Tag: diet

Overdosed on Halloween Candies? 6 Easy Ways to Rebound After Relapse

Please let us know how you’re doing. What are your favorite ways to get back on track?
Halloween_funny_pic_07-400x300If you’re like millions of Americans, yesterday, you overdosed on candies, in large part, because Halloween is a sanctioned National Sugar Overload Day.
For years now — ever since 1998, when I kicked sugar on doctor’s orders — on The Day After Halloween, I hear from frustrated, disappointed, Sugar Shocked people, who want to know how to Get Back on Track.
For instance, today, a determined Christie wrote to say:
“I’m ready to kick sugar again…..again!!! Ready to sleep better at night, have more energy during the day, and have the brain fog lifted!”
If you, like millions of Americans, pigged out on Halloween candies, you’re probably reeling from Sugar Shock — which means you may be feeling dizzy, headachy, sluggish, irritable or wiped out.
Since you’re not feeling so great, here are 6 easy ways to help you Rebound After Relapse™, as I call it,
1. Drink plenty of water. That, of course, you probably know. Add some lemon, too, if you can.
2. Ditch the Sweet Stuff or Hide it in Your Car Trunk. Please don’t keep leftover candies in your home. Temptation can lead to one bite, which, of course, can lead to many more.
Now, if you’d rather not be restrictive with your kids because you feel that they’ll then want more candies, then ration them out. Let your childreen have 2 small candies per day. Then hide the rest in your car trunk or another place that’s not easily accessible.
3. Treat Yourself to Nutritions Meals.
Given that yesterday you tricked yourself, today’s the day to treat yourself with nourishing meals. Think quality protein (free-range chicken, fish, etc.), healthy fats (like a little olive drizzled over your dinner), and quality carbs (a salad and veggies).
4. Savor Sweet Potato & Sweeten with Cinnamon.
If you find yourself craving something sweet today — which can be expected — try sprinkling some cinnamon on a cooked sweet potato or pumpkin. Not only is this combo yummy, but cinnamon, as a 2007 study showed, may lower your blood sugar after meals, (See the actual study here.) You also can add a dash of olive oil or flax oil, which makes your dish quite tasty. In fact, you can make this your dessert.
5. Sniff Away Your Cravings & Stress.
Since today, you may be feeling especially stressed since you ate a lot of sugar-filled candies, try dabbing on some lavender, which research shows can diminish stress, which is a prime trigger for food cravings. The various chemicals in lavender — such as Linalol, linalyl acetate, geranyle, eucalyptol, pinene, limonene, cineole, phenol, coumarins, and flavonoids — work together by “ stimulating smell receptors in the nose, which then send messages through the nervous system to the limbic system.” That’s “the part of the brain that controls emotions,” according to The Mayo Clinic.
6. Join fitness and nutrition expert JJ Virgin, for for another livestream event with top health experts.
JJ, whose new book, The Sugar Impact Diet, comes out next week, is following up her previous event on Thursday. Today, she’ll speak to cultured foods expert Donna Gates, along with nutritionist Christa Orecchio and Dr. Nalini Chilkov,, who will discuss sugar’s connection to cancer.
A very special thanks to YouOffendMeYouOffendMyFamily.com for this entertaining graphic.
Personal Note from Connie: As you may know, I’m home now with a nasty flu, but I really wanted to help you Get Back on Track after Halloween whille I rest.
Please let us know how you’re doing. What are your favorite ways to get back on track?

New Book on the Way: What is Your Biggest Carb Challenge?

Please forgive me for not posting more lately, but I’m on deadline for my next book, which will help you if you would like to lose weight or kick your sugar addiction.
I’ll share more later, but this exciting book will help you with your annoying cravings.
Unfortunately, I can’t share more now, because I’m headed out the door to a cool conference.
More later…
In the meantime, tell us: What is your biggest challenge relating to food, sugar or carbs?

Before You Indulge this Holiday Season, Consider Nearly 150 Ways Sugar Ruins Your Health

As 2011 winds down and we approach the holidays, we’re about to enter what I call the Season of Overeating and the Season of Sugar Gorging.
So before you over-indulge this holiday season, I urge you to learn the sour news. You need to know that when by continually chomping on delicious desserts, sugar can ruin your health in nearly 150 ways.
Suicide by sugar-pc2Below you’ll find an extensively researched list from my mentor and heroine, Nancy Appleton, Ph.D., author of Suicide by Sugar: A Startling Look at Our #1 National Addiction. Bear in mind that Nancy has been researching sugar’s dangers for more than three decades, and she found (and cites) medical studies to back up all of these claims on this list.
An avid researcher, Dr. Appleton is also the best-selling author of Stopping Inflammation and Healthy Bones. In addition, she lectures extensively throughout the world, has appeared on numerous television and radio talk shows, and maintains a private practice in San Diego, California.
Incidentially, to this day, more than 13 years after I quit sugar myself, I’m grateful to Nancy. In fact, her book, Lick the Sugar Habit, helped me quit sweets back in 1998.
Now review Nancy’s shocking list of nearly 150 ways that sugar can ham you before you continue to overdo it on sweets this holiday season.
144 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health by Nancy Appleton, Ph.D. (Reprinted with permission.)
1. Sugar can suppress your immune system.
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
3. Sugar can cause juvenile delinquencey in children.
4. Sugar eaten pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring, which can affect an individual’s ability to exercise.
5. Sugar in soda, when consumed by children, results in the children drinking less milk.
6. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses and return them to fasting levels slower in oral contraceptive users.
7. Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and tissues.
8. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children.
9. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
10. Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.
11. Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function – the more sugar you eat, the more elasticity and function you lose.
12. Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins (HDL).
13. Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency.
14. Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer.
15. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.
16. Sugar causes copper deficiency.
17. Sugar interferes with the body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium.
18. Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration.
19. Sugar raises the level of neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
20. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
21. Sugar can lead to an acidic digestive tract.
22. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.
23. Sugar is frequently malabsorbed in patients with functional bowel disease.
24. Sugar can cause premature aging.
25. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
26. Sugar can cause tooth decay.
27. Sugar can lead to obesity.
28. Sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
29. Sugar can cause gastric or duodenal ulcers.
30. Sugar can cause arthritis.
31. Sugar can cause learning disorders in school children.
32. Sugar assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).
33. Sugar can cause gallstones.
34. Sugar can cause heart disease.
35. Sugar can cause appendicitis.
36. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
37. Sugar can cause varicose veins.
38. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
39. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
40. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.
41. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
42. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E in the blood.
43. Sugar can decrease the amount of growth hormones in the body.
44. Sugar can increase cholesterol.
45. Sugar increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which form when sugar binds non-enzymatically to protein.
46. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.
47. Sugar causes food allergies.
48. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
49. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
50. Sugar can lead to eczema in children.
51. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
52. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.
53. Sugar can change the structure of protein.
54. Sugar can make the skin wrinkle by changing the structure of collagen.
55. Sugar can cause cataracts.
56. Sugar can cause emphysema.
57. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
58. Sugar can promote an elevation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL).
59. Sugar can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.
60. Sugar lowers enzymes ability to function.
61. Sugar intake is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease.
62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.
63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.
64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
65. Sugar can damage the pancreas.
66. Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.
67. Sugar is the number one enemy of the bowel movement.
68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).
69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
70. Sugar can make tendons more brittle.
71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.
73. Sugar can adversely affect children’s grades in school.
74. Sugar can cause depression.
75. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.
76. Sugar can cause dyspepsia (indigestion).
77. Sugar can increase the risk of developing gout.
78. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in the blood much higher than complex carbohydrates in a glucose tolerance test can.
79. Sugar reduces learning capacity.
80. Sugar can cause two blood proteins – albumin and lipoproteins – to function less effectively, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.
81. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
82. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness, which causes blood clots.
83. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance – some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.
84. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.
85. Sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.
86. Sugar can lead to biliary tract cancer.
87. Sugar increases the risk of pregnant adolescents delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
88. Sugar can lead to a substantial decrease the in the length of pregnancy among adolescents.
89. Sugar slows food’s travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.
90. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stool and bacterial enzymes in the colon, which can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.
91. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.
92. Sugar combines with and destroys phosphatase, a digestive enzyme, which makes digestion more difficult.
93. Sugar can be a risk factor for gallbladder cancer.
94. Sugar is an addictive substance.
95. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.
96. Sugar can aggravate premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
97. Sugar can decrease emotional stability.
98. Sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese people.
99. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD).
100. Sugar can slow the ability of the adrenal glands to function.
101. Sugar can cut off oxygen to the brain when given to people intravenously.
102. Sugar is a risk factor for lung cancer.
103. Sugar increases the risk of polio.
104. Sugar can cause epileptic seizures.
105. Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure (pressure when the heart is contracting).
106. Sugar can induce cell death.
107. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.
108. Sugar can cause antisocial behavior in juvenile delinquents.
109. Sugar can lead to prostate cancer.
110. Sugar dehydrates newborns.
111. Sugar can cause women to give birth to babies with low birth weight.
112. Sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia.
113. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the bloodstream.
114. Sugar increases the risk of breast cancer.
115. Sugar is a risk factor in small intestine cancer.
116. Sugar can cause laryngeal cancer.
117. Sugar induces salt and water retention.
118. Sugar can contribute to mild memory loss.
119. Sugar water, when given to children shortly after birth, results in those children preferring sugar water to regular water throughout childhood.
120. Sugar causes constipation.
121. Sugar can cause brain decay in pre-diabetic and diabetic women.
122. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.
123. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.
124. Sugar increases neural tube defects in embryos when it is consumed by pregnant women.
125. Sugar can cause asthma.
126. Sugar increases the chances of getting irritable bowl syndrome.
127. Sugar can affect central reward systems.
128. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.
129. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.
130. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell cancer.
131. Sugar can cause liver tumors.
132. Sugar can increase inflammatory markers in the bloodstreams of overweight people.
133. Sugar plays a role in the cause and the continuation of acne.
134. Sugar can ruin the sex life of both men and women by turning off the gene that controls the sex hormones.
134. Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness, and depression.
135. Sugar can make many essential nutrients less available to cells.
138. Sugar can increase uric acid in blood.
139. Sugar can lead to higher C-peptide concentrations.
140. Sugar causes inflammation.
141. Sugar can cause diverticulitis, a small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall that is inflamed.
142. Sugar can decrease testosterone production.
143. Sugar impairs spatial memory.
144. Sugar can cause cataracts.
Go here now to find find Nancy’s extensive references, which back up the citations on this list.
To learn more about sugar’s dangers, I urge you to get Nancy’s book, Suicide by Sugar. I also invite you to read my book, Sugar Shock.
In addition, I invite you to learn more about sugar’s dangers by listening to a special Gab with the Gurus Radio Show on which I interviewed Dr. Nancy Appleton.
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Listen to internet radio with Gab With the Gurus on Blog Talk Radio

Sugar Addiction: 7 Fast-Track Secrets to Break Free (Complimentary Teleseminar)

Are you fed up with the fact that you often can’t lose control when it comes to sugar?
Are you tired of trying time and time again to succeed, only to fall flat on your face?
Would you like to easily let go of your habit so that you can shed excess weight, get more energy, and boost your mood?
Just join my free upcoming teleseminar/webinar, 7 Fast-Track Secrets to Release Your Sugar Addiction & Shed Excess Weight, on Thursday, May 19 at 8 pm EST.
In our program, you’ll discover:
1) What one activity will help you lose weight and it doesn’t involve food. (It also will help you to reduce sugar cravings.)
2) What one word DOOMS your goal to quit sugar and/or lose weight. (Just get rid of that word, and you can kick your success mentality into action.)
3) What one main element is missing from most diet programs.
4) What expectation can doom your die*ting success.
5) Why your Sugar Addiction is a Blessing, not a Tragedy. (I know — that sounds strange!)
6) What 3 types of foods can help with sugar cravings. (And what to do if you absolutely have to
eat sugar.)
7) What one simple shift can help ensure kick-sugar and weight loss success.
Plus, you’ll also have a chance to listen to one or two Sugar Kickers talk about how life changed dramatically after letting go of their sugar addiction.
To participate in this exciting program in which you learn 7 Fast-Track Secrets to Break Free of Your Sugar Addiction and Excess Weight, just sign up here. (To tell your friends, send them here – http://tinyurl.com/7SecretsToBreakFree

Flopped on Your Diet? Fret not! Free Teleseminar on Top 10 Reasons You Failed on Your Diet or Kick-Sugar Program

Are you really frustrated and frazzled, because yet again, you messed up on your diet and turned to donuts, candies or cookies when you intended to “do good”?
Even more embarrassing, did also you then get into an argument with your loved one(s) over no good reason, because you were hyped up on sugar or brain-fogged because of the crap you ate?
And did you hide your junk food or eat your stash in private?
If any of the four scenarios ring true, you’re in the company of millions.
Every hour, all across the country, people are “failing” on their diets and shoving sweets or junk food into their mouths and getting negligible nutrients.

Blew Your Diet? Failure is Fantastic! 10 Tips to Break Free

Did you blow your diet? Did one bite of ice cream turn into a whole pint? Did you guzzle soda again even though you really didn’t want to?
Or did you resort to another bad habit again? Did you neglect to exercise all last week? Did you drink too much coffee?
It’s fine if you “failed.” Yes!
Learn how failure can be your ally. And learn 10 tips to break free of your bad habit.
Read my article I wrote for my Huffington Post blog so you can begin to break free.

Heart-Unhealthy Fare! Huh?

Every so often, you hear unhealthy horror stories that make you go, "You've absolutely got to be kidding!" Why would any restaurants […]

Deepak Chopra, Dr. Andrew Weil, Etc. Will Inspire You: Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s Holiday Gift

I bring you exciting news.
Starting soon, you can get inspired and educated by some of the biggest names in health in wellness all in the comfort of your own home or in the flesh.
You can be motivated and instructed by spiritual guru Deepak Chopra; wellness advocate Dr. Andrew Weil; raw food expert David Wolfe; Dr. Arthur Agatson, the founder of the renowned South Beach Diet; Dr. Joseph Mercola (of Mercola.com); and many other Movers & Shakers in in the fields of health, wellness and nutrition.
Plus, you can have lunch with me in New York — MY treat.
Over lunch, you can quiz me over lunch about sugar, artificial sweeteners, your procrastination situation or whatever else is on your mind.
Plus, I’ll even throw in a complimentary laser coaching session.
Just IMAGINE!
Wouldn’t it be cool to hang out with some of the biggest Movers and Shakers in the field of health and wellness?
Dr. andrew weil. ny And wouldn’t it be fun to have lunch with me and to ask me all your pressing questions about sugar and sugar addiction and whatever else is on your mind?
How can you hang out with all of us?
It’s easy. just sign up for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN).
I’m writing today, because my friends at IIN, the world’s largest nutrition school, are offering my friends and fans a special holiday gift.
If you register now for the coming year, you’ll not only get inspired by such gurus as Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil and David Wolfe, but you can get a special tuition scholarship for $500.
Being in the presence of ALL of these wellness Movers & Shakers is exhilarating. Andy, David, Joe and many more will move you to change your life! (OK, I confess, I didn’t actually hang out with them in a private room. But I got to be in their magnificent presence, and it was thrilling to be in the same space with these remarkable Movers & Shakers!)
You, too, can enjoy the company and information from those AMAZING wellness gurus. They can become YOUR personal guides, too, when you register for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) the IIN curriculum world’s largest nutrition school.
While attending this amazing place, Deepak, Andy, David, IIN founder/executive director Joshua Rosenthal (a man with a vision) and the other incredible speakers can help you learn about good nutrition.
Not only that, but my friends at IIN can help you to look at food in a whole new light.
They also can help you to learn how you can be “reborn” just by choosing the right foods for you that nourish your body and soul.