The news is that Britain is the now the most obese nation in Western Europe, with rates rising faster than any other developed nation and Britain is now sixth heaviest – ‘considerably worse’ than the rest of the 35-member club of wealthy nations.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says the UK’s comparatively high adolescent drunkenness rate is also a key concern. Although smoking rates are down, harmful alcohol consumption among adolescents continues to be a problem and the OECD found that 30.5% of 15-year-olds admit to having been drunk at least twice in their life.
The BBC reports that the overall health and life expectancy of Britons remained average – aided by a reduction in smoking and adult drinking – despite a noted shortage in hospital beds and staff. British obesity rates have grown to 27% of people with a body mass index (BMI) above 30. The OECD average is 19%. Overweight people have a BMI between 25 and 30.
Worryingly, the OECD lists the UK as one of five countries suffering from ‘historically high’ rates of obesity since the 1990s – increasing by 92%, compared to 65% in the United States.
The BBC quoted the report as saying: “Obesity means higher risk of chronic illnesses, particularly hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases.”
The OECD recognised campaigns to fight obesity, such as the decision by hospitals in England to disallow ‘super-size’ chocolate bars at hospital retail outlets and the upcoming sugar tax, but added that ‘more could be done’.
Controlling your weight is not easy in today’s hectic and stressful society where grabbing a quick snack is often the norm, but managing weight loss is one of the success stories of clinical hypnotherapy which has proven to be more successful than many diet plans.
The UK’s largest professional organisation for hypnotherapists, the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH), says controlling weight loss is one of the most effective results of hypnotherapy.
The NCH says, hypnosis helps people get in touch with why they unconsciously eat, rather than just reducing calories which they are likely to put on again in the longer term, hypnosis gets you in touch with the reasons why you unconsciously eat.
“If you are the type of person that struggles to stop after a small piece of chocolate and feels compelled to finish the packet then a hypnotherapist can help you understand why and help you create new healthy self-management techniques,” says the NCH.
Crucially, as well as stopping compulsive eating, hypnosis can increase motivation for exercise, adds the NCH.
“It can also help you reduce portion sizes, so you lose weight healthily, steadily and for the long term. Losing weight with hypnosis is essentially about teaching you to feel good about yourself, whatever size you are. It focuses on making healthy changes to your diet and lifestyle that will remain with you for the rest of your life.”
While the OECD reports says Britain is doing better at tackling child obesity with figures showing it is stable at 24% – remaining below average over the past decade, at a time when it is increasing rapidly across the rest of Europe – hypnotherapy can work with younger people too.
And, given that the report says alcohol consumption among teenagers is a cause for concern, hypnotherapy can help break addictions, too. If you need help with weight control or addictions, contact an NCH therapist near you by clicking here.