Obesity can be due to:

• eating too much

• eating too much of the "wrong" things - foods heavily laden with sugar salts and fats and not enough of the "good" things - vegetables, fruit, proteins and roughage

• insufficient exercise

• toxicity due to food sensitivity where the body wraps up the toxin in fat and stores it away

• not eating enough - the body going into famine mode and storing fat for survival - or not eating regularly enough to ensure that blood sugars do not fluctuate too sharply

•stress

However what we need to look at is WHY the above is happening and educate individuals not just in what to eat (and drink) but also have a look also at any conflict going on in the mind which drives the individual to eat that way in the first place. This may be:

• a simple case of habit

• not understanding the content of what is being consumed

• fundamental conflict or emotional attachment - simple example - conscious thought "I want to lose weight" unconscious thought "If I lose weight I will need new clothes and I can't afford it"

• past trauma about image and self worth

Systematic Kinesiology can help this process. By observing muscle response to simple tests, the Kinesiologist can see where imbalance lies in the body and also whether there is any conflict going on.

Kinesiology is a way of identifying imbalance a person has by monitoring their ability to hold their muscles against light pressure. Each muscle is related to an organ and also to an energy pathway called a meridian. Together the muscle, organ and meridian form a "circuit". If there are any chemical, emotional, structural or energetic stresses affecting the circuit, the muscle tested will feel "spongy" indicating an imbalance.

Once the imbalance is found the Kinesiologist uses the muscle test again to get feedback from the person's body about what factors are aggravating the imbalance and what will help to rebalance it. Each time a relevant factor is introduced the muscle's response changes, a bit like a switch. So imagine a spongy muscle as being "off"; if the person then thinks of an emotional stress and the muscle is suddenly able to hold the pressure, ie it switches "on", that indicates that particular stress is involved in that imbalance. Similarly if a particular nutrient, when placed in the mouth causes the muscle to switch "on" we know it will be helpful. The same process can be used to find related structural problems and energetic factors that are involved.

Based on this feedback the Kinesiologist and client can discover exactly what is involved in the imbalance and devise a treatment plan. It may include nutritional supplements, various emotional stress release techniques, Bach Flower remedies, acupressure, gentle structural realignment, Chakra balancing, light touch, firm reflex massage, suggested lifestyle changes and more. The exact treatment you receive depends on the feedback your body gives through the muscle test about what it needs to return to health.

A kinesiological approach to weight control, would be to first take a full health history of the client including details of what they are currently eating. The first appointment would be used to balance all the major circuits and test to see whether nutritional supplementation would help in the short term - chromium or licorice root is a very good supplement to help regulate blood sugars for example - B complex and vitamin C are excellent if someone has been under heavy adrenal stress - food enzymes help the body absorb nutrients and break down food for energy - particularly important if the client needs to increase their exercise. Once the body is balanced the Kinesiologist can show the client the effect of eating certain foods on their muscles and then the client can decide whether they are ready to give those foods a miss for a while.

A very important part of weight control is emotional stress and kinesiology can test to see which bach flowers may help the client - ie whether they have a fear of losing control (cherry plum), or whether they feel guilty about changing their family eating habits (pine), or whether they are constantly repeating the same negative patterns (chestnut bud). Additionally a great deal of work can be done in re-educating the subconscious mind by tapping certain meridian points which may be "blown" when an emotional thought enters the mind.

Kinesiology appointments are tailored to the individual - one person may show priority for emotional techniques whilst another may have electrical or chemical imbalances. The beauty is, there is no guesswork with kinesiology - everyone is treated as an individual and with responsible safe muscle testing clients can be assured that the treatment plan is right for them - because it is their body which has given the information in the first place.