Medical research at Tufts-New England Medical Center has provided proof that all popular diets work when a person can stick to them. Atkins - low carb; The Zone - low glycemic index; Ornish - low fat; Weight Watchers - low calorie.

But researchers have provided convincing evidence that very few people can stick to any diet because of their appetite.

So to be successful with a diet, appetite suppression is required.

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.

Don't confuse appetite with hunger. Hunger is defined as "The body's call for nourishment." In other words, when the body needs food, that's when you feel true hunger. By that description, it is impossible for anyone to actually be hungry if they are overweight.

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 little baby and you got upset, your mother would put a pacifier into your mouth to pacify you. You would get distracted, become calm, and often go to asleep. That sequence of events was repeated many, many 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 a grownup, if you feel tense or nervous, you crave something in your mouth for relaxation and pleasure - food!

People Also Get Cravings and Urges Because Of Conditioning.

When you connect eating 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 watch a movie, you will automatically get an urge to eat each time you go to the movies.

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 are. The list is as long as the list of people who are fat. 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 gain a lot of weight to keep the self out of relationships and prevent another broken heart.

A big secret to eliminating your appetite is reframing. With an NLP six-step Reframe, we respect the fact that the unconscious mind is motivating us to consume extra food for relaxation and pleasure. And if we are eating compulsively because being fat is protecting us, we respect that also.

In an NLP Reframe, we negotiate with our unconscious mind. In the case of eating for relaxation and pleasure, we ask our unconscious to assume the responsibility for making us automatically substitute some new 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 a compulsive overeater, we do an additional reframe. We ask your unconscious to accept responsibility for making us substitute new behaviors in place of being fat. These new behaviors must be as effective and available at providing the same benefits. But they must be actions that are more consciously acceptable to you. When your unconscious is motivating you into alternate behaviors that provide the same benefits that you require, you lose the urges to overeat.

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

Once your appetite has been eliminated, and any compulsion to overeat has been overcome, you can easily stick to any type of healthful diet indefinitely so that it becomes a permanent lifestyle change.

Alan B. Densky, CH is certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists. He has been in practice since 1978. Learn more by visiting his Neuro-VISION audio and video hypnosis website. On the site he maintains a self-hypnosis library. And he offers free hypnosis newsletters and MP3's.