What Do You Eat?

(This blog was originally posted on February 13, 2015)

Photo by Rick Hustead

When Bill Maher asked when was the last time your (generic) doctor asked you what you eat on the February 6, 2015 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, I started to wonder the same thing. Depending on what the blood-test results show, a lecture about the dangers of high cholesterol and how certain foods affect this level may be forthcoming. They also want to know if and how much I exercise each week; presumably that is because exercise is an easily quantifiable and relatively benign question to ask. Ditto for getting the stats about daily alcohol consumption (basically, none). But I honestly could not remember any time a physician or even a nurse (RN or LVN) asked me what I actually eat on a regular basis versus offering advice about what to avoid eating, altogether.

However, one of the first things I do ask my hypnotherapy clients is about their diet. This is true whether the person wants to increase his or her self-confidence, improve a golf swing or lose weight. I want to find out what they eat and even when they eat. I want to know these details because nutrition plays a huge role in how we perceive and respond to events in our environment.

Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., observed that low blood-sugar levels can exacerbate or even cause a person’s presenting problem (behavior or belief). For example, a sudden drop in blood sugar can trigger physical symptoms such as shaking, light-headedness and feeling tired, or even psychological symptoms such as depression, paranoia, irritability and memory problems. Furthermore, Dr. Kappas found an association between a person’s low blood-sugar levels and fluctuating suggestibility with the onset of a phobic response. (This fluctuation in suggestibility literally becomes obvious in our handwriting: lines of writing literally become “wavy” when the person is hungry and blood-sugar level is lower).

Not only do I ask my clients about their food choices and eating patterns, I describe how and why what they ingest (and imbibe) can affect their behavior. In addition, I explain how eating nutritious meals that contain protein prevents the sudden drop in blood-sugar level that can contribute to those physical and psychological symptoms of anxiety. If and when necessary, I will refer a client for a further medical and/or psychological evaluation if the individual describes dysfunctional eating behaviors (e.g., bingeing/purging, starvation) or beliefs about food or nutrition that are out of scope of my professional expertise.

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Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2019

This Afternoon on the Radio

I constantly keep an eye out for blog-inspiring material. Sometimes the inspiration comes from quotes or philosophical quotes that someone posts on Facebook. Other times the inspiration comes from a social event or a personal experience. Today’s inspiration came in the format of a radio discussion during the “Tech Talk” segment of the Gary and Shannon show on KFI AM 640. To my excitement, hosts Gary Hoffmann and Shannon Ferren discussed why people get “hangry” with Neil Saavedra, who hosts The Fork Report every weekend.

The first time I ever heard the expression, “hangry,” was in a 2014 television advertisement for American Express. In the ad, writer/performer Tina Fey stuffs a handful of potpourri into her mouth while paying for some groceries and explaining to the cashier how she gets angry when she is hungry. Similarly, the following year featured actress/performer Florence Henderson in a Snickers® Super Bowl advertisement in which The Brady Bunch mom encouraged daughter Marcia to eat a Snickers® bar because the teen gets “hostile” when she’s hungry.

Hunger—which is the most obvious “symptom” of low blood sugar—can also be accompanied by a variety of other physiological and psychological responses. According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., low blood-sugar levels can trigger physical symptoms such as shaking, light-headedness and feeling tired and/or psychological symptoms such as depression, paranoia, irritability and memory problems. Dr. Kappas found an association between a person’s low blood-sugar levels and fluctuating suggestibility with the onset of a phobic response.

In this afternoon’s Tech Talk segment, Mr. Saavedra explained how our body responds and our corresponding behavior when blood-sugar levels drop, i.e., when we are hungry. He did not specifically address the relationship between blood-sugar levels and fear/phobic response, but much of what he described supported what I explained in one of my previous blogs, How This Snickers Ad Got It (Sort of) Right. He even explained why the popular chocolate bar would not be an ideal choice of nourishment when we are hungry, which I also discussed in that blog. I thought it was great that a popular radio program was addressing this physiological and behavioral response to hunger; talk about a captive audience. At one point, co-host Shannon Ferren commented that talking about food on the show was making her hungry. I bet she wasn’t the only one.

I’m sure that any number of listeners, likely stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic somewhere, was also hungry and frustrated at being unable to get off the road to get a meal during that broadcast. But even if they had been able to stop somewhere for food, how likely was it that they would hit the drive-through at a fast-food restaurant for a burger, fries and a sugary soda? Would anyone have opted to go to a grocery store and buy a healthier option with protein such as chicken salad or a package of sliced cheese or almonds? How many of those drivers were sipping on a latte with a couple ad-shots of espresso or munching on a snack-bar that they stowed in the glove compartment for those kinds of food emergencies on the road?

As I write this blog, I wonder how many road-rage incidents are sparked or exacerbated because one or all parties involved in the conflict are hungry. Hunger is not an excuse for road rage or any other kind of violence, but would it explain the extreme volatile reaction to some extent? When you combine the psychological stress of a personal frustration such as driving in heavy traffic while we are physiologically compromised (low blood-sugar level), is it any surprise when tempers flare?

This broadcast was definitely food for thought. Pun intended.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2016

How This Snickers Ad Got it (Sort of) Right

You probably laughed when you saw the Marsha Snickers Ad on television during the 2015 Super Bowl. I sure did—and not just because it was a brilliant spoof of how the oldest, “perfect” Brady Bunch daughter/sister might have had a melt-down because she got too hungry. The sketch is perfect in its 1970s retro feel, with the ever-patient Carol Brady (Florence Henderson) placating her cranky daughter with the following suggestion: “Marsha, eat a Snickers.”

“Why?” Cranky Marsha (Danny Trejo) demands.

“Because you get a little hostile when you’re hungry,” Mrs. Brady explains. After just one bite, Cranky Marsh transforms back into Cute Marsha (Maureen McCormick).

“Better?” Mrs. Brady asks with a knowing smile.

“Better!” Cute Marsha says with a grin.

Did this ad hit home for anyone else? Do you ever feel cranky or get overly frustrated when you are hungry? If so, you are not alone. Hunger—which is the most obvious “symptom” of low blood sugar—can also be accompanied by a variety of other physiological and psychological responses. As I explained in my blog titled What Do You Eat?, nutrition plays a huge role in how we perceive and respond to events in our environment.

Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D. observed that low blood-sugar levels can exacerbate or even cause a person’s presenting problem (behavior or belief). For example, a sudden drop in blood sugar can trigger physical symptoms such as shaking, light-headedness and feeling tired, or even psychological symptoms such as depression, paranoia, irritability and memory problems. Furthermore, Dr. Kappas found an association between a person’s low blood-sugar levels and fluctuating suggestibility with the onset of a phobic response. This (irritability) reaction is illustrated in the advertisement when Cranky Marsha threatens to strike her sister with an axe for punching her in the nose. The script implies that with the candy in her system because she is no longer hungry, Marsha will calm down to the point of being coolly dismissive of her sister; or, at least she would no longer want to attack poor Jan with an axe.

I have to hand it to the creators of this ad: they were very clever to associate increased/decreased emotional volatility with hunger and tie the amelioration of this reaction with eating their product. There is certainly no doubt that eating something when we are hungry makes us feel better and more like our normal selves. However, if the food source is high in sugar and other carbohydrate sources as a candy bar no doubt is, this relief will be short-lived. Once the initial sugar boost wears off, we will likely in the same situation.

Consequently, when I work with my hypnotherapy clients, regardless of their therapeutic goal, one of the first things I explain is the role of good nutrition and how what they eat can affect how they behave and think. For example, while the peanuts in a Snickers® bar are a good source of protein, the sugar and many other ingredients that make this item so tasty undermine the healthy “benefit” the manufacturers might promote. Conversely, that handful of peanuts would be a great snack on their own because these legumes are a good source of protein that will help to assuage hunger and reduce moodiness and anxiety.

For more information about how nutrition affects mood and behavior, and other practical techniques to help reduce anxiety, I invite you to read my blogs titled The Origins of Fears and Phobias and Irritability.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2016