Win a Year of Typepad: Blog Contest in Honor of Beyond Sugar Shock’s Book Launch

Today marks the official launch of my new book, Beyond Sugar Shock, and I’ve been seeking to provide lots of fun programs and activities for you.
To my delight, Typepad, the easy-to-use blogging platform where I’ve been hosting this Sugar Shock Blog since 2005, has generously offered to help me hold a contest.
Calling all would-be bloggers or current bloggers (on other platforms) — because the winner of this contest will get a year of Typepad Unlimited ($179.40 value).
I love BloggingNow, if you’re a blogging newbie, this contest should be especially appealing. And it’s also ideal if you’re a person with a strong, savvy voice about a certain topic.
In particular, sugar and carb addicts and people with weight goals, this is your big chance. If you’ve been thinking about writing a blog about going sugar-free, leading a healthier life, or sharing tasty recipes, I urge you to apply. This is an ideal opportunity for you to write about a topic that’s dear to you — and get support from your readers in the process.
By the way, in my book, Beyond Sugar Shock, I discuss the value of blogging or journaling to help you release your sugar addiction.
You even get some helpful blogging pointers from veteran journalist Dana Kennedy, who ran her popular Year Without Candy blog from Feb. 28, 2010 to Feb. 28, 2011.
Entering the contest is simple. In order to win, you have to be either new to Typepad, or have to want to migrate your blog from another provider to this more-user-friendly platform.
Here’s how to join the contest:
To enter, leave a comment on this post, stating why you want to win a year of Typepad Unlimited.
Tell us about the blog’s topic and title, too. Will this be a weight loss blog? Will this be your safe haven where you can write about eating sweets instead of splurging? Would you post recipes?
Your deadline to enter the Typepad giveaway is three weeks from today, Tuesday, June 19 at midnight (EST).
To select a winner, I’ll confer with Typepad and a panel of two other experts (like on a TV show) to select that special person, who seems most motivated to use her or his blog to further an important goal.
I’ll announce the winner on June 20. And please, of course, only entry per person, please.
Remember this giveaway is only open to those who aren’t already blogging with Typepad.
So why would you want to be with Typepad? From my perspective, as a non-techy kind of person, I’ve found it easy to learn. What’s more, their customer service is excellent — you can actually reach a live person via a Help ticket.
That’s one of my favorite features of Typepad. If I ever have a question about how to use a particular function or program, I just fill out a support ticket, and a Typepad representative generally gets back to me within about 24 hours with a detailed answer.
I just love that Help section. It makes life so easy for me. Because they’re so good at explaining things, I no longer have to scramble to find answers.
So, what are you waiting for? Enter this blogging contest now.
Typepad-featured-weblog-125Please note that while Typepad agreed to sponsor this giveaway, I will choose the winner.
In addition, all opinions are my own, and I wasn’t compensated by Typepad in any way to sing their praises. I’ve just been a happy customer for seven years, because it’s so easy to use!
By the way, I’m thrilled to report that Typepad is also doing something else very nice for me.
Any moment now, my Sugar Shock Blog will be featured shortly in the Everything Typepad section.
Stay tuned for details.
Now just post a comment here to enter the contest and get one year free at Typepad.

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!

Bloggers, Experts, Coaches & Low-Carb Advocates, Please Join My Bestseller Book Launch for Beyond Sugar Shock

Attention:
Mommy and health bloggers, wellness experts, authors, health coaches (who, like me, are graduates of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition), low-carb advocates, Paleo gurus, and former sugar addicts, as well as stay-at-home moms, business executives, struggling sugar addicts and others interested in health and wellness,
Please help me to help millions of sugar adddicts or carb addicts around the world.
On Tuesday, June 5, you’re cordially invited to join the launch of my second book, Beyond Sugar Shock, which was released Friday, June 1 in the United States and Canada and will be published in the United Kingdom on Monday, June 4.
If you’ve never participated in a book launch before, let me explain how it works. Trust me, it’s really easy, personally rewarding, and even potentially lucrative (later on) to join us!
So, on Tuesday, June 5, you’re invited to send out a beautiful email prepared by my wonderful publisher, Hay House, to your entire mailing list.
Now, if you don’t have a mailing list, don’t worry. You can still join us. Just think about it: Everyone is either a sugar or carb addict herself or himself or knows one, right? (Just look at the people around you mindlessly polishing off those quickie carbs .)
For those of you with no mailing list, simply dash off this snazzy email to 50 to 100 or more of your colleagues, friends, neighbors, relatives — whether they’re hooked on sugar or not. Then, send to people who help you such as your chiropractor, fitness trainer, hairdresser, or physician — even if they don’t “get it” yet. Just ask them for their email adress.)
In other words, join this massive grass-roots effort to reach people who need help to gain control over their sugar or carb addiction and Get a Life that Rocks™, as I like to put it.
Why Millions Need Our Help: Sugar Is Toxic & It Can Kill You Before Your Time
Why do millions need our help? And why can Beyond Sugar Shock come to the rescue? Because the average person in the U.S. — perhaps you? — consumes at least 170 pounds of sugar and other sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose, etc. per year. Insider figures cite far higher figures — 228 pounds per person per year! (I’ll have stats soon for Canada and the U.K.)
In addition, the typical U.S. resident — you again? — unthinkingly takes in nearly 200 pounds per year of sugar’s culpable cousins — refined white-flour products such as white bread, white-flour pasta, white bread, mashed potatoes, and white rice. All these processed foods — what I call quickie carbs or much-like sugar carbs — also are speedily metabolized in our bodies.
All those sweets and refined carbs put you into Sugar Shock often. That means these quickie trigger elevated blood sugar levels, repeatedly over-stimulate insulin release, cause excessive inflammation, and pave the way for nearly 150 devastating, mostly preventable diseases or conditions, including obesity (of course), but also heart disease, blood sugar disorders (from hypoglycemia to type 2 diabetes), cancer, and even Alzheimer’s disease.
To put it bluntly, if you put yourself into Sugar Shock on a regular basis — as most people in civilized countries do — you can get fat and sick, and die well before your time.
Will You Join Us to Help Save People’s Health, Moods, Inner Peace, Relationships & More?
So will you join our worldwide effort to help millions of people worldwide to shed pounds, become more energetic, reverse or halt type 2 diabetes, prevent heart disease or cancer, and even boost their libido? Yes, quitting or cutting back on sugar and refined carbs can do all of that — and much more, as you can learn in Beyond Sugar Shock.
How Will this Book Help Sugar or Carb Addicts? And How Did it Come About?
You’re probably wondering why I think this book is special. Well, in Beyond Sugar Shock, I present a six-week Mind-Body-Spirit program, that gently, compassionately takes sugar or carb addicts on a fun, empowering adventure so they can easily, joyously release their dangerous, potentially deadly habit.
Briefly, here’s the back story. Beyond Sugar Shock has been about 14 years in the making. Back in 1998, when I quit sugar on doctor’s orders, I didn’t know how to go about doing it. So while kicking sugar, I began to create simple techniques to help me easily let go of my over-attraction to those tempting sweets. In Beyond Sugar Shock, I share these easy tools.
Then in 2002, four years after quitting sugar, I began in earnest to coach people to achieve that exhilarating state I now call Sugar Freedom. At the same time, I interviewed hundreds of experts to learn about sugar’s dangers and to discover new cool tools, which I also share in Beyond Sugar Shock. (In between, my first book, Sugar Shock, also was published, and much to my joy, it was even praised by Dr. Mehmet Oz. Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra was the medical consultant, and Dr. Nicholas Perricone wrote the foreword.)
Beyond Sugar Shock — which has been endorsed by Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Daniel Amen, Joe Vitale, Marci Shimoff, John Assaraf and many others — gives sugar and carb addicts what they need and seek. (That’s my intention, at least!
In fact, this book is what I would have loved to have in 1998, when my physician insisted that quitting sugar would make all 44 of my awful ailments disappear. (He was right!)
How to Join the Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch
It’s simple to join us. Here are the 2 quick steps to take:
Sign up now to join the Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch. (Many thanks to Hasmark Services for their vital support to coordinate this Book Launch.)
Email the snazzy email my publisher, Hay House, provided to either your mailing list of hundreds or thousands or, if you don’t have one, to a group of 50 to 100 friends, colleagues, and relatives. Just go through your email list. (By the way, you can send either this HTML version or an text version. (Huge gratitude goes to Hay House for creating this dazzling email for you to send.)
Attention, Bloggers: Another way to join our Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch is to blog about this book or to post a review. We’re also offering you two books — one for you and one to give away as a prize. For details on the Blogger Book Launch, please contact me, and I’ll send you details.
Note to Colleagues of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition: When you get involved with my book launch, I’ll help you help your sugar-addicted clients. In fact, on June 28, I’m hosting a special teleseminar just for you. Please contact me to get details.
Here’s a quick reminder how to join us:
Sign up now to join the Beyond Sugar Shock Book Launch.
Share this special email from my publisher, Hay House, to either your mailing list or your group of 50 to 100 friends, colleagues, and relatives.
By the way, you may be wondering why I’m holding a grassroots effort. Suffice it to say that in these times of social media, as an author, you have an amazing opportunity to directly reach many of the people you serve, which is very exciting. Also, launching a book is a huge endeavor, and if your budget is limited, you need to use some innovative ways to get the word out. That’s why I could really use your help if you believe in what I seek to do — which is to help sugar addicts worldwide. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for joining us!
Questions? I’m here for you. Just ask away.

Apology to Would-Be Readers of Beyond Sugar Shock for the Cupcakes on the Cover

Please forgive me, dear readers or would-be readers!
If the cupcakes on the cover of my upcoming book, Beyond Sugar Shock, tempt you or offend you, I apologize profusely!
But, let’s face it, the cupcakes on the cover are a mirror.
They just reflect the sugary temptations that will inevitably taunt you on a daily basis (several times) — every time you step out of your house and almost every time you turn on the TV.
Thankfully, millions now realize that sugar is toxic, thanks to 60 Minutes, Dr. Robert Lustig and many other researchers.
In fact, in my first book, Sugar Shock, I discussed how sugar can kill you.
But, let’s face it, Sugar Kills You Sweetly. Very sweetly.
By that, I mean that most sweets look so darn inviting. That’s why beautiful cupcakes on the cover of Beyond Sugar Shock make a lot of sense, I believe.
For those of you who don’t know my history, I used to be a member of the audience for whom I’m now writing. I was a horribly hooked sugar addict in 1998. What’s more, I was plagued by a whopping 44 ailments until I quit sweets on doctor’s orders. You can read My S.A.D. to Sweet Story in Chapter 1 of Beyond Sugar Shock.
Then, in 2002, four years after I’d risen above my own addiction, I became committed to helping you sugar and carb addicts. My role as your Sugar Freedom Coach to help you, not tempt you.
You may be surprised to know that that I’ve poured 10 years of my life into developing the program — my Sugar Freedom Now Course — which then led to this companion book, Beyond Sugar Shock.
Trust me, I’ve carefully designed this book’s six-week program to help you achieve a place of liberation, excitement, and health. The cover will not bother you six weeks from now if I’ve done my job right.
Anyhow, to get some history about the cupcakes-on-the-cover-of-Beyond-Sugar-Shock controversy, read my first Sugar Shock Blog post after Natalie wrote on my Facebook fan page to say that the cupcakes tempted her so much that she covered them up. After inviting her to send me a photo, I posted it on this blog.
Natalie’s comments made me wonder if having cupcakes on the cover was a good idea. I then approached people on my mailing list to get their input.
Here’s my second Sugar Shock Blog post, in which I quote readers, who find the cupcakes either offensive, annoying, or clever, depending on whose opinion you read.
Sugar addicts and carb addicts, please join the cupcakes discussion.
I’d like to know how you feel about the cover design of Beyond Sugar Shock.
Whatever you think, please, though, will you give this book a chance, cupcakes on the cover or not?!
Post your reactions and thoughts now.
To learn how sugar is toxic, now see the 60 Minutes piece reported by Dr. Sanjay Gupta:
Please post your feelings and reactions to seeing cupcakes on cover of Beyond Sugar Shock.

Tempted by Cupcakes On My Book, Beyond Sugar Shock? Cover Them Up!

Are you hooked on cupcakes but want (and need) to get my book, Beyond Sugar Shock?
Follow the advice of my creative Facebook friend Natalie Rothman, who came up with an innovative way of dealing with those enticing cupcakes on the cover of my book.
Just paste a piece of pater cover those annoying (but pretty) cupcakes!
Thank you, Natalie, for this brilliant idea!
And thank you for sharing a photo with would-be readers of Beyond Sugar Shock about how you got rid of temptation.
Please forgive me, but your photo really cracked me up!
Now bear in mind that I’m not laughing at you — I’m cracking up at your ingenious way of dealing with the enticing cupcakes. Most sugar addicts — as I’ve discovered from working with you for almost a decade — are really sharp people!
It’s now time for an apology to all you sugar addicts out there.
Please, please forgive me if the cupcakes on the cover of my new book, Beyond Sugar Shock, are too enticing for you right now!
But bear in mind that at the end of our six-week adventure together, those cupcakes won’t bother you in the least if I do my job right as your Sugar Freedom Coach/guide and if you use the innovative tools you get in this program.
Why Are Cupcakes on the Cover of Beyond Sugar Shock? Am I Being Mean to You Readers?

Sugar Freedom Now Course: Join Us Now

Today, it’s my pleasure to share with you the new artwork for my Sugar Freedom Now Course.
This is the companion program to my new book, Beyond Sugar Shock, which you can pre-order now from Amazon and get in a few days!
Special thanks to talented Enrique Brooks, who was referred by my wonderful Facebook friend, Lynnis Woods- Mullins II.
What do you think of this new design? I’d love to hear what you think.
By the way, the next Sugar Freedom Now Course begins next Thursday, May 17.
If you act fast, you can join us this week and get in at the early bird rate. So join us now.

Praise for Beyond Sugar Shock: Thank You Dr. Dyer, Dr. Amen, Brian Tracy & More!

Buzz is now quickly building for my upcoming book, Beyond Sugar Shock, thanks to 43 (so far) acclaimed thought leaders and distinguished health leaders, including Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Daniel Amen, Brian Tracy, Dr. JJ Virgin, Dr. Christiane Northrup.
I’m so honored, grateful, and humbled that so many amazing wellness experts, empowerment gurus, and even fellow sugar-educators have come on board to endorse Beyond Sugar Shock, which I wrote to help you sugar addicts and carb addicts easily and effortlessly let go of your sugar and carb addiction.
In this Hay House book — which is officially published June 1 but you can order now on Amazon and get your copy within days — I gently take you by the hand and bring you along on a fun, compassionate six-week Mind-Body-Spirit adventure so you can easily release your sugar addiction using a variety of simple, but powerful tools and tips.
By book’s end, you’ll be leading — that’s my goal — a life that’s sweeterlicious (the word I coined to convey sweeter, delicious, scrumptious, luscious, and sensuous).
JoshuaRosenthalBeyond Sugar Shock has a foreword from one of my mentors, Joshua Rosenthal, the pioneering founder and director of the remarkable Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the largest nutrition school in the world. (I attended IIN in 2005-2006 and am now a certified health coach.)
Now, here are the endorsements received to date for Beyond Sugar Shock.
Wayne Dyer 614″I have taken the advice and guidance that Connie offers here and used it to reclaim my own well being. We have unknowingly and unwittingly become a nation of addicts, and here in this book you are given a blueprint for living a life of perfect health. Follow the easy-to-apply guidelines, and then you will be able to look in the mirror and say, `I AM finally living a healthy life.’ There is no greater feeling and it is your birthright. You were not designed to walk around in shock. A much needed book. –Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, internationally renowned author and speaker and bestselling author of more than 30 books
BernieSiegel2
“If you are ready to love yourself and your body, abandon the wounds of your past, and free yourself from unhealthy addictions, then read Beyond Sugar Shock. Then, combine the information it contains with your new-found inspiration.” –Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of A Book of Miracles and Faith, Hope & Healing
“We are born loving sugar for its sweetness and its ability to help us store up fat for lean times. Times are no longer lean for most and too much sugar is ruining our health and our lives. Beyond Sugar Shock gives you everything you need to bring more sweetness and health into your life….. without the risk of sugar!” — Christiane Northrup, M.D., ob/gyn physician and author of the New York Times bestsellers:Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause (Photo above)
Daniel-amen“Sugar is NOT good for your brain. It increases erratic brain cell firing, promotes inflammation and is clearly addictive. Beyond Sugar Shock can help you get sugar out of your life and replace it with health and vitality. It is a powerful program full of easy tips and tactics.” –Daniel G. Amen, M.D., bestselling author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, Magnificent Mind at Any Age, and Change Your Brain, Change Your Life