Alex Lenkei, a 61-year-old hypnotist, opted against using any traditional anesthetic for his recent surgery, choosing instead to send himself into a hypnotic trance for the duration of the surgery.

He was able to hear the cracking of his bones and the surgeon asking for a saw -- he could even hear the surgeon "hammering away at the bone" with a hammer and chisel. He could feel the doctor "pulling and manipulating" him, but felt no pain.

Much of the medical community is quite interested in this, as studies have shown that using less anesthetic can reduce the time patients spend in the hospital and speed healing. Additionally, many patients are nervous about using an anesthetic, and while they might not opt for using hypnosis only, it might help to calm them and allow a lower dose of anesthetic to be used.

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About 50 food studies take place at any one time in Cornell University's food lab. Some of Brian Wansink's studies – critics call them "Happy Meal" studies – take place in the field. Regardless of location, all of Wansink's experiments yield interesting findings about how our subconscious influences what, and how, we eat. Check out these fun facts.

• Give a group of people at a bar the Super Bowl and a plate of chicken wings, and the subjects will eat 28 percent more when a waitress clears the bones from the table than when the bones pile up.

• You'll eat more M&Ms if they're available in 10 colors than if they come in seven because you'll crave the variety.

• Flowers at your table will make you eat more, even though the smell may clash with the smell of your meal.

• Use small plates, keep junk food in inconvenient places, avoid eating directly from a package, and be the last one at your table to start eating. You'll fare better nutritionally by practicing these healthy habits.
  
  

For more wacky food scoop, check out Wansink's book: Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.

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Ever have a food dream? I do all the time, and I always wake up absolutely starving, which means I just have to sneak in the kitchen and get some sort of snack to help me go back to sleep. I dream of beef, which is a bit odd because I'm not particularly crazy about beef when awake. I also dream of cake, lobster dripping in garlic butter, cheese, and pretty much anything else that is either too expensive or too rich to eat on a regular basis. Funny, I never dream of salad.

eDiets dissects your food dreams in this article, and tells you what your mind is trying to tell you. For me, I think my dreams are my body's way of telling me that it's craving these things. Luckily, it's pretty hard to find cake in my fridge in the middle of the night (or any other time too) so I satisfy my midnight stomach rumbling with some dry cereal or a hot cup of milk.

What do you dream of?

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This may come as a surprise to you, but you might be choosing to be overweight. Not consciously, but on a deeper level. According to this article, there is an underlying force in the subconscious that rules our eating habits, and you may have to confront these issues to begin your weight-loss journey. This isn't the first time I've heard of this -- being overweight offers some sort of comfort deep down, though you might not know it. I've even read about this on a personal blog recently.

So does this mean that you need to spend thousands of dollars on expensive therapy? Not necessarily. The article lists simple steps you can take to uncovering your subconscious eating motivation. Read through it and let me know what you find out.

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Losing weight is a slow process, and over time it's easy to lose sight of what you're working towards and the reality of success starts to be something distant and detached. When this happens to me it always means a major snag in my diet routine, workout routine, or both. To keep the ultimate goal fresh in your mind, and avoid those nasty pitfalls, try visualization. Visualization, or positive imaging, is the idea of "daydreaming" enough about your slimmer self goal that eventually the new body image gets transferred to your subconscious mind. And it's common knowledge just how powerful the subconscious mind is -- it's in charge of all your habits, good and bad, and also regulates your fat/muscle ratio and your body's overall composition. Making a change in this "control center" is said to be a very powerful tool.

How to do it: Relaxation is the first step. Get comfortable, but be careful not to get so comfy you might doze off (the goal is daydreams that you can control, not any-old dream while sleeping!). Next breathe in slowly, through your nose, for 10 seconds. Hold the breath for 10 more seconds, and then slowly exhale over 10 seconds. Repeat this breathing cycle five times, feeling more and more relaxed each time. Stare directly to the front, and then slowly close your eyes. You should now feel completely relaxed.

Start picturing positive images of yourself, in specific situations. The article suggests imagining going to the beach, and feeling confident and attractive in a new swimsuit. Or maybe picturing a family gathering where you're getting a lot of compliments from the people who know you best. Whatever sounds like the best possible scenario, that's what mental image you should create and focus on.

This makes total sense to me -- I'm always most diligent and successful about following my diet and fitness routines when I'm newly inspired. And whether you follow this process or another way, I think that focusing on positive images instead of always thinking about the negatives can be very inspiring!

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