Episode Details

Do you have a habit like smoking or late night snacking that you want to kick, but no matter what you try, you just can’t seem to quit? The answer isn't weakness, and it isn't a lack of motivation. It lives in the 88% of your brain you're not consciously controlling, and therapeutic hypnosis (hypnotherapy) may be one of the most underestimated tools available to change it.

On Salad with a Side of Fries, host Jenn Trepeck and guest Rita Black, a leading clinical hypnotherapist and author, pull back the curtain on hypnosis and hypnotherapy for weight loss, smoking cessation, and breaking stubborn subconscious patterns. If you've ever asked yourself why you can't stop doing something you genuinely don't want to do, this conversation was made for you.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

✅ How hypnotherapy works by relaxing the critical filter between your conscious and subconscious mind, making it easier to adopt new habits and beliefs rather than fighting against deeply embedded patterns.

✅ Why willpower represents only 12% of your mental power, and how your subconscious patterns from night eating to emotional eating are running the show, whether you realize it or not.

✅ How adopting an apprentice mindset and shifting your identity from "dieter" to "learner" can reduce shame, break the start-over-Monday cycle, and create sustainable behavioral change.

✅ Three practical self-hypnosis techniques you can use today: the identity shift, the Movie Theater mental practice method, and aversion therapy tools that interrupt dopamine-driven cravings before they take hold.

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast, hosted by Jenn Trepeck, explores real-life wellness and weight-loss topics, debunking myths, misinformation, and flawed science surrounding nutrition and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Rita Black, clinical hypnotherapist and expert in hypnosis for weight loss and smoking cessation

05:05 Rita shares her personal story of overcoming addiction through hypnotherapy and becoming a non-smoker

10:04 The difference between stage hypnosis and therapeutic hypnosis: entertainment versus real behavioral change

14:25 How hypnotherapy relaxes the critical filter so the conscious and subconscious mind can finally align

19:36 The ringing phone analogy: why dopamine and expectation drive food cravings and night eating

23:06 Three self-hypnosis tools to start using today. Step one: identity shift

28:43 Step two: mental practice

31:36 Step three: aversion therapy

33:45 Understanding your inner critic, inner rebel, and inner coach and how inner communication drives choices

37:35 How to choose the right hypnotherapist: finding a specialist with lived experience and strong reviews

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💎 Your subconscious mind is not working against you; it is protecting a pattern it learned long ago. Hypnotherapy helps you update that pattern at the source rather than muscling through it using willpower alone.

💎 Identity shift is more powerful than goal-setting. When you stop trying "not to do" something and instead step into a new identity, like becoming a non-smoker or an apprentice in healthy living, your brain adapts to that new world.

💎 Mental practice works. Visualizing your desired behavior three times in the morning, when willpower is strongest, builds real neural pathways that make following through in the evening significantly easier.

💎 You don't need a practitioner to start. Tools like the Movie Theater technique, aversion therapy, and shifting your inner coach voice are accessible today and can begin rewiring subconscious patterns immediately.

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Rita Black C.Ht. is a clinical hypnotherap