cibophobia food phobia hypnotherapy

Overcoming Food Phobias Through Hypnotherapy—What to Know

Food phobias can have a highly restrictive effect on people’s lives. From not being able to socialise with their family or friends to suffering from poor health as their food phobias have taken over for the long term. From having a fear of vegetables to fear of swallowing, fear of meat or even just eating in front of other people.

Their food phobias can lead them to live in fear of food as they don’t want to be criticised or made fun of by their peers for not eating meat or any other food.

People can develop a fear about eating in front of other people and so will not want to eat in public. If you don eat certain foods that are common to most people you can feel pressured to eat those foods even though you feel unable to.

Some people will develop a fear of eating in restaurants for example. they really have a fear of being judged or being forced to eat something they dislike or have a genuine fear about eating.

Your food related phobias can mean that you are only able to eat certain foods. You might need all foods to be separated on your plate for example as things touching can trigger a fear or phobia.

Whilst most people will not have this fear or phobia, it is important for them to understand the level of anxiety that this can cause someone with these phobias.

Fear of food can limit the restaurants you will eat in. You can release these fears around food with hypnotherapy.
Fear of food can limit the restaurants you will eat in. You can release these fears around food with hypnotherapy.

You may only eat a very limited diet due to the fear around food that you have. I find it common that people will eat potatoes as chips or mashed potatoes unless they have fear around the texture of foods. People with a fear of soft or sloppy textures will tend to avoid mash or certain sauces and will eat more solid foods such as meat or fish.

If this is how you feel know that you are not alone in this. I use hypnotherapy for fear of food with people around the world on a regular basis.

What Are Fears and Phobias?

People from all walks of life sometimes experience abuse, anxiety, and depression at some point in their lives. These experiences are rooted in a negative perception of an event that is usually accompanied by great trauma. It starts in the subconscious, and despite what our logical mind dictates, fear sets in the subconscious where food phobias and anxiety are formed.

One such fear can be directed to food—a phenomenon known as Cibophobia. Food phobias can vary, and they can have very serious effects on the patient suffering from them. The fear they experience can be very debilitating as they believe deep inside that something bad will happen to them if they eat certain foods.

This phobia around certain foods can make them feel sick when trying certain things. Through hypnotherapy and transformative healing, the patient can overcome their anxieties, fears, stress, and depression. 

Here’s what you need to know about food phobias and how hypnotherapy can play a vital role in overcoming them.

How Can Food Phobias Affect You?

Food phobias of salad, vegetables or fruit
Cibophobia (food phobias) can give you an aversion to food as you see above

Every person has their own nutritional requirements to remain healthy and physically fit. But for people who have Cibophobia, an aversion to food can pose a serious risk to their health. When someone gives in to the food phobias, their aversion to food becomes too extreme that they end up depriving themselves of food that the body needs in order to survive. Nutrient deficiency and other illnesses will soon follow.

Phagophobia – Fear of Swallowing

Phagophobia or swallowphobia involves the food phobias that one swallows in an effort to improve their swallow ability. During one particular study, for months doctors had reported that the swallowing functions had not changed, despite there being a problem with the swallowing itself. Experts have begun studying the fear of swallowing of patients in an effort to cure the problem. Those whose weight was not reduced were told if they were left untreated and may cause problems like diabetes, excess weight and depression.

Phagophobia (fear of swallowing) as a type of food phobias revolves around the inability to swallow food. The anxiety stems from the perception that you will choke and suffocate just by eating food. This is perhaps a more extreme example as some patients don’t even consider eating any solid food at all. 

Phagophobia - fear of swallowing - limited diet
Fear of swallowing certain types of food can really limit your diet. Photo by Lisa: https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-focus-photography-of-pasta-with-tomato-and-basil-1279330/

Phagophobia (Fear of swallowing) tends to come from something that has happened when the person was a child. Say for instance that when you were young you choked on some food. The food was too big or too hard for you to swallow as you hadn’t chewed it enough.

To protect you from that happening again, your subconscious mind will give you a fear of swallowing the type of food you were eating at that time. If you choked on a vegetable, you will more than likely develop lachanophobia (fear of vegetables).

If you choked on meat, you will likely develop carnophobia (fear of meat). Your body will make you gag or feel sick when trying to eat these foods which then leads to having a fear of swallowing. Carnophobia doesn’t have to run your life. You can release this fear or phobia easily using hypnosis.

A person with food phobias can also be affected mentally and socially. When invited to any social activity, these people tend to hold themselves back and seclude themselves from family and friends—impacting their social life and their relationships with others.

Understanding Your Food Phobias

Food phobias can be traced back to childhood or any experience with great trauma. These experiences are called the Initial Sensitizing Event (ISE), and understanding it through hypnotherapy is the first step to overcoming one’s fears. Your fears originate from the subconscious, and that’s where healing needs to start.

It might be painful or even frightening to revisit the source of your trauma, but that is where hypnotherapy works its way to self-healing. By unlocking your mind, you gain a deeper understanding of your fears and where food phobias all started.

Food phobias released through hypnosis
Hypnotherapy can help you to release your food phobias so that you start to enjoy healthier eating.

Phobia of Salad

These food phobias and fears are very common amongst people with food phobias. It can be the most challenging food phobia for people to face up to. Salad has so many components to it. Different textures (which is a big issue for people with these food phobias), different colours and different tastes.

With all of these things going on in the same bowl or on the same plate, it’s easy to see why people can become overwhelmed.

The easiest way for people to approach this if they have these food phobias is to try one thing at a time and get used to that before adding a second item. This way, you’re reducing that overwhelm and giving your body and mind time to adjust to each step rather than trying to tackle a marathon when you haven’t run before.

During the session for hypnotherapy for food phobia, we can work through salad items. At the end of the session, if we have time, we can also do a general shifting for all food that you currently don’t eat to help make it quicker and easier for you to tackle your food phobias on your own.

Arachibutyrophobia – Fear of Peanut Butter

Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter) is a less common type of food phobia. This can sometimes come from the sensation of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. If you get a large amount of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth, it can feel very strange and in some cases, you may become afraid of the feeling of eating peanut butter.

Peanut butter for most people isn’t something that you need to be afraid of unless you have a nut allergy. For most people, the fear of peanut butter is just from peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth at some point. The subconscious then protects you by giving you the fear of peanut butter so that you won’t experience that peanut butter sticking feeling again.

Whilst some may call it an irrational fear, I will tell you that no fear is irrational. It is just a different fear than what the other person may be used to experiencing. Every fear is rational to the subconscious mind.

If you have a fear of peanut butter for whichever reason, hypnotherapy can help you to resolve and release this fear.

Lachanophobia – Fear of Vegetables

Lachanophobia tends to come from swallowing them when they haven’t been chewed enough. They can be too hard or too big. If we do that as a child, there is a good chance that we will choke on them which then creates a food phobia around eating them.

With a fear of eating due to lachanophobia, you are over time bound to notice an impact on your health from having this phobia. All phobias, including cibophobia, can be dealt with using hypnotherapy for fear and phobia removal.

This phobia is generally very quick to release and can be undone in as little as one or two hypnotherapy sessions. If you have a fear of vegetables or a general fear of food, this is something that hypnosis is very effective in treating.

The same is true for issues such as thermophobia (fear of hot things). If you burn your mouth on something hot as a child, your protection mechanism will kick in to stop that from happening to you again. Because your mouth has been burnt, your body will want to naturally protect itself from hot things. So it will give you thermophobia (fear of hot things) in order to protect itself from being burnt again.

Fear of hot things is very quick to release by working with the inner child to heal the root cause.

Lachanophobia - fear of vegetables - low vitamin intake
Fear of vegetables can lead to a lack of vitamins in your diet which will need supplementing.

How Hypnotherapy Works for Fear/Phobia Release

Hypnotherapy leaves the patient in a heightened state of awareness, where the mind is relaxed and the subconscious is more open and receptive. Memories can be accessed, dissected, and bypassed with hypnosis. You will be encouraged to imagine the food you avoid, how it smells, and most importantly, how it tastes. The process doesn’t only address the symptoms of fear, but it uncovers the cause of fear and helps you rewrite it.

Through gentle exposure to food hypnotherapy sessions, you can reduce your anxiety and help you cope better with your food phobias. Instead of being unable to put food near your mouth without feeling sick, you can release your fears and stop being afraid. You can start to believe in yourself and your own ability to be able to taste new things. All this can be achieved with the help of an expert in transformational energy healing and hypnosis.

Imagine being able to experience and new taste or texture and really know whether you truly like it or dislike it. Rather than being told what you like by your old fear, you can taste what it really tastes like and no longer be afraid about what will happen when you eat it.

Many people are surprised when they try stuff for the first time and it doesn’t feel or taste strange like they used to believe. Their seemingly irrational fear is gone so the taste they had related to the food has also gone too. For the first time in many years, they are able to know if they truly like something.

Many people find that concept strange and hard to believe at first. Yet when they try it after we’ve done the hypnotherapy session it no longer seems strange to them. They no longer have to suffer with the old fear and can explore new experiences.

Conclusion About Fears and Phobias of Food

People traumatised by a petrifying event in their lives can choose to break free from their fear of food. Fears that control even the rational mind aren’t absolute—these can be broken down and re-interpreted through hypnotherapy. All you need is to seek help from an experienced hypnotherapist and work with them to overcome your food phobias.
You don’t have to face your fears alone. You too can start to believe something new. Instead of receiving negative comments from people when you go out to eat and being considered the “strange one” because you don’t like to eat certain things, you can start to believe differently. You can show them that what you like has changed. You and they no longer need to suffer when going out for meals as you now like these things.

Paul Ramsden is here to provide hypnotherapy in Leeds. Whenever you need a life-changing shift or a greater understanding of yourself, look for Paul and let him be your personal guide. Get in touch today to book a session.

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