Think
Use Your Mind to Shrink Your Waistline
Think: Use Your Mind to Shrink Your Waistline is an empowering weight-loss guide that harnesses the power of hypnotherapy. The book lives up to the “use your mind” promise of the subtitle and sensible readers won’t be surprised that they’ll also have to invest effort in diet and exercise.
Certified hypnotherapist David Meine uses easily understood ideas about brain science to help readers reach their weight-loss goals. He shares both his personal and professional experiences. He has tried, failed, and ultimately succeeded at shedding pounds. His personal struggle spurred him to study the science behind goal setting and weight loss.
The first part of the book, titled “Your Mind,” focuses on relaxation and the power of suggestion on the subconscious. Meine tackles healthy goal setting as well as letting go of the negative ideas and past experiences that keep people from believing they can be successful.
Part two, “Your Body,” focuses on solutions such as dehydration and reducing sugar dependence. Each chapter contains tips on how to reprogram one’s brain to remove problematic behavior. For example, lack of sleep leads to poorer diet choices, so Meine recommends keeping a sleep and hunger journal while using a deep-sleep hypnosis CD to revise thinking about losing weight. Meine, not coincidentally, sells a line of brain training CDs in addition to meal replacement foods.
Throughout the book, Meine details the five aspects of toxic brain syndrome: dehydration, excess sugar, lack of nutrition, lack of exercise, and negative thoughts from past experiences. He explains how each one leads to excess weight and difficulty losing weight. For example, in a combination effect, eating too much sugar leads to dehydration. Since water makes up a substantial percentage of body weight, dehydration can plague the body’s natural processes, including healthy weight loss.
The author’s goal is to encourage readers to take part in hypnotherapy to achieve their weight loss, but readers will still gain insight from the book even if they choose not to pursue hypnotherapy. Readers who are skeptical of hypnotherapy will find Meine’s dietary suggestions to be sensible and beneficial, but they may not be interested in listening to a hypnotic CD as they fall asleep.
Meine’s approach will resonate best with readers who have never submitted to hypnotherapy but are very frustrated by failed attempts to lose weight. For these readers, the book may help them find relief from the guilt of failure and define workable, realistic goals as well as a plan to achieve them. Meine’s advice on diet and positive thinking is consistent with other literature on the topic.
The text has some grammatical errors and can be wordy, but Meine uses his experience as a motivational speaker to keep readers engaged throughout the book.
Reviewed by
Melissa Wuske
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
