Clearing the Carb Confusion

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High Fructose Consumption Linked to High Blood Pressure

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The evidence keeps pouring in pointing to the dangers of fructose, which are found in soft drinks and most processed foods, from breads to cookies to crackers.
The latest study, which finds that people who consume the amount of fructose found in two-and-a-half soft drinks a day appear to have a higher risk of hypertension, appears in the current issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
People who took in at least 74 grams (about 18.5 tsp.) per day had 26% to 77% greater odds of crossing various thresholds of elevated blood pressure (P<0.05 for all), compared with lower levels of consumption, according to Diana Jalal, MD, of the University of Colorado Denver, and colleagues. "Limiting fructose intake is readily feasible, and, in light of our results, prospective studies are needed to assess whether decreased intake of fructose from added sugars will reduce the incidence of hypertension and the burden of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. adult population," they wrote online in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. One of the best ways to reduce your consumption of high fructose corn syrup is to just eliminate soft drinks. There is no human requirement for soda! To get a flavor for how soft drinks can pack on the pounds -- one that will make your stomach turn -- watch this "Pouring on the Pounds" ad from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

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Michelle Obama Gets Food Companies to Act

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Thank to Michelle Obama’s crusade to combat children’s obesity, major food companies such as PepsiCo and Kraft Foods are changing their products.
She is, in fact, “defining defining her role as first lady by taking on the $600 billion food and beverage industries in a quest to end childhood obesity within a generation,” observes Kate Andersen Brower of Bloomberg Business Week, in an artticle entitled, “Michelle Obama’s ‘Spotlight’ on Obesity Enlists Kraft, PepsiCo.”
“Her lobbying of companies to make products healthier, labels easier to read and limit marketing of unhealthy foods to kids is paying off,” Brower observes.
A month after she began her campaign, “PepsiCo Inc., the world’s second-largest food and beverage company, pledged to stop selling full-sugar soft drinks in schools by 2012.” In addition, Kraft Foods Inc., the maker of Oreo cookies and Oscar Mayer lunch meats, jumped on board, announcing that it would further reduce the sodium content of its products..
Reporter Brower points out that the first lady’s efforts are part of a “movement to recast what the food industry is selling,” according to David Kessler, who was Food and Drug Administration commissioner from 1990 to 1997. “She puts the spotlight on the issue like few others can,” Kessler told Brower.
The American Beverage Association — which represents soda companies — has now joined Michelle Obama’s effort by running a national ad, which claims that the industry is committed to reducing beverage calories in schools by 88 percent.
Things started happening after a well-publicized meeting in Washington on March 16 when the first lady addressed members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents major food companies such as Kraft and PepsiCo. At that GMA meeting, Obama urged the companies to reduce sugar, fat and salt in their products and “to move faster and to go farther” to make them healthier.
The first lady has “accelerated our focus,” Kraft’s president of health and wellness, Rhonda Jordan, told the Bloomberg Business Week reporter Brower, who then quotes Patrick Basham, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based research group that promotes libertarian policies.
Basham believes that the first lady’s anti-obesity efforts are “in sync with public skepticism about `the motives of big business’ in the wake of the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression.” He also believes that the recent moves by the companies may be an effort to prevent government crackdown.
“The food industry is terrified of being either legislated out of business or so regulated they won’t be able to do what they want,” Basham told Brower.
What’s intriguing is that Michelle Obama became concerned about child nutrition for personal reasons.
She told audiences at a National PTA Conference in Arlington, Virginia, on March 10, that she got a “wakeup call” when her pediatrician voiced concern about her family’s eating habits.
While I applaud the first lady’s efforts, as always, no matter what changes the large food companies institute, I encourage people to reduce or even eliminate their consumption of processed foods.
Vegetables and fruits that come courtesy of Mother Nature are best for our bodies. Plus, they taste better — something you’ll discover after you cut back on processed carbs.
We just don’t need to consume large quantities of packaged foods that usually have

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Agave is Worse for You than High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): Please Stay Away From the Stuff!

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Agave nectar is high fructose and it’s bad for you. Respected Dr. Joseph Mercola called it worse than high fructose corn syrup. Learn more about agave now.

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Megan Confronts Cake in a Letter

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Often, when I’m coaching clients to kick their sugar addiction, I’m hit by moments of intuition as to what may help people. (In coaching school with iPEC, they taught us to honor, respect and look for those flashes.)
So last Wednesday, during one of my Break-Free Group Coaching sessions, the idea hit me out of the blue that members might be helped if they wrote a letter or poem to their favorite sweets.
I then asked members what they thought of the idea of doing this. (I never give assignments.)
On Friday, Megan Bozman, one of our members, ran with the idea and wrote a brilliant, insightful, poignant letter while tempted by a cake at work.
She then confided to us (the group members and me): “B-day cake, vanilla with white icing is one of my #1 fav sweets — and that happens to be EXACTLY what is in our conference room right now, about 5 feet from my desk. So I figure it’s a good time to write that letter to my fav sweet (which, as of Wed night, I was already planning on making white b-day cake!)”
White-cake Here’s how Meg confronted Cake — a letter I’m republishing with her permission:
“Dear Cake,
“It’s not you; it’s me. I am aware this is cliched, but it is the truth in this case. You are not an evil entity.
“While you are a nutritional wasteland, you are not evil in moderation. I still plan to welcome you into my home to celebrate my son’s birthdays and other such occasions.
“Again, it’s not you; it’s me. Something in me doesn’t react well to you & I realize this. You are fantastic during the too-brief time I get to enjoy you. Ecstatic & wonderful.
“But too often, before I even finish swallowing the last bite, I just want more! Then, I still want more and more and more. That is where the evil comes into play… it is in large quantities that you become evil.
“And I won’t waste time elaborating on why large quantities of you are bad. That doesn’t bear repeating.
“When I get ensnared by your addictive properties, I feel terrible; both physically & emotionally. The feeling of being hooked is dreadful. For one thing, it’s just simply embarrassing! It also has a negative effect on my self-esteem (really, I can’t `just say no’ & only eat a moderate amount?! What is wrong with me?)
“I don’t have some of the negative effects some experience such as stomach pains, yeast infections, skin problems, & blood sugar crashes causing a rapid decline in both energy & mood. However, I feel bloated, fat, and, well, gross. Feeling fat & gross makes me feel ugly. It’s just bad; just all around bad.
“So there you sit in the conference room. I’m sure others will enjoy you — don’t fret. Cake rarely goes uneaten in any office. But for now, I’m 10 days sweets-free & intend to go another 11 days for a round 3 weeks. At that point, I’m thinking I’ll stick to a serving of dessert or sweets once every 3 weeks.
Ta ta,
Meg”
Megan then told us that she shared her Letter to Cake with her husband, who came back with a hilarious response. He wrote:

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Break Free of Sugar Addiction—Early Bird Special Ends March 31 (Sneak Peek)

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re you tired of packing on pounds instead of losing them?
Are you fed up, because you feel trapped by your sugar habit?
Do you feel discouraged because — no matter how many diets or programs you’ve tried — you’re still hooked on sugar?
Sugar addicts, hypoglycemic, type 2 diabetics and overweight people, I bring you hope.
Today, as readers of this Sugar Shock Blog, I’m pleased to offer you a Sneak Peek at my upcoming, Break Free of Sugar Addiction Program, a five-week teleseminar/webinar series (available via phone or the Internet).
I haven’t announced this Break Free of Sugar Addiction Program yet to the general public, because I want you, my loyal readers of this Sugar Shock Blog, to have first crack at the open slots.
Isn’t it time for you to feel and experience the joy, liberation, energy, excitement, pride and sense of calm that comes from being sugar-free (or close to it)?
Act now to learn about the Break Free of Sugar Addiction Program’s Early Bird Special, available to you through Wed., March 31.If you’re among the first 20 to register, you get a half-hour Laser Coaching Strategy Session with me. Value = $100. Get the scoop now at BreakFreeWithConnie.com
This Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction Program is being presented in honor of my 12 years off sugar! Yes, on April 15, I will have been liberated from my sugar habit for a dozen years!
Kicking sugar was the biggest, most liberating, transformational thing I’ve ever done! It’s time for you to have that amazing experience, too!
Would you like:
* To finally fit into your favorite “slim” outfit?
* To finally say goodbye to awful, mid-afternoon crashes?
* To have a life full of energy, enthusiasm and excitement?
* To have your pants getting looser and looser, because you’ve lost so much weight?
* To banish annoying brain fog?
* To have an overpowering sensation of joyous freedom?
* To not lose control and to not feel so out of balance?
* To NOT “need” desserts so much?
* To look and feel better?
* To feel amazing — both physically and emotionally?
* To be fulfilled by your activities, pursuits and loved ones.
* To be released from the fatigue, headaches, brain fog, mood swings, anxiety and out of control feeling that hit you after you consume quickie carbs and plunge into your sugar addiction cycle?
* Like you’ve been reborn.
* To quit wasting so much money on sweet foods and drinks?
* To do away to those sluggish, lethargic feelings?
* To become more cheerful, calm and confident?
* To end runaway mood swings, embarrassing anger outbursts and overwhelming fatigue?
* To eliminate your nagging sugar cravings?
* To get rid of your PMS (almost completely)?
* To begin to nourish and feed yourself in non-sugary ways?
* To build a better life in the bedroom, if you catch my drift?
* To wake up feeling joyous and proud that you spurned sweets and carbs the day before?
Act now to learn about the Break Free of Sugar Addiction Program’s Early Bird Special, available to you through Wed., March 31.
If you’re among the first 20 to register, you get a half-hour Laser Coaching Strategy Session with me. Value = $100. Get the scoop now at http://www.BreakFreeWithConnie.com.
If you’ve been waging a battle with sugar, I invite you to discover that getting off sugar is empowering and exhilarating.
Just listen to these Happy Sugar Kickers:
“Your Kick-Sugar Program Sounded too Good to be True, but it Changed my Life. At the end of your 10-week program, I was15 pounds lighter— and a whole lot happier and more energetic. Now, five years later, I am still about 80% sugar free.” —June Kamerling, Richmond, California

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Sugar & Its Dangers Hit the News, Thanks to Dr. Robert Lustig’s YouTube Video & Nightline

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Sugar and its dangers are in the news again, thanks to ABC’s popular show, Nightline, which, last night, aired a compelling story spotlighting sugar’s role in the obesity crisis.
In his “Sugar Wars” piece, correspondent John Donovan offers a fascinating look at the views of esteemed pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig, whose YouTube video, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” has garnered more than a quarter of a million hits to date.
In this Nightline segment — which you can watch below — Donovan calls Dr. Lustig “a man at war with sugar,” because he argues that too much fructose and not enough fiber are to blame for our obesity crisis.
“Fructose is the cause of the current epidemic,” says Dr. Lustig, director of UCSF’s Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Clinic and UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology.
Nightline correspondent Donovan also includes quotes from the the pediatric endocrinologist about leptin’s role in obesity; fructose’s role in metabolic syndrome; and the fact that low-fat foods such as SnackWells cookies and fruit-flavored yogurt are filled with sugar.
In the Nightline piece, Donovan made an effort to make his piece unbiased by allowing Dr. Lustig’s ideas to be criticized by three pro-sugar advocates — one from the American Beverage Association (formerly called the National Soft Drink Association) and two from the Corn Refiners Association, including a cardiologist, who has done studies funded by PepsiCo, the manufacturer of sugar-filled soft drinks.
Understandably, correspondent John Donovan seems to be like millions of Americans, who have a sweet tooth. In fact, the reporter readily admits that strolling with Dr. Lustig at San Francisco’s Pier 30 (a hot spot filled with sugary foods) can be “at times, well, a bit of of a downer. Because we love sugar, don’t we, most of us?”
Donovan is absolutely correct in his assessment. Most Americans — and people around the world — are so keen on sugar that they imbibe it to their detriment. Unfortunately, the Nightline reporter did not mention that obesity is only part of the sugar story.
The average American’s sugar consumption — about 170 pounds per year per person — also has been linked with heart disease, cancer, severe PMS, memory loss, depression, fatigue, headaches, infertility, low libido, polycystic ovary syndrome and many other ailments.
In addition, regretfully, the Nightline piece did not point out that Dr. Lustig is in very good company. His views are shared by many of us concerned health advocates. For instance, esteemed pediatric endocrinologist Dr. David Ludwig — who was previously interviewed along with me for a “CBS News Sunday Morning” segment, “Is America Too Sweet on Sugar” — is among those frightened by the massive consumption of sugar, particularly high fructose corn syrup, in this country and around the world.
Others sounding the sugar alarm include:
* Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard;
* Dr. Nancy Appleton, author of Suicide by Sugar: A Startling Look at Our #1 National Addiction;
* Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, who appears on my Gab with the Gurus Radio Show on March 31 to discuss his new book, Beat Sugar Addiction Now! ;
* Dr. Richard Johnson, author of The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That is Making You Fat and Sick.); and
* Myself, author of SUGAR SHOCK! How Sweet and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life–And How You Can Get Back on Track.
Now, I invite you to watch the eye-opening Nightline segment below.

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SUGAR SHOCK! Reader Shares Sad Story

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Today, I am humbled, honored and touched by the most poignant, touching letter that I received from a reader of my book SUGAR SHOCK!
This letter brought tears to my eyes. I do hope that it inspires you to realize that eliminating sugar and refined carbs, along with other smart lifestyle choices, can help bring you good health and keep away cancer.
Here’s what I heard from Carolyn:
“Connie, I wish you had written SUGAR SHOCK! many years ago. I think it would have really helped my husband stop drinking. He was a health care professional, and if your book would have been available explaining the real reason why he drank, he probably would have stopped.
“My husband was not only addicted to alcohol, but to candy, sweets and refined carbs like white bread, rice, and most of all, pasta. He died in 2005 of pancreatic cancer — a direct result of years of sugar and alcohol damage to his body.
“Your book was a turning point for me, because as once I read it, I forgave him. I understood after reading it that he had an addiction that was food related, which led to the alcoholism.

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Reader Writes: “SUGAR SHOCK! Changed My Life.” What Are Your Questions?

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Often, I receive emails from readers of my book SUGAR SHOCK! Whenever I do, I’m so touched and honored that I’ve been able to help people from around the country and world.
Here’s a comment I received tonight from Ben in Massachusetts:
“Sugar Shock! changed my life. I [finally] got off sugar. For the first time in my life, I only eat non processed foods and no sugar. I feel calm all the time and [I’m] constantly energized. I feel great. It’s easier to concentrate and exercise as well. …God bless you.”
Ben then asked a few questions, which I’m answering soon in a Frequently Asked Questions project that I’m completing.
What would you like to know about sugar’s dangers, quitting sugar or carbs? Please post your questions here.

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