Men’s Health Week: Can Hypnotherapy Cure Emotional Eating?

Ahead of Men’s Health Week, Joanna Wayne talks to Richard Kellow about emotional eating and the virtual gastric band

Boarding school can leave psychological scars in unexpected ways. For Ross, who lives in Oakland,
For the engineering manager, that may have contributed to his near-fatal heart attack last year.

Feeling strangely “unwell” one morning, he drove to a local medical centre and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, where it was discovered that one of his coronary arteries was 95 per cent blocked, and he was close to death while taking a shower at home.

Ross, who asked that his last name not be used for privacy reasons, was released from the hospital with a stent and strict instructions to live a healthier lifestyle. A series of cardiac rehabilitation sessions after the operation helped put him on the right track. But what he was eating was more important than what he was eating. how His wife, Michelle, said he had been eating.

“He was the one to put food away!” she says. “I’d make dinner and put his plate on the table, and by the time I’d come back to the kitchen with my plate and sit down to eat with him, his plate was empty. Then he’d wash the dishes and literally lick the pan clean. I couldn’t open a packet of biscuits because before you know it they were all gone. I was always telling him to slow down and chew his food well. He’d just put it in his mouth and swallow, so his brain never had a chance to register that he was full.”

It was Michelle who read about hypnotherapist Richard Kellow and his “virtual gastric band” technique, which addresses the subconscious triggers that underlie emotional eating and our unhealthy relationship with food.

It was also Michelle who suggested her husband’s bad habits could stem from his time at boarding school, where boys were served hot main courses at lunchtime and learnt to devour food quickly.

“Then there would be a big scramble to get a second helping,” said Ross, who remembers being hungry all the time. “There were no snacks at boarding school.”

Later, throughout his career, he would bring a large packed lunch every day and devour it by mid-morning, his subconscious still alert to the existential threat of impending hunger.

Eating disorders almost always have an emotional root and are often linked to past issues, says Kellow. In a battle between emotion (subconscious) and logic (conscious), emotion always wins. Being overweight also gives a sense of psychological protection.

One of Ross’s hypnotherapy clients had previously been hospitalized for a serious illness and subconsciously associated thinness with poor health. Another client, who, like Ross, had an irrational concern with food scarcity, remembered planning to run away from home as a child and stuffing a backpack with food.

“Even as a grown man with a good job that allowed him to afford food, he still needed to have food on hand at all times.”

Hypnotherapy is still viewed with a somewhat questionable air, but for most people it’s typically a last resort when it comes to losing weight, managing stress and related health issues, from high blood pressure to type 2 diabetes. That was certainly the case for Richard Kellow.

Fifteen years ago, he was living in London during the global financial crisis, working long hours in a high-pressure finance department, drinking, smoking and binge-eating chocolate.

“I thought I was enjoying my work, but it was being very disruptive to my life and it took me a while to realise that,” he says.

Eventually, a break-up and an inability to fit into her clothes forced Kellow to admit that her life was a bit of a mess, but when it came to losing weight, nothing worked: Atkins, calorie counting, intermittent fasting, gym memberships. Willpower.

When he saw an internet ad for hypnotherapy, he felt he had nothing to lose: A year later, he’d quit smoking, was better able to handle the stress of his job, and had lost 70 pounds.

In 2012, Kellow moved to New Zealand and changed careers, retraining as a clinical hypnotherapist and setting up his own practice in Auckland. Now a Rotorua-based certified “virtual gastric band” practitioner, he uses a UK-developed assisted weight loss technique as an alternative (or adjunct) to bariatric surgery.

Designed as a kind of breaker for breaking deep-rooted habits, the process uses the metaphor of a gastric band that is “fitted” during hypnosis to help people stop craving food and feel satisfied with smaller amounts.

Although clinical studies on the long-term effectiveness of hypnotherapy for weight loss are limited, a 2018 meta-analysis found that it is an effective intervention for obesity when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy. Another randomized controlled trial found improvements in satiety, quality of life, and inflammation in people who practiced self-hypnosis alongside a traditional diet and lifestyle change program.

“Food is quite dominant and thinking about food takes up a lot of brain space,” says Kellow, who has seen a surge in demand for online hypnotherapy sessions during lockdown due to an increase in anxiety and overeating. “The aim is to take the main focus away from the number on the scale and help people feel happy with themselves, confident and in control of their choices. I facilitate that, but it’s you who actually makes the change.”

According to Kellow, there is a reputation that men are bad at managing their health and asking for help, but that is changing. When he first opened his hypnotherapy clinic, the majority of his clients were women. Now, more than a third are men. Weight loss is a common side effect, but most people are more focused on improving their overall health than losing weight. Kellow believes that men are also becoming more conscious about managing their mental health.

Though Ross was initially skeptical of hypnotherapy, she now sees it as a tool to help her restructure her mindset and make the transition feel easier. A year later, Ross walks 2.5 miles with her dog almost every day, drinks significantly more water, eats significantly less and no longer craves coffee or gas station pie. She’s also dropped a jean size.

Michelle said she and her daughter were worried Ross would have a second heart attack and panicked when he didn’t answer her calls, and she was “stunned” by the change in his behaviour.

“Food used to be his driving force. It’s no longer on his mind.”

Ross said continuing research shows diets don’t work, and he spoke openly to friends and colleagues about his lifestyle changes. A few months into his recovery, a contractor who worked with Ross died of a heart attack because he hadn’t sought medical help despite experiencing symptoms.

“I need to share my experience with as many people as possible,” he says. “Men can be a bit stoic. We need to change that by raising health awareness, like the pink ribbon campaign for breast cancer.”

Men’s Health Week: The Situation is Stacked Against You

Men’s Health Week is a global campaign that runs from June 10 to 16. Statistics cited on the website show that men are lagging behind from the get-go. To assess how well your health habits are doing, take the What’s Your Score survey at menshealthweek.co.nz.

Joanna Wayne: New Zealand Herald‘s premium lifestyle team, with a particular focus on social issues and the arts.