Yesterday afternoon, I witnessed SUGAR SHOCK! in action at an amazing "Excellence in Media: The Language of Impact" training event led by the talented Joel Roberts, a former popular L.A. radio host-turned media coach.
The day was going wonderfully until around 4 p.m., when somehow, out of nowhere, some three to four boxes of small, Round black cookies — whose brand name I won’t share, but you can fill in the blanks — suddenly landed up on about four different tables.
"Ouch," I thought.
Hands spread out anxiously to get these "goodies." Politeness disappeared and a "gotta-get-me-some attitude" reigned instead. (OK, I’m exaggerating a bit.)
It was, of course, the Late-Afternoon Slump Time.
You know, it’s late in the day, you’ve been focusing all day at work — or, in this case, at a conference. Your brains getting fuzzy, you’re running low on concentration power, you’re pooping out, and you’re even low on gusto. What are you gonna do? Well, you turn to cookies!
Sound familiar? Of course, it does! (I certainly once knew the patterns quite well.)
Well, in agony, I watched my fellow conference attendees nosh away at the nutrition-lacking sweets — a couple of people even played games with the nibbles, pulling them apart and eating the centers first. (Come to think of it, I used to do that, too.)
You see, my colleagues were operating under a false assumption — as much of America does. Without realizing it probably, they were hoping that these cookies would give them a much-needed sugar "buzz."
Undoubtedly, these folks did get their quick, desired "lift." And certainly, for a while, they were with us. But, as I used to suffer at least once or twice daily, that high must fall.
In other words, you eat cookies and your blood sugar shoots up. But, then, a few hours later, your blood sugar levels go down, down, down. Then, you’re hit by worse "brain fog," fatigue, and perhaps even moodiness. At that point, what do want? Again, you need cookies or candies or coffee again and again.
So what did I do when smack in the middle of the black, round cookies episode?
Nothing. OK, almost nothing. Couldn’t help myself, but I did mutter a clever comment (I think) to a person or two nearby, who seemed to appreciate my Stop SUGAR SHOCK! work.
And then I got inspired. I whipped out my big bag of almonds that I’d been secretly noshing and started passing it around the room. Hey, if you can’t fight ’em, join ’em or at least try to inspire ’em!
But mostly I stayed silent. Besides, our thought-provoking program got underway again and I soon forgot the cookie craze.
Often, I just need to shut up. A lot, if not most, people just don’t want to hear that eating their favorite sweets could ultimately cause woes galore. (I sure didn’t want to, prior to 1998.)
But now I know, after all my research on my book that perhaps, one day, maybe not today, but years down the line, these repeated incidences of SUGAR SHOCK! could catch up with them.
For now, I just hope that I can reach loads of people so they don’t have to suffer in vain, as I once did.
By the way, during various breaks in our program, one desperate person after another came up to me, asking, "Are you the woman who wrote SUGAR SHOCK! Oh, Connie, I have the worst sweet tooth. I eat junk, and then I experience the crash, and it’s awful. Can you help me?" they would plead.
And so I took down their e-mail addresses and told them about my free KickSugar support group and my upcoming Stop SUGAR SHOCK! coaching program.
Tell us your stories of watching people bouncing around in and out of SUGAR SHOCK!