Tag: overweight

Mayor Bloomberg’s Soda Ban

While I was knee-deep planning and working many hours to launch of new book, Sugar Shock, New York City came up with a controversial plan to ban jumbo-sized sugary larger than 16 ounces in restaurants, movie theaters, concession stands, and food carts.
I’ll share by thoughts shortly about this much-talked about plan. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t post earlier, because I was busy spreading the word about Beyond Sugar Shock.)
For now, I urge you to watch this TV interview with Bloomberg.
Then, make sure to tell us your thoughts about his plan.
But before you watch, you need to know that a 20-ounce bottle — which people guzzle in one sitting — contains nearly 17 teaspoons of sugar.
Also, your soda addiction can put you at risk for obesity, as well as the Big Preventable Big Killers such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Weigh in now with your thoughts about Mayor Bloomberg’s Soda Ban.

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!

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.

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.

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.)

Obesity & Sex: New Study Finds Surprising Results

People who are obese are less likely to have been sexually active in the past year, but even though they had fewer intimate encounters, single obese women reported unplanned pregnancies four times more than thinner, unmarried women, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal.
In addition, obese people were more likely than people of average weight to have sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies, the researchers from France found upon surveying more than 12,000 men and women between age 18 and 69.
While weight didn’t appear to affect women’s ability to climax, erectile dysfunction was two and a half times as common in obese men as in men with healthy BMIs.
As iVillage so aptly points out, this research underscores “how important it is to always put your health first.”
From my perspective as a former sugar addict and author of the book Sugar Shock!, it seems that people who are obese or overweight often feel are more interested in sweets, refined carbs and other junk foods than in getting in the sack with a partner.
But from time to time, though, they realize that those nutrient-deprived foods they’re so reliant on don’t give them what they really want — which is to become emotionally and physically intimate with a significant other.
For those of you who are struggling with weight, I invite you to ask yourself: Do you want to seek “comfort” in food or in the arms of loved ones?
FYI, I realize that it can be tough to break free of your addiction to sugar and refined carbs, which is why I’m dedicated to helping people do just that.

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 […]

New Year’s Resolutions: 10 Simple Steps to Stick to Them

Now that it’s a new year, are you wondering how how to stick to your new year’s resolutions? I’m here to help you.
In particular, I’d like to serve you if you’re seeking to shed excess weight, to create smart habits and set aside such health-harming habits as over-consuming sugar, coffee or diet soda, as well as procrastinating, smoking, being habitually late, obsessively checking emails or nail biting.
First off, know that you CAN Break Free of Your Bad Habits (what I call “Babits™”) for good.
Wondering why you would want to do that? Well, take the case of sugar. Indeed, as I recounted in my book SUGAR SHOCK!, just after quitting sugar and refined carbs on doctor’s orders in 1998, ALL 44 of my ailments, from crushing fatigue to brain fog, completely disappeared! I was amazed!
You, too, can learn that licking sweets (pun intended) and other health-robbing substances, as well as unproductive habits, can help you to:
* Shed excess weight,
* Get consistent energy,
* Boost your moods,
* Calm you down,
* Become more spiritual and centered,
* Increase your passion and productivity,
* Reduce your risk of getting type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer or hypoglycemia,
* Manage these conditions, if you have them,
* Rev up your libido,
* Reduce your PMS symptoms,
* And so much more!
In short, removing sugar and other negative patterns can help you get a Life That Rocks!™, you leave room for positive activities to fill their place. Here are 10 smart steps, which can help you break free of your babits™ (bad habits) and allow you to replace them with smart habits.
1. Congratulate Yourself. To begin your journey to health and wellness, I invite you to pat yourself on the back. You may wonder why you would want to do that, especially if you’ve spent years abusing your body. You want to applaud yourself, because the mere fact that you’re beginning to look at your sugar addiction or other bad habit is big! The first step to break away from sweets, refined carbs and other babits™ is to NOT beat up on yourself. Granted, you may have gobbled or guzzled high-calorie nutrient-poor sugary foods and drinks over the years, but now is a time to be gentle with yourself, to treat yourself with compassion and to take pride that you’re taking the much-needed first step to treat your body with love and care. Go ahead: Lavish some praise and kudos on yourself now that you’re finally confronting the bad habit that’s been plaguing you—perhaps for years. Share your excitement in your journal or in a heart-to-heart conversation with a loved one. Then imagine that you’re at the starting line of a race like a runner athlete and that you’re ready to make a massive positive shift. Please also remember to acknowledge and celebrate your every little accomplishment. For example, when you make it through a meal without sugary foods, diet soda or caffeine—or if you at least consume less of them—take pride and applaud yourself. After all, each time you make healthier choices, you get closer to more energy, a trimmer body and a better life.
2. Move With Your Mind & Mantra. Before you begin to try to kick your sugar addiction or another babit™, it’s time to embark on Seven Smart Starter Habits (through Step #8) to cement your confidence that good health, inner calm and new patterns await you. That’s because whenever you seek to remove an old habit and replace it with a new one, your work begins before you even try to make changes. In other words, before you begin to “diet” or make important lifestyle changes, you want to convince your mind that you CAN succeed. Begin each day knowing in the depth of your being that you’ve already licked your unhealthy habit. To get both your subconscious and conscious mind to accept that you’ve succeeded—or are on the path to succeeding—create an easy-to-repeat phrase, affirmation or mantra such as “I, [Your Name], choose only nourishing foods and drinks, which keep me slim, toned and healthy.” Repeat your positive statement at least 30 times a day. Make sure to say it in the morning, right after you wake up, and in the evening, before you go to sleep. Repeating it about 10 to 20 times before meals also can help. Back in 1998, when I finally kicked sugar, repeating my mantra enabled me to succeed. Now, my clients find this technique effective, too.