Tag: obesity

The Most Important Blog Post I Ever Wrote

Dear Wonderful Visitors to this Sugar Shock Blog,
This is the most important post I’ve ever written.
As you no doubt know, obesity has skyrocketed among adults and youths alike; and children are on a track to die before their parents if they don’t change their unhealthy ways.
At the same time, coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease have become our nation’s top killers. You probably know — or love — someone who has suffered from one or all of these.
But all of the above diseases are largely preventable.
I call them The Preventable Big Killers. And ALL of these potentially fatal illnesses — and many more — can be caused by overdosing on sugar and/or refined carbs.
Think this doesn’t include you? That’s what I used to believe.
But the average American — and person in any civilized country is consuming (either consciously or unconsciously) HUGE amounts of sweets and quickie carbs on a DAILY if not many-times-a-day basis.
Each of you may be taking in roughly 170 to 228 pounds of sweeteners per year and another 200 pounds of sugar’s sinful sisters, which I dub “culprit carbs.”
And every day, it seems, the news gets more frightening.
One of my favorite recent studies revealed that sugar can make you dumb!
More research suggests that it can make you violent.
Your sweet tooth even can trigger type 2 diabetes, even though your doctor may vehemently deny it.
Simply put, millions worldwide are in Sugar Shock.
For the past decade, it has my personal mission to inspire and empower sugar
and carb addicts worldwide.
I want to help them (you?) Get a Life that Rocks™, as I like to put it. (I began coaching people to Sugar Freedom in 2002, four years after I reluctantly quit sugar on doctor’s orders after being waylaid by 44 debilitating ailments.)
So I invite you now: Help me to help transform the lives of millions of sugar and carb addicts around the world!

Sugar: A Sour Addiction

Attention, sugar addicts and those of you struggling with weight issues:
You must check out this fascinating, provocative new YouTube video featuring Robert Lustig, M.D and Elissa S. Epel, Ph.D.
Share your Ahahs! on my Facebook fan page.
By the way, if you feel hopeless after seeing this video, rest assured that you can break free! I’m dedicated to helping you do just that.

Label Added Sugars, Urges Coalition of Health Organizations Such as the Environmental Working Group and the American Heart Association

Exciting news for those of us who monitor our sugar intake — and urge you to do so, too — for the sake of your health, weight, and moods!
A coalition of health organizations, including the Environmental Working Group, the American Association for Health Education, the American Heart Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and Defeat Diabetes Foundation are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to clearly label added sugars on ingredients lists of packaged foods so that American shoopers find it easier to eat healthier.
“By showing ‘added sugars’ on the ingredients lists of foods, consumers will be better able to evaluate the foods they purchase,” the organizations wrote in a letter dated Feb. 23, 2012 to the Honorable Margaret Hamburg, M.D., FDA Commissioner.
“To ensure consumers have this important information, we feel that the term ‘added sugars’ should be listed as a single food ingredient with a paranthetical list of the specific ingredients that account for those sugars,” the letter contends.
The groups then go on to suggest that “added sugars should be listed by descending weight, in line with current regulations. The combined weight of the added sugars should be used to determine where added sugars rank on the food ingredients label.”
I cannot emphasize how great this would be!
Your life would be so much easier when you buy packaged foods. You’d find it easier to monitor your intake of sugar, which can cause you to age quickly, get heart disease, become depressed, and many other ailments. (You can read about sugar harms you in my first book, Sugar Shock.)
In short, if food labeling such as this went into effect, you wouldn’t be so easily deceived and duped by all those added sugars!
The welcome letter to the FDA Commissioner also cited the American Heart Association’s valuable national survey data that “overconsumption of added sugars contributes to obesity” and that the average American consumes 22.2 teaspoons of added sugars per day or the equivalent of 355 calories. (I believe for many, they consume far more than this.) The AHA recommends that women get only 100 daily calories from added sugars and men only 150 calories.
In addition, the letter states that while “a healthy, well-balanced diet contains naturally occurring sugars, the `empty calories’ from added sugars like high fructose corn syrup, sucrose and corn sweetener have a detrimental effect on our diets.”
Make sure to tell these organizations such as the Environmental Working Group, the American Heart Association, The American Association for Health Education, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and Corporate Accountability International how much you appreciate their hard work on behalf of your health.
Read the complete letter here.
Then go to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Facebook page and show your support for labeling added sugars.
And tell us what you think, too.

Is Sugar as Toxic as Alcohol? Researchers Say Yes

In recent years, scientists have theorized that sugar can be as addictive as alcohol or tobacco.
You, of course, know how easy it is to get hooked on sweets — and how incredibly challenging and difficult it can be to break free of your sugar addiction.
(In fact, because breaking free from sugar is so tough, I’ve devoted an entire book to take you on a fun, empowering journey so you can easily let go of your addiction. Beyond Sugar Shock — which will be published in June and which you can pre-order now — is designed to hold you by the hand and guide you to what I call Sugar Freedom.)
So since sugar is addictive, should this commonplace but potentially harmful (even deadly) substance be regulated?
Acclaimed researcher Robert Lustig, M.D. and a team of UCSF researchers say yes.
They argue that sugar should be controlled like alcohol and tobacco to protect public health.
Indeed, Dr. Lustig, along with Laura Schmidt, Ph.D., Claire Brindis, D.P.H. and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), contend that sugar’s potential for abuse, coupled with its toxicity and pervasiveness in the Western diet, make it a primary culprit of this worldwide health crisis.
They maintain that sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million deaths annually worldwide from non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
The authors then advocate taxing sugary foods and controlling sales to children under 17.
According to their statistics, reported on CBS New’s HealthPop, worldwide sugar intake has tripled in the last 50 years, and the average person is taking in a whopping 500 calories from added sugar in processed foods alone.
So what do you think? Should sugar be regulated?
A special thank you: Photo credit is due here (flickr) and here (DailyBurn).
Post your ideas here on this Sugar Shock Blog and/or on my Facebook Smart Habits Fans page.

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

Lose Weight with Best-Selling Author & Spiritual Activist Marianne Williamson

Since it’s a new year, it’s time, of course, to begin to release your extra weight.
Join the internationally acclaimed spiritual activist and best-selling author Marianne Williamson on my Gab with the Gurus Radio Show on Thurs., Jan. 6 at 2 pm EST for the first of a number of shows designed to help you peel off excess flab in the new year.
Marianne is author of the exciting new book, A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever.
If you’ve been struggling with your weight, you’ll get powerful spiritual-based tools, exercises and ideas to help you finally cut lose of your excess weight.
As usual with Gab with the Gurus Radio Shows, you can listen live. (The show airs Thursday, Jan. 6 at 2 pm EST.) In addition, if you’d prefer, you can get inspired by Marianne listen later, here, at your convenience.
Or listen below, when the time works for you.
Listen to internet radio with Gab With the Gurus on Blog Talk Radio
Now for a little more about my fabulous guest. Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher. Among her 10 published books, four of them — including A Return to Love — were #1 New York Times Bestsellers.
A Return to Love is considered a must-read of The New Spirituality. A paragraph from that book, beginning “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure” – often misattributed to Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural address – is considered an anthem for a contemporary generation of seekers. The Age of Miracles hit #2 on the New York Times Bestsellers list.
Marianne’s latest book, A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever, has achieved considerable acclaim.
Marianne’s other books include Everyday Grace, A Woman’s Worth, Illuminata, Healing the Soul of America and The Gift of Change.
She has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America and Charlie Rose.
In 1989, Marianne, a native of Houston, Texas, founded Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area. Today, Project Angel Food serves over 1,000 people daily.
Marianne also founded The Department of Peace Campaign, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation to establish a U. S. Department of Peace. In December 2006, a NEWSWEEK magazine poll named Marianne Williamson one of the fifty most influential baby boomers.
According to Time magazine, “Yoga, the Cabala and Marianne Williamson have been taken up by those seeking a relationship with God that is not strictly tethered to Christianity.”
Again, go here to listen to the acclaimed author Marianne Williamson on my Gab with the Gurus Radio Show on Thurs., Jan. 6 at 2 pm EST.
Special thanks to Hay House — which is, incidentally publishing my next book, Beyond Sugar Shock — for helping to schedule this radio interview with Marianne Williamson.

Healthy Vending Machines on the Rise

Note from Connie: Today, the Sugar Shock Blog presents a guest post from fellow writer/health coach/IIN grad Suzanne Boothby about new vending machines that healthier foods than you usually find. Full Disclosure: Suzanne is a spokesperson for HUMAN Healthy Vending, the company about which she is writing. In this instance, HUMAN stands for Helping Unite Man and Nutrition.
Human_machine_jofemar Snacking Made Easy & Healthier
By Suzanne Boothby
There’s been a lot of buzz recently about school nutrition and, in particular, the problem with junk-filled vending machines in schools.
“Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years,” writes Dr. Oz Garcia in The Huffington Post. “Statistics show that nearly one in three American children are either overweight or obese.”
Dr. Garcia points out that while parents play the most important role in teaching children healthy habits, the U.S. school system plays a very central part in developing a child’s eating habits.
Another article on BusinessWeek, “School Vending Machines Undermine Student Nutrition,” referenced a report from the Journal of Adolescent Health, showing the negative impact vending machine foods had on the purchasing choices of students at about 150 different U.S. schools.
More than 80% of the schools studied carried vending machines offering foods with minimal nutritional value, including chips, soda and candy bars.
Enter Sean Kelly and Andy Mackensen, co-founders of HUMAN Healthy Vending machines, which offer healthier fare in the 30-billion vending machine industry.
HUMAN Healthy Vending Machines offer foods that cater to various dietary needs, including those that look for foods that are 100% organic, no-sugar-added, gluten-free, allergen-free, low-fat and carb.
Some of the vending machine’s bestselling snacks include PopChips!, TERRA Chips, Larabars, and BARE FRUIT snacks. Drinks include Fiji water, Poland Spring water, Perrier, Horizon Organic Milk and Vita Coco water.
The new digitally interactive, eco-friendly Healthy Vending machines have some unique features. They display all ingredients via LCD before you purchase it. What this means is that you can select a product from a touch screen keypad, and then before you make your purchase, the machine shows you the nutritional info on that same touch-screen. Therefore, you don’t have to lose change by buying snacks that don’t work for your particular diet.
In addition to providing healthier choices, HUMAN Healthy Vending machines include an eco-component with remote monitoring systems to ensure eco-friendly refilling. Plus, they contain LED lighting and energy-efficient refrigeration units to save power. In addition, the company donates 10% of proceeds to charitable causes that fight childhood obesity and malnutrition.
You can find these HUMAN Healthy Vending machines in schools, offices, hotels and hospitals, as well as health clubs, gyms and spas. In New York City, you can find these machines at the Aveda New York Institute, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and in the new offshoot of Equinox, Blink.
Suzanne Boothby is currently a spokesperson for HUMAN Healthy Vending, as wells as a Brooklyn-based wellness author and writing coach who dabbles in social media and marketing. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and The Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
Note from Connie: What a welcome development! These machines do seem to contain something for everyone. Please note, however, that while these snacks are far healthier than what you find in traditional vending machines, not all of these foods are healthy by everyone’s standards. So just follow your doctor’s guidelines and eat what works for you. By the way, I’m thrilled with the feature that you can save yourself time and money by being able to check out the ingredients first via LCD screen. What a unique, cutting-edge feature!

Thanksgiving Triggers Many to Mindlessly Nosh or Overeat: 11 Tips to be Moderate

Thanksgiving is a time to give gratitude.
However, for millions of Americans, appreciation tends to take a back seat to high-calorie, sugar-filled foods, sweet drinks and alcoholic beverages.
Unfortunately, overeating on Thanksgiving is the norm for many.
What’s more, for many, that feast marks the beginning of a downhill battle for many people.
In fact, Thanksgiving is like the gateway meal (think gateway drug). You see, this late November feast serves as a trigger, which ushers in a a month-long time to Mindlessly Nosh or Overeat.
And that inevitably leads to weight gain for many.
Think about it: How many people do you know who do NOT overeat on Thanksgiving?
In fact, I dare you to find 10 close friends or relatives who don’t overeat at this meal. And make sure to let me know when you find them.
Rest assured, though, you don’t have to fall into the Thanksgiving pigging-out trap.
Here are 10 Tips to be Moderate on Thanksgiving so you can have a joyous, thankful holiday, not one where you begin a slide into weight gain, fatigue and fuzzinesss.
1. See Yourself the Morning After
One way to prevent Thanksgiving overeating and “sinning” — i.e., over indulging on) sweets, candied yams, pumpkin pie and stuffing — is to pretend that you’re talking to a friend or loved one the next day and openly sharing what happened at your feast. What would you say to this person? Would you be embarrassed? Would you be too mortified to tell her or him that you lost control? My clients find that having to honestly dish the dirt to a loved one can prevent them from overeating.
2. Do the Timed Breath, Blow-Out Technique
When you’re at a Thankgiving meal and sweets, carbs or other rich food “call out” to you, let your watch or cell phone guide you to slow down. Before you shove that second (or even first) serving of mashed potatoes or candied yams into your mouth:
* Check the time on your watch or cell phone. (If you have neither, ask someone else.)
* Then, whatever time it is, take that number of breaths — but do so slowly, deliberately and confidently, breathing in and out slowly.
* Example: So, it’s let’s say it’s 9 am. That means you’ll slowly, consciously take 9 deep breaths in and 9 breaths out.
* At the same time, visualize your breath just whooshing or blowing away your craving up into the skay. (You can pretend that you’re breathing away your cravings as if they were gentle clouds.) Expect that to occur. Now, watch your cravings go poof.
* If you’re still tempted and are close to pigging out, repeat the whole procedure again. (You’ll take another 9 breaths.)
* If that still doesn’t work and your cravings are really strong, then you can really buckle up. Take 9 breaths 9 times. (If it were 3 pm, then you’d do 3 breaths 3 times, etc.)

Candy-Obsessed Nation?

As someone who has been seduced by candies galore — to the point of having my health comprised — and who now […]

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

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