Blog – Page 20 – Connie Bennett, Your Bounce-Back Boldly Guide™

How Losing a Cell Phone Can Free You & Boost Your Creativity

Join the conversation. Have you ever lost a cell phone? For how long?
Wow, what a fascinating experience it’s been to not have a cell phone for a whopping three-and-a-half weeks (right after I took the photos in this post).
My adventure into being iPhone-less was quite inadvertent.
Like millions, I cling to my cell phone with dedication and consistency.
Like you, I call and text friends and colleagues.
I jot down appointments on my calendar.
I use my cell to check the time, too.
But I only talk into the speakerphone and never hold the phone up to my head. (See the link between chatting on your cell and brain cancer.)
Anyhow, my cell-phone reliance came to a screeching halt three-plus weeks ago.
I lost my cell phone sometime after taking this shot of the sun peeking through a trees.
My timing for losing my cell phone has been fascinating. I’m on deadline for my next book. More about the project shortly, but suffice it to say that I’m one of those people who really focuses during crunch time and, more than ever, I limit distractions. However, I do take ample me time, which becomes super-important when you have to crank out a book.
Anyhow, after going through some initial cell-phone withdrawal symptoms — seriously! — see 7 Lesson I Learned Because I Lost My Cell Phone — AgainI I’m now kind of liking not being so tied to my cell phone.
Although for nearly a month, I’ve been optimistically waiting for my cell phone to reappear — looking in the couch, my car, etc. — I’ve experienced three unexpected bonuses.
I feel more free. It may sound strange, but knowing that I cannot call someone when I’m out and about gives me a glorious dose of freedom. Not using my cell has made me realize how often I called people while taking a walk,e tc.
I’m much more present and appreciative. When I’m out and about — whether it’s for a walk or to the movies — I find that I appreciate views better, be they leaves, flowers, ocean or even the mall. In short, everything is richer and fuller.
I’m much more creative. This has been such a blessed benefit. When I take needed breaks (even to go to physical therapy for my inured knee), I’m getting greeat ideas really often. They just come to me out of the blue. So cool! So incredibly wonderful!
Anyhow, I’m still hoping my cell phone will show up, but I’m wondering if the Universe has plotted for me to be without it until I finish my next book.
So I’ve concocted a wild plan — I am now bribing myself!
I can’t get a a new cell phone once I finish my next book!
Rather than feeling deprived, I’m entertained by this off-the-wall pledge, which I’ve now pursusing almost as a badge of honor.
Plus, I’m motivated in a huge way to finish this book and get back to posting more often.
Anyhow, stay tuned for info about my book. I’m coming to you soon with a poll to test out several titles.
In the meantime, join the conversation.
Talk to us. Have you ever lost your cell phone? For how long?

Salt, Sugar, Fat: Michael Moss Reveals How the Food Industry Addicted Us

Join the Conversation. What most surprised you from this fascinating interview with Michael Moss?
Salt, Sugar, FatLately, I’ve been planning the Sugar World Summit, which will feature some of the biggest names in sugar educationn, carb addiction, health, wellness, mindful eating, and personal empowerment.
For instance, in this virtual event, which will take place two weeks before Halloween, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Robert Lustig, JJ Virgin, Dr. Richard Johnson, Colette Baron-Reid, Sarah Wilson and many others will join us to give you The Sour Scoop or Sweet Solutions.
Anyhow, while preparing for the event, I came across this fascinating NPR interview with Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist Michael Moss, author of the extraordinary book, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us..
In his fascinating book, Moss takes an insightful look at the $1 trillion processed food industry, which most health experts believe has triggered the obesity epidemic and put millions at risk for such chronic health conditions as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.
Thanks to his many revealing interviews with leading food scientists and top food industry executives from companies such as Kraft and Coca-Cola, Moss explains how most Americans have become so dependent on processed food.
Get shocked now, thanks to this intriguing NPR interview.
Join the Conversation. What was your biggest A-hah?

Taking a Quick Time Out to Write My Next Book to Help You

Join the Conversation: Have you ever written a book or wanted to write a book?
I’m taking a few days away from emails and the Internet during this Easter weekend and post-Passover time to work on my next book.
At present, I need to get back to writing, but let me briefly share that this book is the follow-up to my first book, Sugar Shock, which Dr. Mehmet Oz praised, and Beyond Sugar Shock, which was published by Hay House and was endorsed by many health and empowerment gurus such as Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Dr. Daniel Amen, Brian Tracy, Dr. Christiane Northrup and many others.
For my third book, I’m not going through a traditional publisher.
Instead, I’m taking the self-publishing route, and Balboa press Logo_MainI’ve signed up with Balboa Press, which is a division of Hay House.
My publishing contacts at Balboa Press are being so incredibly nice to me — I couldn’t be happier! — and they’re helping me implement some very innovative things. (More later.)
What’s really nice about self-publishing with Balboa Press is that I can speed up the timeline and schedule my book when I want it to come out.
I’ll announce the publication date soon, but it’s a pub date that may make you chuckle. Seriously!
Right now, I have to get back to writing my next book, but right now, let me share my fondest wish and deepest desire for this book — my mission is to help and serve people worldwide. Stay tuned.
Join the Conversation: Have you ever written a book or wanted to write a book?

7 Lessons from Staying Sugar-Free for 16 Years

Join the Conversation. Have you thought about quitting sugar or processed carbohydrates? Name 3 reasons why.
Heart-shaped foodSixteen years ago today, I reluctantly gave up sugar and processed carbohydrates on doctor’s orders. Although ditching sweets was the last thing I wanted to do, I had no choice, because I felt utterly awful most of the time.
On any given day, I was pummeled by many of 44 inexplicable ailments, including throbbing headaches, ferocious PMS, scary heart palpitations, vicious cravings, embarrassing crying spells, and erratic mood swings.
At the time—remember this was 1998—people didn’t realize that sugar is toxic, that it can trigger heart disease and cancer; and that it can lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
Despite many challenges along the way, I finally succeeded in mostly removing sugar from my life.
My sucess in letting go of my sugar and carb addiction is due to:
The encouragement of my doctor, Dr. Keith DeOrio.
Lots of support from the amazing Roberta Ruggiero, founder and president of the Hypoglycemia Support Foundation and author of Do’s and Don’ts of Hypoglycemia;
Nancy Appleton’s fabulous book, Lick the Sugar Habit;
Ann Louise Gittleman’s empowering Get the Sugar Out;
The late William Dufty’s landmark book, Sugar Blues;
My determination and desperation, because I dreaded continuing to feel so bad;
My creating own tools and tactics, which I share in my book, Beyond Sugar Shock.
Quitting sugar and refined carbs was the most empowering, life-affirming, health-promoting thing I’ve ever done. Quitting the sweet stuff made me feel reborn. All 44 of my symptoms vanished — seemingly miraculously.
As I reflect on my 16 years of being sugar-free, I realize that I’ve learned many things. Here are 7 Lessons from Being Sugar-Free.
1) Being a Sugar and Carb Addict was a Big Blessing.
It’s taken me a while to reach this conclusion, but if I’d never hit rock bottom as a sugar addict, I never would have discovered the joy, peace and calm that I now derive from treating my body with the respect, love, and appreciation it deserves.
In short, because I once flopped so badly by mindlessly, quickly shoving processed carb crap into my face, I now relish putting nourishing foods into my treasured body.
2) To Strive for Perfection is Pointless.
It’s absurd to try to be totally sugar-free all the time, because sugar, high fructose corn syrup, agave, barley malt and a host of other sweeteners are hidden in thousands of processed foodstuffs, from crackers to cocktail sauce.
Even the finest of chefs tend to slip the sweet substance into their culinary creations. Rather, it’s best to aim for 80 or 90 percent sugar-free.
3) It’s a Must! Always Pack Healthy Snacks or Mini-Meals.
One of the biggest discoveries I’ve made over the years is that it’s absolutely imperative to plan ahead at all times.
Whenever I leave home, especially when I’ll be stuck on an airplane, in a meeting or out socially, I need to have a selection of healthy foods with me to ward off the blood-sugar blues, which can lead to overeating the wrong foods.
Some of my favorite snacks include cans of salmon, flax crackers, protein power, and nuts. (Stay tuned, because I’ll share more great sugar-free treats in the future.)
4) Remember: If I Don’t Eat Right, I’ll Suffer Big Time.
One of the reasons I’ve been able to stay sugar-free is that I remember how bad it can get. Cheating just isn’t worth it. It’s simply inevitable that I’ll feel horrible eating either sweets or processed carbohydrates (what I call fast carbs or quickie carbs).
For instance, eating lots of movie popcorn or corn nuts, will give me such annoying ailments as brain fog, lethargy, anxiety, depression, digestive problems, crying spells, and cravings for more of the same fast carbs.
There’s simply “no escaping the terrifying change that occurs against my will,” as I shared in Sugar Shock. “After eating quickie carbs, I become an untamable, irascible “Sugar Shrew,” a fuming, disagreeable “Sugar Monster”; a sobbing, pitiful “Sugar Crybaby”; and finally, a listless, lethargic “Sugar Zombie…
“…Alas, my dreadful, dramatic sugar-induced transformation is inevitable. As predictable as the moon rising. As sure as the swallows coming home to Capistrano at the same time every year. As expected as the crowds flocking to Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s for an annual blowout sale.”
And I’m not unique. Millions around the world suffer from mammoth physical and/or emotional turbulence after eating sweets or fast carbs.
5) When Stressed Out, Temptation Will Strike—A lot.
Over time, I’ve come to realize that if I’m under extreme stress, deadline pressure or emotional turmoil, my calm resolve will be shaken. Sure enough, at that point, fast carbs such as movie popcorn will entice me. More about that later.
6) Falling off the Wagon Is Okay; Perhaps Even Expected.
You just can’t apply the same standards towards food that you do for alcohol. Unlike booze—which you can totally skip and never drink another drop again—you always have to eat.
This means that whenever and wherever you go, sugary or quickie-carb nonfoods will abound. At times, they’ll strive to land in your stomach—or so it may feel.
What’s more, we’re human beings, which means we’re not perfect. Rest assured that there’s a tremendous freedom in accepting that despite our best efforts, at times, we just won’t eat right. That’s okay. It’s what you do afterwards that counts.
7) Real Food Tastes Sweeter & Tastier than Junk Food.
When you let go of sweets and fast carbs, you’ll discover your taste buds. Real food, you’ll find, is scrumptious and delectable as opposed to the bland, super-salty, excessively sweet or ultra-fatty taste you get when you turn to quickie-carb foods.
Plus, when you lovingly create your own dishes, you’ll be delightfully surprised at how you’ll savor the flavors.
Learn More About Me. I’m a former sugar-addicted journalist, who quit sugar on doctor’s orders in 1998. Now 16 years into sugar sobriety, I’ve created many cool tips and tools to help thousands worldwide release their over-attachment to sweets and quickie carbs. I’m also a speaker and best-selling author of Sugar Shock and Beyond Sugar Shock: The 6-Week Plan to Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction & Get Slimmer, Sexier & Sweeter. Get Sugar Shock Blog updates in your mailbox.
Join the Conversation. Have you thought about quitting sugar or processed carbohydrates? Name 3 reasons why.
Special thanks to Getty Images for the photo above. Please note that I’m not sure if can use this so please forgive me and notify me if I can’t use it, if you have the rights.

Would You Like to Help Me?

Since I’m in pain now due to my knee injury and need to take time off to heal, I need help more than ever.
Do you have proven skills and experience in any of the following: Research, Writing, Journalism, Taking notes during my Gab with the Gurus Show, managing telesummits, and event coordination?
FYI, these will be modestly paid duties.
In addition, if you have sugar or other challenges, we may be able to swap or set up some kind of a way for me to help you, too.
Interested?
Just write back to me here. I ook forward to hearing back from Sugar Shock Blog readers.

Need Guidance? Pick a Page, Any Page

Recently, I’ve become a big fan of creating fun ways to get guidance with minimal effort.
Whenever I’ve faced a particular challenge or perplexing situation, I’ve often done what I call Motivating with the Masters.
In short, without ever meeting big-name gurus, I’ve received personal attention from them, but they don’t even know they’ve been helping me. Cool, eh?
While seeking guidance from the masters, I’ve created the super-simple Pick a Page, any Page Process, which helps you to easily tap into Infinite Intelligence, God or whatever you want to call it so you can know what to do.
Here’s how to do this simple technique.
First thing in the morning — or whatever time appeals to you — select a book from one of your favorite motivational authors on a subject that speaks to you.
Sit down, turn your head away, and randomly select a page, pointing to it a finger.
Start reading. Almost inevtiably, I’m willing to bet, you’ll soon find your day’s message whether it’s in the first sentence, a few paragraphs down or hidden in two pages.
Now, if that passage doesn’t connect with you, continue reading to find what you need. Or, if you prefer, repeat # 2 so you can land on another passage that’s better suited to your situation.
In addition to doing this Pick a Page, Any Page Process in the morning, you also can rely on it whenever you’re stumped about a particular challenge, dilemma or situation.
Let me give you three personal examples about how this simple Pick a Page, Any Page Process worked so well for me. One day I was feeling stressed out although I’d recently moved to a healing place after my mother’s death.
Longing for some simple, but great advice, I turned to Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., a leading expert on stress, spirituality, and the mind/body connection, whose book, Inner Peace for Busy People: 52 Simple Strategies for Transforming Your Life was inviting me. I landed on pages 72 to 74.
Here’s the guidance I got to help yank me out of my Dark Night of the Soul, which I went through after Mom died.
“This week, think about the simple pleasures that give you the time of your life. Walk around your house and take stock. Do your possessions energize you, or are they a drain? If you own things that are more trouble than they’re worth, simplification is in order. That’s why God invented garage sales.”
What incredible timing! As I was reading this, I had just completed my move of about 500 miles from northern to southern California and I was still donating, recycling, displaying, or temporarily hiding items that were mine or my late Mom’s.
When I read further, Dr. Borysenko hit another telling chord when she discussed my newly acquired boob-tube reliance.
“If you’re a habitual television watcher and want to discover more simple pleasures this week, try a TV fast. Lots of time will open up. Spend it with your loved ones making music, reading, painting, repotting your plants…* tending a fish tank, or any hobby that needs time and care.”
Although I didn’t put her strategy to use right away—since Mom’s death, I’d become hooked on such TV shows as “Charmed,” “Perception” and “Necessary Roughness”—I decided to slowly move in that direction by watching TV less rather than cut it out cold turkey. I even took time to bike on the beach.
Dr. Joan Borysenko then offered me more hope in a section called, “Take Time for Simple Pleasures.”
“Life is lived in the small places, the in-between spots whose magic lies in their capacity to reconnect us to our souls.”
How cool! See what I mean about how picking a page can help you?
A morning or two later—and many other mornings—I turned to the pioneering Geneen Roth, who has helped millions struggling with compulsive eating to transform their relationships to food. I found more pearls of wisdom from her on pages 780 to 781 in her landmark book, Women, Food and Good: Unexpected Path to Almost Everything. She writes:
“The shape of your body obeys the shape of your beliefs about love, value and possibility. To change your body, you must first understand that which is shaping it. Not fight it. Not force it. Not deprive it. Not shame it. Not do anything but accept—and, yes, Virginia—understand it.”
Ah yes, many of us have embarrassed ourselves into dieting and only briefly shed weight. Geneen continued:
“Because if you force and deprive and shame yourself into being thin, you end up a deprived, shamed, fearful person who will also be thin for ten minutes. When you abuse yourself (by taunting or threatening yourself) you become a bruised human being no matter how much you weigh…”
Later, Geneen hit the jackpot for me:
“When you believe in yourself more than you believe in food, you will stop using food as if it were your only chance at not falling apart. When the shape of your body no longer matches the shape of your beliefs, the weight disappears. And yes, it really is that simple.”
On a number of occasions, I also got A Hahs! from Marianne Williamson in her book, A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever. On another morning–which coincidentally fell on Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year, when you review your past year and atone for your mistakes—here’s the “Ding” I received. It was a prayer:
Dear God,
As I enter into this new chapter
of my life,
please bless my steps forward,
With this ceremony,
may Your Spirit come upon me
and release me from my former self.
Please deliver me to sweeter realms
and teach me how to be, dear God,
a freer person, a happier person,
a saner person,
without compulsion or fear.
And so it is.
Amen.
I hope you’ll enjoy my simple Pick a Page, Any Page Process.
Join the Conversation: Tell us what passage has inspired you.
thanks to Pam Lawhorne for this fabulous image shown above. Hope I’m able to use it. If I goofed, contact me, and I’ll pull it.)

Do you Multi-Task While Eating? It Makes Your Food Taste Bland

Do you multi-task at meal time?
If you eat while on the computer, watching TV or doing other things, this means there’s a good chance that you’re over-indulging, too. (So found a variety of studies, which link distraction with mindless bingeing. A review of 24 studies drew that conclusion in the April 2013 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.)
Now, more research published in Psychological Science reveals that doing mentally taxing tasks while you eat will make your food taste bland, too.
In other words, when you juggle too many things at mealtime, you just won’t enjoy or appreciate your food as much.
What’s more, scientists at the Institute for Psychological Research at Leiden University in The Netherlands discovered that when participants ate sour, sweet and salty substances while doing various tasks, they consumed more food and preferred stronger tastes.
In addition doing other things while eating makes your food tastes bland. Indeed, researchers found that an “increased task load reduces people’s taste perception by limiting attentional capacity to assess taste intensity and that people adjust their consumption accordingly.”
In short, the researchers believe that cognitive load may compete with sensory input for our attention.
But let’s focus on the good news, as pointed out by Scientific American’s Tori Rodriguez. Other studies have found you eat less when you pay mindful attention to your food and fully focus on the taste, armona and texture.
The important takeaway, as I see it, is that if you want to peel off the pounds, cut out multi-tasking at meal time.
Besides, as this new study reveals, you’ll enjoy your more, too.
So join me: Mindfully savor each morsel or swallow at each meal or snack.
Multi-Tasking at Meal Time: Why It
Special thanks to visual.ly for the above infographic.
Join the Conversation. Do you multi-task while eating? Do you end up eating more? Tell us your experiences.
Then join us in ending multi-tasking while eating.

Fun Friday Tune: Dale Dale

I invite you to enjoy this sweet start to get you ready for the weekend ahead.
Enjoy boogying to this Fun Friday Tune, “Dale Dale,” along with choreographer, singer, songwriter, dancer Francesca Maria.
(By the way, “dale” means “go ahead,” “give it” or “do it,” according to this Wild104fm site. If you’re a girl and someone shouts “Dale” at you, it means they think you’re cute.)
You may be wondering about the sugar connection here.
Essentially, when you bring sweetness into your life — in this case, it’s energetically doing Zumba to an upbeat — you’ll get a life that’s sweeter without junky sweets.

Berries Benefit Your Brain

Do you regularly eat luscious strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or raspberries?
BerriesExciting new findings reveal that berries can boost your brain power.
Researchers writing in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, conclude that eating more blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and other berries may help prevent age-related memory loss and other mental status changes.
Berries benefit your brain in several ways. They’re already known for their high levels of antioxidants, which are compounds “that protect cells from damage by harmful free radicals,” found the researchers, Barbara Shukitt-Hale, Ph.D., and Marshall G. Miller.
Research also shows that berries alter the manner in which neurons in the brain communicate. “These changes in signaling can prevent inflammation in the brain that contribute to neuronal damage and improve both motor control and cognition,” said ACS, a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress.
This new study adds to the growing body of research, which has identified neurological benefits associated with consuming berries.
This sweet berry news emphasizes the fact that if you don’t eat refined sugar, you can still enjoy sweet foods — and benefit at the same times. Now that you have more reasons to eat berries, here are two ideas on how to consume them:
Try adding a modest portion (1/4 or 1/2 cup of blueberries, raspberries or other berries_ into a tasty, healthy, sugar-free Berry Cacao-Cado Protein Shake (as I did this morning).
Make your own yummy, sugar-free berry dessert, thanks to the new Dessert Bullet, as I shared earlier on this Sugar Shock Blog.
Join the Conversation: What’s your favorite way to eat berries? Share your thoughts now.
Special thanks to Natural News and reporter J.D. Heyes for the heads up about this new research.

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