Way to diminish cravings?

I've been watching a show on TLC called, "I Can Make You Thin." It's a little too much like an info-mercial for me but I made myself watch tonight b/c I saw that the show was going to focus on how to deal with cravings. The show focuses on food and overeating but he specifically mentioned that the techniques he teaches can be used to help deal with cravings of any kind.

He explained that we all use various unhealthy means to avoid dealing with negative and uncomfortable emotions. Those can be over-eating, drugs, alcohol or anything that makes us forget about the negative emotions even for just awhile.

The technique he said that he uses for people who over-eat b/c of emotional eating was developed by a psychologist named Roger Callahan and that the technique is basically used to reprogram our brains out of using food, drugs, etc.to cope with negative emotions. The technique involves tapping on various "energy" points on the body with the goal of re-establishing emotional equilibrium.

I have to say that I felt like an absolute fool tapping on my body and humming as I watched the show but I had been struggling with cravings for vics before the show and as silly as I felt, the cravings did seem to go away. Could have just been taking the time to do something else and distracted my attention but I'm willing to keep trying this to see how well it works. Heck, can't hurt. I don't advise doing this in public or you'll probably get hauled away or some very strange looks.

Anyway, here's the technique: (he suggested tapping about 10 times on each energy point)

- When the craving hits, rate the craving and your level of emotional upset on a scale of 1-10 - with 1 being very low to 10 being very high.

- tap 5-10 times on the bone directly under your eye (either one)

- tap 5-10 times on your collarbone

- tap 5-10 times on the side of one hand - about half-way b/t the thumb and wrist

- tap 5-10 times on the back of your hand

- tap on the back of the hand another 5-10 times but close your eyes this time

- While still tapping on the back of your hand, look down and to the right for 5-10 taps

- While still tapping on the back of your hand, look down and to the left for 5-10 taps

- While still tapping on the back of your hand, rotate your eyes in a complete circle in one direction for 5-10 taps

- While still tapping on the back of your hand, rotate your eyes in a complete circle in the other direction for 5-10 taps

- Continue tapping the back of your hand but also hum a short tune during the 5-10 taps

- Keep tapping and count out loud from 1 to 5

- Keep tapping and hum the tune again

Now, stop tapping yourself senseless and re-rate the level of the craving or emotional distress.

If it is diminished to the point that you feel you can move on and control it, YEAH. If not, repeat the process until it is.

Obviously, a lot of this is simply a distraction method to get your mind off of the craving, but, hey, if it works, I guess I'm willing to walk around with bruises from all of that tapping under my eyes and on my hands!

I'll be interested to hear if anyone else trys this and how it works or if anyone else has been watching the show. Like I said, it's a little weird but whatever helps....