The development of the Gastric mind Band (GmB) therapy originated from a brief conversation with a client, who said, "I just know that if I had a Gastric Band fitted like my neighbour the weight would drop off me. Couldn't you just hypnotise me and make me believe that I had undergone the procedure and be done with it?" An interesting idea! Hypnotherapy alone proved not to be the solution, but over the following twelve months a possibly unique therapy was developed, cleverly combining Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, NLP, Hypnotherapy and guided imagery, and the client's wish was granted!

The book, "Shirrans' Solution - The Gastric mind Band", is now available following its international media launch in both the USA and the UK.

To get your copy of the book, click the image to be re-directed to the Amazon website.

Dieting alone is rarely enough to reduce weight and keep it off permanently, because diets simply do not address the all-important complex, emotional relationship that overweight people have with food. Because most “diets” cannot be sustained for more than a short-term period, we automatically perceive a diet as a temporary phase; it becomes a form of miserable, self-torture that you go through, going against all your usual eating habits, and being deprived of many of your favourite foods. Deprivation simply creates stronger desire, so when you are on a “diet”, you end up being obsessed about food, craving all the things you are not allowed to eat. As soon as you come to the end of a diet, you finally give in to your subconscious desires and return to eating "normally" again, and, because your normal eating habit is actually to overeat, eventually, of course, all the weight goes back on again – and often even more.

The Elite GmB therapy is not just a temporary solution based on a particular diet; as well as using the concept of having a gastric band fitted "mentally" to help you reduce your portion sizes, the sessions also incorporate a combination of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and NLP to encourage you to rethink your whole attitude towards food and eating, and move away from the whole “dieting” concept. The GmB treatment teaches you how to end your struggle with food and introduces you to a new, permanent lifestyle of healthy eating habits, which will not only help you to achieve and subsequently maintain your ideal weight easily, but also boost your self-esteem in the process, so that you feel much more positive and confident about yourself and your life in general.

For more detailed information please visit our sister site www.gmband.com

The human brain is split into two parts: the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious mind only accounts for 10% of your total mind; it deals with logic and decision-making. Your subconscious mind forms the other 90%; it does not recognise logic, but it does automatically regulate many different things in your body that you don’t have to consciously think about, such as your breathing, pulse-rate, body temperature, even your metabolism. The subconscious also acts like a computer, storing all the information you have ever experienced, and so it also controls everything from your self-confidence and self-image, to your emotions and habits.

A habit is formed whenever an action is repeated continuously over a period of time: it actually creates a certain chain process in our brain, and the more often the action is repeated, the stronger the chain becomes. So, if you consistently turn to food to fill a gap when you’re feeling bored or stressed out, for example, then your subconscious mind eventually sees this as a normal habit for you, and you develop a habit of eating automatically, every time you need some emotional comfort.

If there’s ever any conflict between your conscious and your subconscious mind, such as happens when you want to change a habit, then although your conscious mind can sometimes win minor battles along the way, the much more powerful subconscious mind will always win in the end, which means that you eventually go back to whatever habits your subconscious mind considers "normal" for you – this includes eating habits too, of course. This is why diets that rely on willpower alone are always destined to fail. It has nothing to do with being weak willed – it just demonstrates how powerful the human mind is.

The normal way to change our habits is by constant repetition of the new habit until that then becomes accepted by the subconscious: this can be a long and difficult process. However, because your subconscious mind readily accepts new information when you are in a relaxed state, we can speed up the process of changing habits by speaking directly to your subconscious mind and reprogramming it, via hypnosis.

If you have spent a long time during your life eating for emotional reasons rather than actual physical hunger, then you lose your ability to detect and act on the signals that your body gives you when you are in fact hungry and when you’ve had enough to eat. Hypnosis helps you to retune into your own body’s natural reflexes, and CBT teaches you how to differentiate between hunger and cravings, so that you learn to only eat when you are hungry and not for any other reason, you will choose the right sort of foods for your body to work efficiently, and eat just the amount of food you require to satisfy your hunger. This will then establish a healthy eating pattern that you will be able to follow for life, so you will never again need to struggle with diets and willpower.

During the hypnosis sessions you are frequently asked to picture yourself looking slim, attractive, healthy and happy, so that your subconscious mind then accepts this vision as your new self-image that you are working towards. Once this new vision of yourself is deeply embedded in your subconscious mind, then it becomes far more attractive to you than the temptation of eating something that will make it harder for you to reach your goal. In other words, the long-term benefits of being slim and healthy far outweigh the short-term gratification you may get from eating a piece of chocolate cake, for example.

Unlike a “diet”, the Elite GmB weight control programme is a pleasant, enjoyable experience – you will be able to relax around food and stop being obsessed about it, and you won’t ever feel deprived or restricted about what you can or can’t eat. And most important of all – you will find it easy to slim down to whatever target weight you’ve set yourself, because for the first time ever both your conscious and your subconscious minds are working together, locked onto your goal, giving you all the motivation you need: willpower is effectively irrelevant, because you are actually doing exactly what you really want to do.

The initial phase of the GmB treatment consists of four pleasant sessions, which can be undertaken over variable timescales. Some clients prefer to fly over to Spain for a long, four day weekend, or mid-week break, having the sessions on consecutive days; others have chosen to take them on alternate days, over an eight day period. Clients who are either resident in Spain, or who have no time restrictions, can of course spread them over a couple of weeks, or even longer if they wish.

The first of the four sessions is called the conceptualisation session. This is designed to enable us to gain detailed background information about your eating habits, your BMI, your willingness to make the necessary life changes and also your general, mental health.

To ensure that the rate of weight loss being achieved is in line with expectations, clients are required to return to the clinic for an 'adjustment' session, any time after 8 weeks following the completion of the initial four sessions. A final, indepth session, targeted exclusively at long-term weight management, is recommended at the time when the client is approaching their target weight. These two follow-up sessions are charged at €80 each.

Most sessions will involve a combination of Hypnotherapy, CBT, guided imagery and NLP, each at a pace and in a manner to suit you as an individual. It is normal practice for two therapists to be involved in each client's treatment, each specalising in their own particular field of therapy. The treatment will involve you being asked to participate in some short term changes in your eating patterns, to help you retune into your body's natural reflexes, for example participating in a one-day partial fast.

During one of your sessions time will be dedicated to establish your unique RMR, Resting Metabolic Rate, (now better known as your metabolic fingerprint). This is achieved using the latest Korr Medical equipment from the USA. Click here for further information.

As the sessions progress, you will gradually be introduced to deep hypnotherapy, which will be used to ensure you have the feeling and sensation that your stomach is shrinking, prior to the mental fitting of the band. Other components of the therapy will be personalised, based on the information gathered during the case conceptualisation.

For more detailed information please visit our sister site www.gmband.com

Both Martin and Marion have a regular slot on southern Spain's popular radio station, Onda Cero International, (OCI). To listen to a recent interview about controlling your weight that Marion recorded with Leah Dunne, simply right click on the Onda Cero logo, then left click on Save Target As... Choose where you want to save the file, e.g. on your desktop, then simply click on "open" when it's finished downloading and the interview will start to play automatically.

Click here to read what one of our clients said about her sessions at the Elite Clinic.

Click here to read an article about Elite's weight control programme, which was featured in the

Click on the links below for further information:

Facts about Obesity
The Importance of Water
The Power of the Mind
Calories - The Facts and Figures

Elite regularly welcomes clients from the UK and other parts of Europe who travel to Spain specifically to undertake a dedicated course of treatment. We invite such clients to contact us either by phone or email; we will be happy to phone you back and discuss the various treatment options possible, which can include everything from regular weekend / midweek visits to longer stays of between 5 and 21 days as appropriate.

Click here for a list of relevant airlines flying into Malaga, and also a few hotel options. We look forward to meeting you.


In addition to seeing clients at the clinic, Martin and Marion undertake private, home visits, both in Spain and internationally, subject to availability and negotiation.

To arrange a free, initial consultation, or for further information, please contact Elite on 951 31 15 91, or click here to e-mail us.