After phobias and chain-smoking, it is now the turn of weight loss

After using his hypnotism to help people overcome their phobias and chain-smoking, Alan Bates (picture) has a new mission - to help people shed weight.

Bates will be back in Malta this week for a two-hour show which will be held on the Bay Street terrace on Sunday in aid of the YMCA Valletta Project for the Homeless.

More than 1,400 people recently attended his 'Stop Smoking' through hypnosis seminars.

The hypnotist has received calls for help about different conditions, but there has been an overwhelming number of people enquiring about the possibility of holding a seminar to aid weight loss and control.

Bates dismisses comments that he holds any magic wand to cure ailments, but argues that conditions such as weight control can be achieved through hypnosis which, he says, works by relaxing the body and slowing the mind, allowing the subject to communicate his goals directly to the subconscious.

"When you communicate with your subconscious, you influence your habits. And because of this, you are empowered to achieve and maintain your natural and ideal weight," Bates said.

The major benefit of hypnosis for weight control is that the individual no longer desires the "wrong foods", and consequently does not have the feelings of deprivation or false hunger normally associated with dieting.

"Some people have been on diet after diet, whether through weekly meetings, diet pills, injections, or behaviour modification programmes, and found that they quickly returned to old eating habits and subsequent weight gain."

Bates believes hypnotherapy may well be the solution to their problem. Success in weight reduction and weight control lies in changing the patterns of eating, rather than in dieting.

Due to overwhelming demand, Bates will also be holding another 'Stop Smoking' seminar at Bay Street, on July 1 at 8 p.m.

Those who have previously attended and quit smoking are invited to visit once again to reinforce suggestions.

Donations of Lm4 will go to help YMCA Valletta's Project for the Homeless.

The YMCA has been helping youths, children and underprivileged persons for several years and in recent years has redirected its operations towards the rehabilitation of the homeless.

YMCA already operates a shelter for women and children but due to the drastic increase in housing cases, it was decided to start running a block of apartments in Valletta to act as a shelter.

Contrary to public perception, recent research has shown that there were an estimated 300 homeless people in Malta.