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Crush Your Cravings

How to Begin to Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction: Get Spooked!

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Whenever I give talks or begin to work with new clients, one of the first questions they ask me is, “What’s the first thing I should do to kick my sugar addiction?”
One of the most powerful ways to jump on the no-sugar or less-sugar bandwagon is to get spooked and shocked.
That’s right!
Boo!
Seriously, there’s nothing more powerful than being scared to the depths of your being to convince you to quit your health-harming ways lickety split.
Back in spring 1998, I hit upon this potent technique after my doctor ordered me to quit my cherished sweets and refined carbs to eliminate my 44 ailments, from scary heart palpitations to embarrassing mood swings to annoying brain fog.
“Connie, if you keep eating so many sweets and simple carbs, you’ll continue to feel awful much of the time and you’ll probably die way before your time,” my doctor bluntly told me.
Despite my physician’s dire warnings, I didn’t want to listen.
Let’s face it, as I’m sure most sugar addicts can appreciate, bidding farewell to my edible sweethearts was the last thing I wanted to do.
How could I ever live without my beloved candies, red licorice and chocolate chips even if they were toxic?
After my M.D.’s “prescription,” I still kept eating my favorite “treats.”
But I went head first into research mode. You see, since I’m a journalist, I always want to get to the bottom of the story.
So while still shoving sweets into my mouth, I read every book I could find on the subject.
Bookcover I pored over the classic Sugar Blues by William Dufty, Lick the Sugar Habit by Nancy Appleton and Get the Sugar Out by Ann Louise Gittleman. (If you buy the latter two, make sure to get the latest editions.)
After reading these books, something inside me happened. I became frightened me to the depths of my being. I began to realize what my doctor had been telling me.
That’s when the reality dawned on me. I began to realize that:
* By treating my body so abysmally (i.e., eating nutrient-poor sweets and fiber-stripped carbs), I’d been tricking myself and acting as if every day were Halloween, a sanctioned sugar-overloading day.
* It was high time to quit treating my body like a garbage can, because being overly attached on sugar was no way to live.
* If I kept up my unhealthy sugar-eating ways, I could get heart disease, cancer or type 2 diabetes.
Then, it hit me: My sugar-eating days needed to be over. My sugar habit was killing me.
After my “A-hah!” moment, I soon made the Sweet Switch. I began to really want to quit sugar.
In effect, by immersing myself in as much anti-sugar literature as possible, I began to see that my life with sweets was no life indeed.
So my advice to you struggling sugar addicts is this: Pick up some books, scour the Internet and get scared now!
If you’ll forgive the plug, I also invite you to read my book Sugar Shock! How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail your Life–And How You Can Get Back on Track.
You see, my goal with Sugar Shock! was to give you the kind of book I wish I’d had back in 1998, because not only do I see to scare you, but I also give you some tips and tactics to help you to Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction. (By the way, I’m now writing Beyond Sugar Shock for Hay House. My intention with this book is to give you The 6-Week Plan to Break Free of Your Sugar or Carb Addiction & Get a Slimmer, Sexier, Happier, Sweeter Life.)
Please note that getting spooked is the first step. After you’re shocked into action, you’ll want to start using other tried-and-true tips and tactics, too.
Feel free to run this story, but please credit me appropriately. “How to Begin to Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction: Get Spooked!” by Connie Bennett was first published on the Sugar Shock Blog. Join the End-of-Summer Tele-Party to Help you Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction in 6 Weeks. Just sign up here now

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Sugar Shock Defined

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Often, just about whenever journalists, radio hosts or TV reporters interview me, they ask me what I mean by the phrase “Sugar Shock.”
As you can guess, I’ve thought about this a log, given that I wrote a book called Sugar Shock!
Here’s how I define Sugar Shock.
Bear in mind that this Sugar Shock is a condition that afflicts millions of people
worldwide, including possibly as high as 80 percent to 90 percent of the U.S. population.
SUGAR SHOCK™ – A mood-damaging, personality-bending, health-destroying, confusion-creating constellation of symptoms affecting millions of people worldwide, who often turn to processed sweets and much-like-sugar carbs, which send their blood sugar levels wildly soaring and plummeting.
These people are suffering from what they may call sugar addiction or carb addiction.
The term Sugar Shock is intended to encompass the often-misdiagnosed and maligned
condition of reactive hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), as well as other blood sugar disorders,
from insulin resistance to diabetes.
Considerable research reveals that repeatedly overconsuming sweeteners, dessert foods,
and culprit, quickie carbs (such as white rice, French bread, chips, etc.) wreaks havoc on
your blood sugar levels, overstimulates insulin release, triggers inflammation, and
could contribute to more than 150 health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart
disease, cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, severe PMS, failing memory, depression,
mental confusion or “brain fog,” mood swings, Candida, sexual dysfunction, infertility,
wrinkles, acne, and early aging.
Victims of Sugar Shock also may experience such baffling symptoms as excessive fatigue,
headaches, dizziness, cold sweats, anxiety, irritability, tremors, crying spells, drowsiness or
the opposite (sleeplessness), forgetfulness, heart palpitations, nightmares, blurred vision,
muscle pains, temper outbursts, suicidal thoughts, and more.
Ultimately, this insidious Sugar Shock roller-coaster effect brought on by eating
too many inferior carbs hampers sufferers’ ability to function at full throttle–or even
half throttle.
Learn more about the dangers of Sugar Shock in my book Sugar Shock!
Get tips to break free of your sugar addiction by joining my End-of-Summer Tele-Party on Tues., Aug. 31. Sign up here. http://bit.ly/bx8Bkf

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Sugar Sugar Time (And I Don’t Mean Sweets!)

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Thanks to talented journalist Dana Kennedy — creator of the clever blog, A Year Without Candy — for reminding me of the fun pop song, Sugar, Sugar by the Archies.
This song makes me smile. I can’t begin to remember how many times radio hosts have played this song before they interviewed me about my book Sugar Shock!
Please enjoy this. And of course, I’m not posting this to make you think about sweets (as in the sugary kind) but to think about having (non-sugary) sweetness in your life — something I invite you to find, get and create.
Dana 52 And, readers, please join me in congratulating Dana for making it 90 days without candies, cookies, etc. Way to go, Dana!
See my interview with Dana here, in which she articulately shared why she’s choosing to go A Year Without Candy.
Would you like to join her? Can you go A Year Without Candy or another unhealthy substance or activity?

Crush Your Cravings

How Bad Does it Have to Get Before You Kick Your Sugar Addiction?

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This morning, I received a poignant email, from a woman who — like most of us sugar addicts — has found it hard to let go of sweets.
The sad lady — who I’ll call “K” — labeled her email, ”Connie, You Told Me So!”
Here’s what she writes:
“About a year ago, I purchased your book, Sugar Shock over the internet. Sugar has been a big problem for my entire life. Now, my doctor is angry, because this addiction has progressed, to the beginning of diabetes. Going blind, having my kidneys stop working, dialysis, and having limbs cut off is an ugly scenario. Please, give me some hope to be an overcomer in this. Thanks.”
K, I’m so sorry for your plight. But I congratulate you for finally reaching out and being ready to look at your sugar addiction.
By the way, please take heart. Perhaps that’s what you needed — to plunge to the depths of despair and fear before you took action.
FYI, this has happened with many of my clients. Things had to get really bad before they/we were finally ready to make some positive changes. A similiar thing happened with me. As I revealed in Chapter 1 of Sugar Shock, I was suffering from a whopping 44 ailments before I finally took a doctor’s advice. Pretty sad, eh? But now, because I overcame my sugar addiction, I get to help people like you through programs like Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction in 6 Weeks. Pretty cool, eh?
K, you’re probably a lot stronger than you realize. You can do this! I’m writing to you privately to see how I can help you.
Special thanks to Vin MIller of NaturalBias.com for the above photo.

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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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Eat All the Pancakes You Want & Leave Happy, Ad Says. Huh? Wrong!

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Frankly, I don’t get it. Here we are in the midst of a horrific nationwide obesity epidemic, and a certain national chain is now enticing people and tempting them via a TV ad to eat can eat all the pancakes they want and leave happy!
You’ve got to be kidding!
Eating as many pancakes as your heart desires will not make you happy!
Isn’t it more accurate to say: “Eat all the pancakes you want, especially ones smothered in butter and syrup, and leave bloated, feeling gross and angry at yourself for pigging out!”
After you eat a pile of pancakes, you’ll probably say, “Ugh! I can’t believe I ate all those pancakes! I’m so unhappy!”

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Sugar Addiction Begone! Kick Sugar With Me This Month

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If you’re like many Americans, you want to shed your excess weight so you can fit into your favorite slim outfit, have the trim, toned, sexy body you crave and be healthy.
Just imagine how you’d feel if you had more energy, more cheerful moods and more satisfying relationships.
Envision what your life would look like if you were more productive, thinking more clearly and experiencing a boost in your libido.
All of the above can happen if you eliminate sugar and refined carbs.
But losing weight, getting more energy, concentrating better, becoming happier and having a bigger sex drive are just a few of many benefits you can gain from eliminating sugar, as I pointed out in my book SUGAR SHOCK!
In fact, when I quit sweets and refined carbs on doctor’s orders in 1998, a whopping 44 ailments disappeared and I felt reborn!
But, let’s face it, cutting out sugar or those “culprit carbs” can be challenging for most people.
Let’s face it, you didn’t develop a sugar habit overnight. So let me educate, inspire and guide you to become joyously sugar free.
Kick sugar cartoon Join me Tuesday, Jan. 5 at 6 pm for my fun, interactive, life-changing free introductory class, “SUGAR SHOCK! Breaking Free of Your Sugar Habit” at the New York Open Center. the largest urban holistic center in the United States.
On that one night, you’ll get some tips and tactics to begin to break free of your sugar habits.
But, as you can imagine, since you’ve probably had a lifetime of being overly attached to sugar, one hour with me is isn’t enough to change your destructive patterns for good.
That’s why I’m also teaching a 4-week course at the New York Open Center, which begins next week, from Jan. 12 to Feb. 2.
In this four-week course, I’m sharing proprietary techniques that I developed and which worked for me when I removed sugar from my diet in 1998.
In addition, you’re getting dozens of tips that have helped my clients. Plus, you’ll receive many ideas from a variety of health experts, who kindly shared them with me.
For instance, in my 4-week course at the New York Open Center, you will:
* Discover the 10 reasons people fail when making New Year’s resolutions or when breaking a sugar addiction or other bad habits (what I call babits™).
* Get 7 Smart Starter Strategies so you can conquer your sugar habit for good.
* Find out 5 ways to save money on food and beverages in this economy but still make healthy choices.
* Find out why this course has the wrong title! (But we had to name it “SUGAR SHOCK! Breaking Free of Your Sugar Habit” so you’d know what you’re getting.)
* Receive 50 simple, effective tips and tactics to squash your sugar cravings.
* Get a helpful, comprehensive sugar-free shopping list and sample meal plans.
* Discover what 3 empowering questions to ask yourself whenever sugary foods “call out” to you to stop your destructive cycle.
* Find out how you can use “failing” or being human (i.e., imperfect) to your advantage.
* Have fun discovering tasty, sugar-free desserts.
* Taste delicious sugar-free treats from 2 local chefs.
* Find out which 3 foods can drive away your “sweet tooth.”
* Get educated about 20 cutting-edge research studies, which reveal the dangers of sugars and refined carbs.
* Receive a list of more than 100 ways your sugar habit is killing you.
* Learn how you can lower your risk for type 2 diabetes, cancer, infertility, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
* Be trained as a “Savvy Sugar Sleuth” so you easily unmask sugar’s many disguises and read food labels in the grocery store.
* Get invited to one complimentary teleseminar. (This is one of many bonuses you get by signing up for my 4-week course.)
* Learn to identify 10 surprising foods that contain hidden sugars.
* Get inspired by successful “Sugar Kickers,” whose sour-to-sweet tales you can listen to at any time via complimentary audio downloads.
* Determine how your sugar habit is harming your health, weight, moods, relationships, work, spirituality and ability to get things done.
* Uncover your 5 “W’s” that drive you to sweets and refined carbs.
(And many more.)

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