New Study Supports EFT for Food Cravings

Editors Note: This article is reprinted with permission from Dr. Patricia Carrington's newsletter.

Scientific proof can often come after we've experienced something to be true in our everyday lives. In such instances, it validates what we already know and allows us to talk about it now with scientific backing.

This is what is happening with a new study conducted by Dr. Peta Stapleton and a team of researchers at the School of Medicine in Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. It has confirmed what we've been observing for years and what you know as a user of meridian tapping, about how this method can be used to sharply reduce food cravings.

These researchers studied ninety-six overweight or obese adults, one half of whom were taught EFT right away, while the other half had to wait for four weeks while just doing whatever they ordinarily did to control food cravings. At the end of this time, the "waitlist" group was given training in EFT too, but they had already been thoroughly studied by that time. The "wait list" group was the control (comparison) group.

What Were These Researchers Looking For?

Before the research began, they gave the subjects a series of tests to determine the intensity of their food cravings and measure how strong an influence food exerted over them (that is, its "pull" value). The researchers also investigated the degree of restraint these people showed when faced with tempting food, and the number of psychological symptoms of stress they were exhibiting in their lives generally. Finally, everyone in the study was initially measured to determine their BMI (Body Mass Index), an indication of the way the body stores and distributes fat -- the lower the BMI, the healthier the fat metabolism of the individual.

After that, and this makes this study particularly interesting, these same subjects were studied again at the end of 12 months.

What Had Happened?

When retested at the end of four weeks, those who had learned EFT showed significantly lowered food cravings compared to the waitist controls who had not learned the method. At that time, the EFT'ers also had improved significantly in the degree to which they could exercise restraint when confronted by tempting foods, and the degree to which food could exert a pulling power over them.

What is particularly interesting, however, was that two of the measures, the intensity of food cravings and the pull of the food on them, remained significantly improved at the end of one year in those who had been practicing EFT, demonstrating the holding power of this technique. Also, the Body Mass Index (BMI) the measure of the body's storage of fat, was significantly reduced in those practicing EFT at the end of one year, a highly desirable outcome.

The results of this study show that EFT can have an immediate effect on reducing food cravings and also result in maintenance of these reduced cravings over a much longer period of time. In addition it shows that EFT impacts favorably on The Body Mass Index, changing it in the desired direction. The researchers suggest that EFT may contribute to the ability of weight loss/dieting programs to assist people to achieve reduced food cravings and therefore lose weight .

*This study was conducted by Stapleton, Sheldon, Porter & Whitty, 2009-2010 (personal communication from the authors). It was funded by a grant from the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP). The journal article reporting this study is now under review for publication by a professional journal.

Dr. Patricia Carrington
Kendall Park, New Jersey, US
One of the EFT Founding Masters
patcarrington.com

From the EFTfree Archives, which are now a part of EFT International .
Originally published on September 11, 2010.