Did You Have a Relapse? 10 Ways to Bounce Back after You Blow Your Diet

Join the Conversation. Have you had a relapse? What worked best for you? Share your challenges or successes here, on this Sugar Shock Blog, or on Facebook.
As I reluctantly admitted last year, after my mother died, while I was reeling from grief, despair, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome), and more, I had a carb relapse that went on for some 10 months, and I packed on 21 pounds.
Bestseller Beyond Sugar Shock BS
For the past two-plus years — after I Bounced Back After Relapse — I’ve thought long and hard about how and why people relapse.
Now, I’m determined to show you how not to blow your diet as I did when trauma, abuse, gut-wrenching grief and emotional devastation over loss or betrayal strike.
Since people often want to know, “How do you bounce back after a relapse?” — as someone just asked me today — I’ve assembled pointers to help you get you back on track.
Here are 10 Ways to Bounce Back After You Blow Your Diet.
1. Be gentle and compassionate with yourself.
If you slip on your diet, this is not the time to berate or belittle yourself. Instead, use your relapse as a reason to lavish yourself with kindness, understanding and sympathy. The research is mounting on the benefits of giving yourself compassion. (More about that in a future post.)
2. Accept that you’re human — and therefore imperfect.
People with food issues often expect themselves to do everything perfectly, especially “dieting,” as I’ve discovered from coaching many people. Ironically, the word, “diet” even has “die” in it.
Of course, it’s impossible to be perfect, of course. Expecting yourself to eat “right” all the time sets you up for failure. So give yourself a break.
Since you’ve had a relapse, use this as an opportunity to claim your humanity. That means accepting — and even embracing — your imperfections. Plus, you want to forgive yourself. Doing these things can be quite freeing.
3. Consider this a great time to start over.
Instead of seeing your diet relapse as a disaster, regard it as an opportunity to start over. A so-called “mistake” such as this could be just the catalyst you need to reinvigorate you.
After all, aren’t you especially motivated when you begin a project? Besides, your determination can kick into high drive especially if you want to avoid or manage your low blood sugar, type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease or another illness.
4. See your slip as a Life Lesson.
In the wake of a relapse with French fries, popcorn, onion rings or other quickie carbs, sugar or other junk foods, you can use your slip as a wake-up call. Often, people begin to succeed — as I did back in 1998 and again in 2012 after my big relapse — when they’re so fed up with their self-destructive ways that they’re ready to fully commit to kicking their self-abusive habit.
5. Study your body’s reaction.
There’s nothing like a harsh dose of reality to make you realize that eating junk food doesn’t only add inches to your hips. Study yourself dispassionately like a lab rat to discover what damage you caused by your diet relapse. Ask yourself the following questions:
Am I more tired than normal?
Am I excessively moody?
Am I finding it tough to concentrate?
Am I having brain fog?
Do I have a headache?
Am I having a tough time sleeping?
Am I depressed for no good reason?
How else am I NOT my best me?
6. Record the results of your binge for at least 4 days.
Rather than beat up on yourself for blowing your diet, take notes on how bad you feel after your sugar or carb spree. Keep a journal for at least four days.
Make sure to document the emotional, physical and spiritual ramifications of your relapse. Write about your problems with over-reactivity, anger, brain fog, depression, irritability, nervousness, aches, pains, outbursts at your kids and fights with your honey..
When you carefully monitor your reactions, you’ll easily remember these awful repercussions so that the next time you’re tempted to succumb to donuts, candies, chips or other nutrient-poor foods, you’ll probably pause and then muster up the ability to say no to that junk food.
7. Reaffirm and recommit to your ‘Whys” and ‘Whats.”
Immediately after your binge or slip — however minor — realign your thoughts. Think about why you want to quit sugar or refined carbs in the first place.
Is your doctor telling you to clean up your eating, as mine did years ago, because if you don’t, you’re headed toward type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease or another potentially fatal illness?
What health benefits will you gain from eating better and cutting out sugar or fast carbs?
How will your life change on other fronts if you’re eating well?
Review your list again and again. You’ll find — as I have at two major points in my life — that your strong Whys-and-Whats lists will help you to break free from your carb or sugar addiction for good.
8. See yourself free.
Speaking of free, now envision that you’re liberated. Woo-Hoo! See how exhilarated you’ll feel by saying no to junk food. Keep watching your delicious success as if you’re catching your favorite TV show.
Do it now. It’s fun and freeing! See yourself back on the healthy-eating track. You’re succeeding and your addiction is lying back there in the dust! Yes!
9. Create a Power Phrase or mantra.
Now, verbally proclaim your success, too. You don’t have to say it in public, but you can quietly or inwardly affirm: “I choose and eat only healthy, nourishing foods and drinks, that peel off my extra weight, give me energy, and make me happy. I am free.”
Or create your own Power Phrase. Share your ideas here for what Power Phrase works for you.
Repeat your Power Phrase over and over — preferably while looking in the mirror.
As you probably know, visualizing success is a powerful Law of Attraction tool that’s discussed in the bestselling film and book, The Secret.
10. Reframe Your Relapse as a Spiritual Springboard.
Now that you’re getting back on track with your food, you’ll have a better perspective on your relapse. Most people I’ve coached have discovered that falling so low has infused them with a new-found spirituality, and feeling of joy and inner peace. They’re more determined to treat their bodies with respect and reverence, because after all, we’re spiritual beings. The same can happen to you, too.
I hope that this post, “Did You Have a Relapse? 10 Ways to Bounce Back After you Blow Your Diet” will help you get back on track.
Have you had a relapse? What worked best for you? Share your challenges or successes here, on this Sugar Shock Blog, or on Facebook.
And remember that eating healthy foods and drinking nourishing beverages help you to enjoy a life full of good health, joy, and peace of mind.
As you struggle to get back on your feet, kick your soda habit or get more sleep, remind yourself that life is much sweeter without all those refined sweets and other unhealthy habits.
Connie Bennett, MSJ, CHHC, CPC, ACC is author of SUGAR SHOCK! (Berkley Books) and Beyond Sugar Shock (Hay House), and Crush Your Crazy Cravings™ (upcoming). Connie is a The Sweet Freedom Guide, the Crazy-Cravings Crusher, a motivating speaker, and host of the Gab With the Gurus Radio Show. Connie has appeared on numerous media outlets such as “CBS News Sunday Morning,” “Oprah & Friends Radio,” and “The Howard Stern Show,” and she has contributed to many publications and websites such as The Chicago Tribune, ediets.com, and the Huffington Post. Connie is certified health coach, a certified life coach, a journalist and columnist.
Connie’s sour-to-sweet story began in 1998, when she quit sugar and refined carbs on doctor’s orders, and her 44 baffling ailments vanished, including horrible headaches, crippling fatigue and brain fog. Now, Connie pokes fun of her not-so-sweet past by jokingly dubbing herself an “Ex-Sugar Shrew!.” She has helped thousands of people worldwide break free of their sugar or carb addiction and from the depressing, debilitating aftershocks of overloading on sugar and culprit carbs.
© Copyright 2015. Connie Bennett, Sugar Shock Blog.
You are welcome to reprint this story if you use the above credits and this additional information: This post, “Did You Have a Relapse? 10 Ways to Bounce Back After You Blow Your Diet” by Connie Bennett, CHHC, ACC, CPC, was originally published on the Sugar Shock Blog. Please make sure to notify us that you’ve used this.

Have you Quit Sugar & Quickie Carbs: Share Your Sweet Success Story

Are you what I call a Sweet Success Story? Share your tale now.
Happy people Have you shed excess weight, eliminated your horrible headaches, gotten rid of your pre-cancerous condition, or done away with another pesky health problem by kicking or cutting back on sugar, refined carbs and other high-glycemic foods such as corn nuts, potato chips, and French fries?
In short, are you now slimmer, happier, and sexier?
In other words, have you discovered the power of life without all those super-sweet or quickie-carb foods?
Do you now Enjoy Living Sweeter Naturally™?
If you’re a Sweet Success Story, we may want to tell your story to inspire others.
As you may already know — or your friends do — quitting sugary foods and rapidly processed carbohydrates (what I also call “culprit carbs”) can speed you on your weight loss journey.
Not only that but cutting out the culprit carbs can help you overcome a variety of health challenges, as thousands of people — whom I call “Sugar Kickers” or “Carb Kickers” — have been gleefully sharing with me for 16-plus years since I quit the dangerous carbs on doctor’s orders.
Readers of this Sugar Shock Blog love inspiring tales such as yours.
We’d like to hear from you if you’ve had a drastic health improvement by cutting out sugar, quickie carbs, gluten, dairy or artificial sweeteners.
If you’re a Sweet Success Story — whether you lost weight, got more energy, improved your moods or got your diabetes under control — we want to consider sharing your tale here.
Remember, by sharing your story, you’ll be able to inspire, motivate, and encourage people from around the world.
Wondering what I mean? Read some motivational Sweet Success Stories shared here previously:
Fellow blogger Jimmy Moore. (Catch our interview on my Gab With the Gurus Show, too.)
Jaime Jackson
Felicia DesRosiers
Karly Pitman
Are you what I call a Sweet Success Story? Share your tale now. (Please submit info using the format used above, and we’ll get back to you.)
CB – pink shirtWho is blog founder Connie Bennett? Connie is a former pooped-out, fuzzy-headed, sugar-addicted journalist. After quitting sugar on doctor’s orders in 1998, ALL 44 of her baffling, crippling ailments (brain fog, PMS, headaches, etc.) vanished,, and she became “reborn.” Now, 16 1/2 years later, Connie is devoted to helping people Get a Sweeter Life that Rocks™. She is the acclaimed, energetic, charismatic Sweet Freedom Guide, Bounce-Back-to-Your Best Body™ coach, a transformational speaker, sugar and carb expert, blogger, certified health coach, certified life coach, EFT practitioner, Gab with the Gurus host, and bestselling author of Beyond Sugar Shock, which was endorsed Beyond Sugar Shock_RGBby Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Dr. Daniel Amen, JJ Virgin, and many others, and Sugar Shock, which was praised by such respected people as Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Christiane Northrup. She’s now planning the first Sugar World Summit, which will feature the biggest names in sugar and carb addiction, recovery, mindful eating, compassion, weight loss, etc. She is also completing her next book, The Bounce Back Diet™, which will help millions, who are blindsided by Crazy Cravings™ and overpowering emotions after the death of a loved one, a divorce or breakup, moving, losing a job, or another life-changing event. Get free gifts at www.Connie-Bennett.com

Have a Healthy, not Haunted Halloween

Today’s Halloween, a day that really spooks me.
The reason Halloween frightens me is because it’s a sanctioned and heavily promoted National Sugar Overload Day. (That’s what I call it.)
Tonight, during and after trick-or-treating throughout their neighborhoods, millions of kids — and their parents — will be stuffing their faces with candies galore.
But candies don’t just grab our attention on this one night alone.
Tomorrow and in the coming days, both youngsters and kids will be gorging on candies.
Worse still, Halloween kicks off an entire two-month Season of Mindless Sugar Gorging.
This is utterly frightening, because when you overdose on candies and other sweets, you’re speeding towards obesity, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes—and an early death.
Today, I’d planned to present an exciting special Gab with the Gurus Halloween show. My guests were High Voltage (Kathie Dolgin), author of The Sugar Savvy Solution, and Barry Friedman, founder of 30 Days Sugarfree.
Alas, I had to cancel the Gab with the Gurus Show since I’m sick with a nasty cold/flu and need my rest. Instead, I invite you to watch this video with me, thanks to Chris Morrow for iCNN.
CB – pink shirtAbout Sugar Shock Blog Founder Connie Bennett: Connie Bennett is a former pooped-out, fuzzy-headed, sugar-addicted journalist, whose 44 baffling ailments completely vanished in 1998 after she quit sugar and quickie carbs on doctor’s orders. For the past 16-plus years, the energetic, charismatic, self-mocking Sweet Freedom Guide™ has been sharing The Sour Scoop about Sweets™ and helping people worldwide Get a Sweeter Life that Rocks™. Connie is a transformational speaker, certified health coach, certified life coach, EFT practitioner, Gab with the Gurus host, and bestselling author of Beyond Sugar Shock, which was endorsed by many leaders such as Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Dr. Daniel Amen, JJ Virgin, Brian Tracy, John Assaraf, and High Volltage (Kathie Dolgin). Her first bestselling book, Sugar Shock, was praised by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Christiane Northrup and many more. Connie is now planning the first Sugar World Summit, which will feature 29 of the biggest names in sugar and carb addiction, recovery, mindful eating, compassion, and weight loss, etc. She is also completing her next book, The Bounce Back Diet™, which will help millions to Rebound After Relapse™, after they’ve been walloped by the death of a loved one, divorce, moving, financial loss or another life-changing event. Stay in touch at Sugar Shock Blog updates here.

Would You Like to Help Me?

Since I’m in pain now due to my knee injury and need to take time off to heal, I need help more than ever.
Do you have proven skills and experience in any of the following: Research, Writing, Journalism, Taking notes during my Gab with the Gurus Show, managing telesummits, and event coordination?
FYI, these will be modestly paid duties.
In addition, if you have sugar or other challenges, we may be able to swap or set up some kind of a way for me to help you, too.
Interested?
Just write back to me here. I ook forward to hearing back from Sugar Shock Blog readers.

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How to Skip Overeating This Thanksgiving: 3 Simple Tips for a Sweeter, Slimming Holiday

Every Thanksgiving, being grateful often takes a back seat to over-indulging at family gatherings.
Gulping down fast-acting, processed carbohydrates, sugar-loaded desserts, and gluten-rich foods is far more common than pleasurably savoring the various culinary concoctions.
20101117-stuffingFor many, Thanksgiving means they’ll go into Sugar Shock and Carb Shock (as I dub it), and develop “Grain Brain,” as Dr. David Perlmutter puts it in his book of the same name.
In fact, I predict that on Thanksgiving, most Americans will overeat, especially those culplrit carbs.
It’s simply a given that you’ll over-indulge on this holiday. One gym even suggested that you “work out before you pig out.” Aargh!
It’s time to ignore the insidious programming that drives you to overeat on Thanksgiving.
Even if you’ve stuffed yourself at previous holiday feasts, instead this Thanksgiving you can achieve Sweet Freedom.
To begin the Sweet Freedom Thanksgiving Funcise (Fun Exercise), think ahead to the day after Thanksgiving,
Choose now not to get an upset stomach. Plan now not to pig out. Select the smarter choice — to savor the sweet holiday experience.
This Thanksgiving, you can easily shift your attention away from those cunning carbs and desserts, which most Americans over-consume and which ample research shows can contribute to more than 100-plus diseases and ailments, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and even an early death.
It’s time to take back your Sugar Power and Carb Control. This Thanksgiving, you can avoid being overly tempted by:
Cranberries, a super-healthy food that’s generally downgraded by adding gobs of sugar.
Yams or sweet potatoes, whose inherent nutrient-goodness is often destroyed on Thanksgiving by adding unnecessary brown sugar and marshmallows.
Stuffing, which generally contains gluten galore. (Use Dr. Sarah Gottlieb’s awesome gluten-free, sugar-free recipe instead.)
Pumpkin pie, which is a far cry from the delectable, nutritious, fiber-rich vegetable and weight-loss ally, as Dr. Jonny Bowden points out. The dessert you usually get a Thankisviing is weighed down by sugary, fatty ingredients; features a gluten-rich crust; and is slathered by whipped cream.
Gravy-sodden turkey.
Here’s a three-part simple way to skip over-indulging this Thanksgiving and take leisurely, sociable tastes instead. (I recommend you take two to four small bites maximium of each dish.)
But before you dig into those tantalizing carb creations, just ask yourself these three simple questions:
Would I rather overeat [fill in name of food(s)] tonight and feel sluggish, fuzzy-headed, and cranky tomorrow (for up to three days afterwards)? OR would I rather have a slim, healthy body and mind? (If you have weight to lose, this thought can stop you from over-indulging.)
Would I rather overeat those carbs or sweets or enjoy the good company of family and friends on this special day?
Wouldn’t I rather feel better about myself by shifting my focus from the carb-food to gratitude, which, of course, is supposed to be the whole point of this celebration? Remind yourself that night of list of “5 Things for Which I’m Most Grateful.”
This simple, three-part mental exercise can take your attention away from those potentially harmful carb substasnces and instead put you on the path toward feeling good and enjoying your life -– not just on this holiday but during the whole holiday season ahead.
Have a sweet, joyous and healthy Thanksgiving.
New to this Sugar Shock Blog? Connie Bennett is a former lethargic, dejected sugar-addicted journalist, who reluctantly quit sugar on doctor’s orders in 1998 after being pummeled by 44 strange ailments (brain fog, heart palpitations, mood swings, etc.). Now, 15 years later, the energetic, uplifting Connie spreads the word that Life is Sweeter When Sugar Doesn’t Seduce You™. She is recognized as the Sweet Freedom Coach, and she is a life coach, health coach, blogger, and motivational speaker, who has helped thousands of sugar and carb addicts worldwide. Connie is author of two bestselling books, Sugar Shock and Beyond Sugar Shock, which have been praised by many acclaimed health gurus and celebrities, including America’s Favorite Doctor, Dr. Mehmet Oz, as well as Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Daniel Amen, Brian Tracy, Bernie Siegel, Mark Sisson, Marci Shimoff, John Assaraff, JJ Virgin, Katie Dolgin (“High Voltage”), and Jimmy Moore.
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