| The young woman in my hypnosis office had a | | | | the next week. |
| burning question that needed answeringbefore she | | | | "Can you make me want tofu?" she asked. |
| would sit down: "Ever hypnotize someone to be a | | | | "Would you be willing to find a recipe that makes |
| vegetarian?" | | | | it taste like chicken?" |
| "No," I said. I had told her a month earlier by | | | | She laughed. "Great idea!" |
| phone, but she was optimistic. | | | | Changing one's tastes and natural attractions is an |
| I wished a troop of vegetarian hopefuls had | | | | element of becoming vegetarian, and of dieting, |
| flocked to my office recently, but it hadn't | | | | and those who master it fare much better than |
| happened. | | | | others. |
| "You've helped smokers become nonsmokers, | | | | In this case, the change had a powerful ethical |
| right?" she asked. | | | | element-which could both strengthen a client's |
| "Many," I admitted. | | | | resolve and also cause her distress if she failed or |
| "It's pretty much the same, I think," she said, | | | | mis-stepped. |
| looking me straight in the eye with her clear blue | | | | A new concern arose: If she did flavor tofu and |
| ones. | | | | seitan to resemble the taste of chicken dishes, |
| "Why do you say so?" I asked. | | | | would that ultimately interfere with abstinence |
| What followed was an insightful, well-thought-out | | | | from real chicken dishes? |
| answer crystallizing in "For me it's not just eating | | | | "What do you think?" I asked. |
| differently. It's a change of thinking and living, and | | | | She didn't answer immediately. Her eyes moved |
| taking on a new identity all at once, a new way | | | | upward for a moment and then traveled |
| of being." | | | | downward, a sign that she had first seen first |
| Bull's-eye, I thought. | | | | seen something, perhaps a food item, in her |
| "It's what happens when a smoker becomes a | | | | mind's eye and then sensed it in her belly. |
| nonsmoker," she said. Then "will you help?" | | | | Then she said thoughtfully, "No, it's not that taste |
| The smoking comparison seemed apt, but this | | | | I need to stop liking, it's that particular food |
| was bigger, deeper, more global, and possibly | | | | source." Her eyes moved to the side. In NLP |
| even more strongly linked to identity. | | | | theory, this usually signals tapping into the auditory |
| I thought for a moment. "Tell me more." | | | | sense, listening to one's own thoughts or recalling |
| She talked about her growing horror of eating | | | | something one had heard. |
| flesh, being an agent in killing, about how the taste | | | | "Who told you that?" |
| of meat had changed in her mouth, but how she | | | | "I think I heard it in an old Adele Davis lecture," |
| still loved chicken. | | | | she said, "I guess it really stuck." |
| "Do you really need to give up chicken, too, right | | | | We proceeded with a hypnosis session followed |
| now?" I asked, thinking of gradual vegetarians I | | | | by a couple of neuro-linguistic techniques, and that |
| have encountered. But I knew her answer. | | | | was that. |
| "Yes!" she barked. | | | | She tells me she has not eaten meat or chicken |
| It made her life as a good person a lie, she | | | | since, but has become a whiz at vegetarian |
| explained. It was unethical-worse than stealing, or | | | | cooking and is looking at becoming vegan in a |
| adultery. It was murder. | | | | year. |
| But while her morals abhorred it, her mouth, | | | | The funny thing is I haven't eaten much meat or |
| tongue, tastebuds, and physical being craved it. | | | | poultry since that session either. ©2009 by |
| Ok, I told her, we would set an appointment for | | | | Wendy Lapidus-Saltz. All right reserved. |