivating you into alternate behaviors that provide the same protections that you require, you lose the urges to overeat.

As far as feeling cravings because of conditioning (conditioned responses), we utilize various hypnotic and NLP techniques that erase those conditioned responses. That breaks the connection between the behaviors, and obliterates the cravings and urges.

When your appetite has been eliminated, and any compulsion to overeat has been overcome, you can easily stick to any diet that you chose on an indefinite basis so that it becomes a permanent lifestyle change.

Alan B. Densky, CH is certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists. Alan opened his practice in 1978. You can learn more by going to his Neuro-VISION website. He maintains his own hypnosis article library. And he offers free hypnosis newsletters and MP3's.