The Hiller Method
31 October 2006 by livingrainbowcolor
I like The Work, but I find there’s a lot of overlap with Cognitive Therapy. The “Is it true?” question is powerful, and fits nicely in front of the ABCDEF process. That gives me an opportunity to find more irrational thoughts. Previously, I’ve been finding them by coincidence.
Now there’s J.P. Hiller’s The Hiller Method. “A method to obtain freedom from compulsive eating and excess body fat.”
His method is based on Chewing Routines. You chew each bite thoroughly, and really focus on attentively tasting it. I see his activity more as a process of eating in general, since he has advice for drinking as well. He went from 247 to 183 in 60 days. Over a pound a day.
“Thoroughly” means ground down to nothing, so only pureed food is entering your stomach. That means 20-30 times for each bite. Meat and really chewy stuff takes more for me, about 40 chews. Also a bite is roughly the size of your first thumb segment.
In terms of process, Hiller figures you will spend the first couple of weeks just getting used to pulverizing your food. Then you start getting into the taste of your food, followed by rejection of foods that don’t taste good pulverized.
Third phase is more active control over what you choose to eat. I suspect this comes more from any early weight loss than a “Chewing Routine.” Fourth phase is really getting into diet head, in which you desire to exercise and choose foods to help you lose weight. Phase 5 is recognizing that you have improved your self-confidence by success. The chewing is done automatically, and you’ll never be fat again.
Sigh. It’s clear that he simply got high off the weight loss, and the “Chewing Routines” were nothing more than the rubber band on his wrist that he snapped to remind himself to eat properly. It’s nice that it worked for him.
It’s working for me, too, so far. I learned the chewing process a few days ago, and have now got enough time to detect full. Combined with my cognitive therapy, I am able to look at food on my plate, and not give in to an emotional need to finish it all.
After 3 or 4 days, I finally recorded a one pound loss. Regardless of how weight loss progresses, I find it a good tool to move forward.
