Dieters, Sugar Addicts, Diabetics & Hypoglycemics To Be Helped By Great Worldwide Sugar-Out Challenge on Jan. 16

Sugar Experts Connie Bennett, and Dr. Scott Olson Invite People Around the Globe to Face Up to the Sour Sugar Facts

PRESS RELEASE:

NEW YORK AND DENVER-On Friday, Jan. 16, a group of concerned health and wellness experts are holding the first annual Great Worldwide Sugar-Out Challenge to draw attention to the many health hazards from over-consuming sugar and refined carbohydrates, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and heart disease.

This is the first time that a worldwide event has been held to draw attention to the massive amounts of sugar that the typical person consumes (around 150 pounds a year or one cup a day for the average person).

Dr. Nancy Appleton, author of Lick the Sugar Habit; Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman, author of Get the Sugar Out; Dr. Larry McCleary, author of The Brain Trust Program; integrative medicine practitioner Steven J. Bock, M.D.; and Sugar-Out coordinators Dr. Scott Olson, author of Sugarettes, and Connie Bennett, author of SUGAR SHOCK!, are among the prominent health authors, who invite people worldwide to learn more about sugar’s dangers, cut back on it or remove it entirely from their diets for one day.

The Great Worldwide Sugar-Out Challenge will take place on the Internet:

• Through a radio show/podcast on Jan. 16 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Eastern on Connie Bennett’s Gab With the Gurus Radio Show on Blog Talk Radio featuring the above-named experts, plus other health-minded guests. You can listen live or later at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/GabWithTheGurus/2009/01/16/Sugar-Addicts-Carb-Lovers-Unite-Take-the-Great-Worldwide-Sugar-Out-Challenge)

• Through a 24-hour-long hour TwitAsYouQuit campaign (from Jan. 16 at 12 p.m. to Jan. 17 at 11:59 p.m. on Twitter), where dieters, sugar addicts, diabetics and hypoglycemic will rely on each other, as well as from Sugar-Out coordinators Bennett and Olson for supportive, motivating, helpful tweets throughout the day.

Sugar Harm

“Most people don’t realize that they’re eating or drinking huge doses of sugar over the course of a day whenever they have packaged or processed foods,” says Sugar Liberator and co-Sugar-Out Challenge coordinator Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C., author of SUGAR SHOCK!, a certified health counselor, life coach and journalist, who used to “need” frequent sugar “fixes” to meet article deadlines.

Of course, you’re getting sugar and other sweeteners from candy bars, soda and cookies, but you’re also getting a lot from less obvious sources like yogurt, whole grain cereal, peanut butter, salad dressings and mayonnaise.

Co-Sugar-Out Challenge planner Scott Olson, N.D., a Colorado-based naturopath, who used to be overly attached to much-like-sugar carbohydrates like breads, crackers and chips, notes that “People assume that diseases are a normal part of aging, but the reality is that many illnesses are caused by the sugary foods and drinks and refined carbohydrates that we put into our mouths.”

“Our mission is to get people and medical authorities to admit to the reality that sugar is harmful,” adds Dr. Olson, author of the book Sugarettes.

The goal of the challenge is threefold:

• To wake up to the truth about the huge amounts of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, other sweeteners and simple carbs that they consume-often without knowing it
• To learn about the many dangers of sugar overloading, which could lead to more than 100 health problems, including obesity, heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, infertility, sexual dysfunction, Alzheimer’s disease, failing memory, mood swings, depression, anxiety, severe PMS, heart palpitations, acne and premature aging.
• To motivate challenge takers to either kick sugar and other sweeteners entirely on Jan. 16 or to begin phasing out that day so that they can lose weight, feel and look more youthful, boost their energy, diminish depression, concentrate better, rev up their sex drive and improve their general health overall.

People of all ages and sexes – even if they don’t think they have a sugar problem — are invited to find a buddy and take the Great Worldwide Sugar-Out Challenge.

During the Great Worldwide Sugar-Out Challenge on the Gab With the Gurus Radio Show, you may hear differing points of view from the sugar experts about how, why or how long you should quit sugar, but you’ll get ample information to allow you to make a decision that works for you. For instance, you’ll get opposing views as to whether you should kick cold turkey or gradually. All experts do, however, agree that that too much sugar — which is typically consumed by the average American or typical person in other “civilized” countries around the world — can wreak dangers galore, from heart disease to type 2 diabetes.

To join the Great Worldwide Sugar-Out Challenge, just visit www.GabWithTheGurusBlog.com and join the conversation.

To follow inspirational kick-sugar tweets, go to www.Twitter.com/TwitAsYouQuit

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SODA TAX: New York Governor David Paterson is suggesting a 15 percent tax on soft drinks. This so-called “obesity tax”, will only be on soda that contains sugar and not on the diet versions of soda. Governor Paterson suggested that this might generate more than $400 million dollars in tax revenue and might lead to healthier choices for the people of New York.

Dr. Scott’s Comments: Taxes actually are a very effective way to curb consumption. Studies on cigarette consumption and taxes show that increasing the price of cigarettes is more effective at reducing smoking than any other campaign (including scare tactics). My thought would be: why stop at soda? If sugar is much more of a health burden than cigarettes (see my book Sugarettes), then its consumption should be curtailed by any means necessary.

original article

KEEP ACTIVE: Low-cost physical activity programs, such as those offered by senior centers and recreation centers was show to dramatically reduce disabilities in the elderly. 554 elderly persons who were not physically active were randomly selected to be in the exercise group or non-exercise group. The group that exercised has a much lower incidence of disability and had a larger amount of muscle mass than the non-exercisers.

Dr. Scott’s Comments: The importance of continuing an exercise program throughout your life cannot be overstated. The amount of lean body mass (muscle) you have is closely related to how long you are going to live. In fact, lean body mass is the best predictor for longevity we have. If you are not already exercising, get up from the computer right now and go do something!

original article

SLEEP AND EXERCISE KILL CANCER: A new study by the National Cancer Institute showed the women who exercised has a 25 percent reduction in the amount of cancer than non exercisers. But, the women who slept less than 7 hours every night (even if they were exercising) had twice the risk of women who slept more than 7 hours.

Dr. Scott’s Comments: Exercise is important, but so is sleep. A 25 percent reduction in cancer risk is HUGE and one of the best reasons to get off your butt and get some exercise. The benefits of exercise were cut short by not getting enough sleep. What I think this research shows is that there are many women out there who are excelling in their business lives, but who are not taking care of themselves. Sleep is where out bodies rebuild and repair and skimping on sleep can have dramatic results.

original article

BLOOD SUGAR SPIKES DESTROY MEMORY: The hippocampus, the area of the brain partly responsible for creating new memories has been shown to be especially sensitive to spikes in blood sugar.

Dr. Scott’s Comments: Many people know of the “brain fog” that occurs with eating too much sugar, and now science is beginning to back up this notion. The interesting thing about this study is that the problems with memory begin with only moderate rise in blood sugar and the scientists suggest that sugar may be the reason behind why so many older adults have problems with memory: because it is common for us to lose blood sugar control as we age. Could sugar be the “smoking gun” in dementia? Don’t wait to find out, get sugar out of your life today!

original article

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So, you can imagine how much fun I am at parties! While I’m not above drinking a glass of wine, I really don’t drink much. I wrote a book on sugar addiction, so I don’t eat sweets. I found out while researching Sugarettes that there are foods that act like sugar, so I really don’t eat grains. I have long stayed away from dairy, so no cheese or eggnog either. I tend to wake up early, I practice yoga and I run, bike and stay in shape. Needless to say, even though my diet and exercise plan is very similar to the way humans are supposed to be living, I’m often the odd person out and my diet becomes the source of conversation.

The conversation always seems to head in a certain direction and ends up sounding something like this:

Other Person: “You don’t eat (insert: sugar, cheese, grains…)? Why not? “

Me: “No I don’t eat (insert: sugar, cheese, grains…). I don’t eat (insert: sugar, cheese, grains…) because I don’t think they are the best foods for humans to eat. “

Other Person: “Oh, I eat everything. I don’t care. You know, you eat well and then you die anyway, might as well have fun.”

I call this the Hit by a Train theory: you live a good life, you avoid bad foods, you are good to other people and then you are hit by a train and you die at a young age. Why bother?

Well, there are actually very good reasons to bother. Let’s start by taking a look at the odds.

What are the Odds?

A quick look at the odds will answer a lot of the question about why you should bother.

Here are the odds for some of the major diseases and accidents:

• Diabetes: 1 in 3
• Heart Disease: 1 in 5
• Cancer: 1 in 7
• Accidents: 1 in 22

Clearly, you are much more likely to get diabetes, heart disease, or cancer than you are to die of an accident. And all of these diseases are preventable by the way you choose to live your life.

How Was Your Trip?

While the above statistics may be enough to convince you, here is another thought to think about. If you have cancer, or diabetes, or heart disease, how enjoyable is your life?

Recent research shows that diabetes cuts 14 years off of your life, but that is not all. When measuring quality of life, that number jumps to 20 years lost.¹ What this means is that people who are diabetic lose their eyesight, their kidneys stop functioning, they have heart attacks, they lose limbs to amputation. In essence, they lose the ability to live their lives the way that they want to, losing the quality of life.

When asked about death, most people claim that they are afraid of it, but they fear something even more: People fear losing control of their bodies, they fear that someone will have to take care of them and change their clothes (and diapers), they fear losing what they enjoy in life. They hate the thought that they are alive, but cannot live: they cannot play golf, or play with their grandkids, or travel, or finish their life’s work.

This is what is lost when people have cancer, heart disease, diabetes or other preventable diseases; the loss of quality.

Make the Most of Your Life

Making the most of your life means taking a longer view on life and not just focusing on the moment. Sure, sugar tastes good, but how long does that sensation last?

Yes, you might be hit by a train not matter what you do, but being healthy means two things. First, it means that you stay healthy enough to live your life the way you want to live it. Second, if you are hit by a train and you happen to survive, then you are more likely to bounce back quicker when you are healthy than when you are not.

Health is an investment. You make little “deposits” every day and it pays off for the rest of your life. Enjoy yourself, but find enough balance to invest in your health also.

1. K. M. Venkat Narayan, James P. Boyle, Theodore J. Thompson. Lifetime Risk for Diabetes Mellitus in the United States. JAMA. 2003;290:1884-1890.

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You know when you are eating sugar, don’t you? You see it, you taste it… don’t you?

It turns out that many times you are eating sugar and not even aware. There are many hidden sugars in our diets and they show up in crackers, coffee, peanut butter, salad dressing, sauces, salsa and many other foods.

If you take a peek at a label, it is often hard to determine if what you are reading is a sugar. One of the best ways is to look out for the OSE ending; many sugars have an OSE ending: glucose, fructose, maltose… This is not a guarantee, but it take care of a lot of them. Take a look at the list below and see how many ingredients are actually sugars.

Here is a list of Hidden Sugars

· Beet sugar

· Brown sugar

· Cane sugar

· Concentrated grape juice

· Confectioner’s sugar

· Corn sweeteners

· Corn syrup

· Crystallized cane juice

· Dextrin

· Dextrose

· Evaporated cane juice

· Fructose

· Fruit juice concentrate

· Galactose

· Glucose

· High-fructose corn syrup

· Honey

· Invert sugar

· Lactose

· Malt

· Maltitol

· Maltodextrin

· Maltose

· Mannitol

· Maple syrup

· Molasses

· Powdered sugar

· Rapadura

· Raw sugar

· Sorbitol

· Sorghum

· Sucrose

· Table sugar

· Turbinado sugar

· White sugar

· Xylitol

Other Hidden Sugars

Of course, the most hidden of the hidden sugars are the foods that foods that act like sugar. These are foods like grains, starchy vegetable and some fruits that act just like sugar in your body. If you are looking to make the plunge into a sugar-free diet, remember to include the removal of these foods that act like sugar.

While it is hard to lead a completely sugar-free life, this little guide should help you on your way to a healthier you.

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It makes me wonder why not a single medical association will take a stance against sugar and the harm that sugar does?

The following video is for my book Sugarettes that will show you just how addictive and harmful sugar really is.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Have you ever watched a television show or movie where someone from our time traveled to the future? Inevitably, sometime during the episode, the character from our time encounters the future medicine. The future doctor proclaims medicine’s triumph over some illness we think of as incurable. Cancer, leukemia, heart disease, autism, along with toenail fungus and bad breath have all been banished by the miracle of science and medicine. The future doctor can perform miracles with a mechanical magic-wand of sorts that he waves over wounds and even broken bones and they heal in seconds.

The reason television and movie writers can write that scene is because we never really question the underlying assumption that is the root for all these time-traveling episodes: that medicine will uncover a cure for everything… it only needs time.

This assumption, that science will discover all the answers to our health problems, crops up in all sorts of areas. Our faith in medicine is, for example, the reason why some dying people are willing to undergo experiments that might not help them, but might help someone in the future. They are willing to sacrifice themselves because they believe that a cure for their illness will eventually be found. It is also the reason why we get so excited about new drugs that hit the market (stay tuned because I have much more to say about new drugs in a future post).

Scientific Scoreboard

The reason why we have such faith in science is that it has appears to have a pretty good track record. The problem is that we have short memories. The faith we have in medicine probably began in the early to mid 1900s. The discovery of antibiotics, steroid anti-inflammatories, anesthesia and other chemically-based drugs truly was a miracle. But while many of these drugs were initially extremely helpful, they have failed to live up to their wonder-drug status due to overuse (as is the case with antibiotics) or side effects (as is the case with steroid anti-inflammatories).

While these wonder drugs worked well on acute illnesses (infection, pain, inflammation), medicine has had a much harder time wrestling with chronic diseases.

Imagine for a moment that today is the year 1971. You just watched Richard Nixon on the television tell you that he was declaring a War on Cancer. Finally, you think, we are going to spend money on finding a cure for cancer. You have faith in medicine and know they will find a cure if we only focus and spend money on research.

Spend money is exactly what they have done since the 1970s to the tune of nearly 1 billion dollars a year for research and drug development.

What have we gotten for our 40 billion dollars? Not much.

Cancer rates actually grew larger from 1971 to around 1995. Since that time, the percentage of cancer death rates has been dropping about 1 percent per year. That sounds like great news until you look closer at the statistics. What miracle drug do we say accounts for this drop? Actually, it isn’t drug, but the reduction in the number of smokers that accounts for a large percentage of this drop. Some of the drop in cancer death rates can be attributed to early detection of certain cancers such as breast, endometrial and prostate cancer.

So, after 40 years and 40 billion dollars worth of research, it is simple measures such as stopping smoking and regular medical checkups that accounts for the drop in cancer death rates.

What is even more astounding is that cancer incidence (the number of people getting cancer) has actually increased for many cancers over the last 40 years. That means that even though we have held the percentage of people who die from a certain cancer relatively steady, more and more people are getting cancer.

Other diseases follow similar tracks, with the main improvements in death rates not coming from science but from changes in our diets or improving lifestyle choices such as smoking or exposure to chemicals.

Where to Put Your Trust

I’m not saying that science is not helpful; in fact I feel the opposite, but our complete faith that science will find a cure for everything that ails us, I think, is misplaced. There are some things that science will just not be able to cure. There is no magic wand to wave over our skin to heal a cut or a broken bone or to remove all cancer from your body.

Your trust and faith shouldn’t lay in the scientist’s hands, but yours. You have the ability to affect your own health in ways no machine or drug ever could.

Health advice is not hard to find (especially since we all have access to the internet) and much of it is the same: eat better, exercise, reduce stress and sleep better. I would add that a major source of injury we do to ourselves has to do with our food choices and I generally recommend a diet that contains little to no grains or sugars (see my book Sugarettes).

My Television Show

I see a television show or movie where the time traveler meets the doctor of the future and the future doctor laughs at him when he asks the doctor if they can now cure cancer. “Cure cancer?” the future doctor says, “We haven’t learned how to cure it, but we now know how to prevent it be eating better, avoiding toxins, sleeping better and reducing stress. That is how we eradicated cancer.”

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Do you find yourself scratching your head when you read the latest news? One headline suggests that coffee is good for you and the next reads that it is not good for you; another headline says alcohol is great for your health and then another tells you that it is not. What about a high protein diet, or a high carbohydrate diet, or an all-grapefruit diet? Do you choose bottled water or filtered water? What about using a microwave?

If you are confused, you are not alone.

One of the problems we have is that there is so much health information out there that it is often hard to decide what is good for you. The other problem, and one that I think is the root of all this confusion, is in understanding what is truly important versus what is not. What health advice is worth investing your time and effort in and what it just simply good advice.

Since we are all busy, let me try and give you some guidelines when dealing with health information, let’s start with alcohol and coffee.

Sitting on a Fence

There is something I call the Health Fence that a lot of health advice falls under. If one day you read that alcohol is the fountain of youth and the next day you read that it has the potential to do harm, then it belongs on the Health Fence. What you have to understand about the items that end up on the Health Fence is that they are both good and bad for you, often depending on the dose.

On the Health Fence are things like coffee, wine, and sunshine. Coffee is good for you, but not if you are drinking 3 or more cups a day. Wine, likewise, has health benefits, but not if you are drinking more than a glass or two a day. Sunshine is essential for your health, but if you are out in the sun long enough to have a severe burn, then it is not so good for you.

Don’t be confused by conflicting studies with items on the Health Fence; just understand that all of these items can be either good or bad for you depending on how much you use or are exposed to them.

Other Health Confusions

Besides items that end up on the Health Fence, let me give you an idea of how important the rest of the confusing health questions.

• Obesity: Being overweight or obese has received a lot of attention in the last few years, with a few popular books suggesting that weight has little to do with health. The truth, though, is that there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that associates increases in weight with many diseases including diabetes, insulin resistance, heart disease and some cancers.
• Smoking: There is no confusion about smoking; it is bad for your health and you should stop yesterday if you are a smoker.
• Sugar: Sugar is every bit as harmful as cigarettes and I describe the extent of the damage in my book Sugarettes. While the medical community says little about the harm done by sugar, very soon they will realize what a health tragedy sugar is and reverse their stance.
• Fast food: Eating fast food means, for the most part, that you are eating processed foods that are often overcooked and that are full of additives, preservatives and colorings. There are, however, healthier choices when picking up something quick. Some fast food restaurants serve made-to-order burritos, or Asian-style foods, or even sushi, which are all relatively healthy. Choosing from these healthier fast food restaurants is much better for your health.
• Chocolate: Chocolate itself is healthy; the sugar that usually surrounds it is not. If you must eat chocolate (and, yes, I know for some of you it is a MUST), find a low-sugar alternative to your typical high-sugar chocolate treat.
• Artificial Sweeteners: There is no question that these are bad for you and you should avoid them. There are many good books about this subject; educate yourself before you ever put these chemicals in your body again.
• Bottled water: There is no doubt that bottled water is not your best choice when you are thirsty. From the plastic chemicals that leach into the water to the environmental problems with dealing with the plastic, using filtered or even tap water is often your best choice.
• Margarine: Thank goodness that the truth about margarine is finally out! Avoid this plastic-non-food as it is very bad for you and your health.
• Exercise: There is no question that exercise is good for you, so stop reading this right now and get out and move your buns around. Exercise has so many health benefits that it should be called the fountain of youth. Exercise has been shown in research studies to improve insulin resistance, heart disease, depression, longevity, insomnia and a long list of other conditions.
• Microwave cooking: Microwave cooking falls in that sort of in-between space. Yes, microwaves destroy vitamins and other nutrients, but so does almost every way of cooking. Microwaves have the potential to alter the structure of proteins and fats, but it is unclear how harmful this may be; once again, it is probably a matter of dose. I generally recommend eating foods as close to their original state as possible, but cooking foods occasionally in a microwave shouldn’t be a problem.
  
• Dietary Fat: Is fat good for you or bad for you? The answer to that question depends on the type of fat you are talking about. The good fats are essential fats found in fish oil and flax oil and in many foods. The bad fats are artificially hydrogenated and trans fats (such as margarine). The lack of good fats in most people’s diet is a major cause of illness and you should consider supplementing with fish oil if you don’t already.
  

What Else?

Do you have any other health concerns that you are confused about? I’ll keep updating this post as your questions come in. Use the comments at the end of the post, or submit a question using the question link.

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A new study in the journal, Pediatrics, looked into sugar consumption from just soda and fruit juice. Here is what they found:

• Children are consuming somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of their calories from soda and fruit juice alone
• Children aged 6 to 19 consumed an average of 30 oz of soda or fruit juice every day
• 2 to 5 year-olds consumed an average of 15.5 oz of juice or soda a day
• The average serving size of the drinks they are drinking has increased 46 percent (almost doubled) since 1972

What you have to understand about the above statistics is that they are saying that 10 to 15 percent of the calories our children are eating are coming from just soda or fruit juice. These numbers don’t include sugar such as breakfast cereals, cookies, candies, ice cream and all the hidden sugars such as those found in peanut butter, crackers, chips and other fast foods. For those who have read my book or this blog often, you know that those statistics don’t include foods that act like sugar in our bodies such as many grains and starchy vegetables.

It is clear that our children are overdosing on sugar.

Are You Sure? One-Half a Pound a day?

Every time I write that we eat 1/4 to 1/2 of a pound of sugar a day, I always get questions. So let’s see how easy it is to make it to that 1/2 pound every day. Remember that 1/4 pound of sugar equals 30 teaspoons of sugar. You can get 30 teaspoons of sugar very easily, for example:

• A 12oz soda contains 8 teaspoons of sugar, a 16oz soda contains 10.5 teaspoons
• Typical breakfast cereals contain 4 to 6 teaspoons of sugar
• A donut contains 8 to 30 teaspoons of sugar
• A typical cookie contains 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar for each cookie
• For a more complete list, look here: Percentage Of Sugar In Common Foods

As you can see, it isn’t all that hard to make it to 60 teaspoons (or 1/2 pound of sugar a day).

Parents, Most of this is Happening on Your Watch

The study in the journal, Pediatrics, showed something surprising: that most of this soda drinking was happening at home. Around 55 to 70 percent of sugar sweetened beverages are consumed in the home, while 7 to 15 percent in schools. These numbers were slightly higher from very young children who attended day care or preschool where fruit juice is a common treat for the kids.

This means that parents are largely responsible for the incredible amount of sugar their children eat every day.

Halloween is One Thing, but…

Kids are going to eat a lot of candy on Halloween, but parents should focus more on their children’s day-to-day consumption of sugar. There are long-term health effects that can result from eating so much sugar: Obesity and diabetes are epidemic in children and only getting worse.

We can do a lot to determine the health of our children by helping them make better choices about sugar. Since most of the sugar consumption is happening at home, simply not buying soda, fruit juice and other sugary snacks can go a long way to eliminating sugar consumption in our children.

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Sugar hurts us in a lot of ways, but the most harmful is that high blood sugar is toxic to the blood vessels that carry sugar throughout our bodies and, boy, it is hard to break free of that addiction.

Sugar addicts are unique, they want to have their cake and eat it too. Most people’s solution to sugar addiction is to ask for a substitute: “if I can’t have sugar,” they say, “what can I still eat that is sweet?” This would be like a cigarette smoker asking if it were okay to smoke cigars or to chew tobacco.

What You can do to Break Free of Sugar

First you need to be prepared. No one tells a cigarette smoker or a junkie that it is going to be easy to break free of their habit; sugar addiction is the same. Prepare for a battle. Studies show that sugar addiction is every bit as powerful as addictions to alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs, so you have a tough road ahead of you. The way you feel after kicking sugar and the health benefits are well worth the effort. Here are a few mental pieces of luggage you need to pack for your journey:

• You will have cravings – Sorry, but there is nothing to do about this. Understand, though, that cravings do get better over time and many people are surprised when they break down and try something sweet after being sugar-free for a while that the thing they were craving doesn’t taste all that great and the wonder why they were craving it in the first place.
• There are no substitutes – Remember, you don’t give an alcoholic even non-alcoholic beer once they are sober. As long as you are using substitutes, you are still addicted to sugar. The only good substitute is Stevia, but I recommend against it because what you are really trying to break is your addiction to having something super-sweet in your mouth.
• Artificial Sweeteners are not an option – See the above for a good reason to avoid artificial sweeteners. These chemical sweeteners do much harm to our bodies; some speculate that the harm done by artificial sweeteners is greater than even sugar itself. Doubt that? Check out this book from Mercola, or I have a section in my book, Sugarettes that deals with how harmful these food additives really are.
• Out of sight and Out of Mind – the best assistance you can give yourself is to take everything sugary and get it out of your house, workplace and, yes, even your car. Many of our sugar-eating habits are just that: habits.

Tools for Success

Okay, now that you have packed your mental baggage, let’s give you some tools to help you on your way.

• Eat often: This not only helps balance your blood sugar level, but it also lessens the number of cravings you will have. While you may feel silly eating lunch at ten o’clock in the morning and having another lunch around noon, and yet another meal at two o’clock, having three small lunches is a great way to balance your blood sugar level.
• Eat fruit or dried fruit: Many people crave sweet foods after they eat. Eating something like fruit or a dried fruit following a meal can help. A cup of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries after a meal can usually stomp cravings. Don’t overdo it, though, fruits are still contain a lot of sugar.
• Salad greens: Many grocery stores stock mixed salad greens. Eating these before a meal tends to fill people up; they are also loaded with vitamins and other nutrients so it’s a great two-for-one filler-upper!
• Exercise: If you feel that craving-monster beginning to creep up on you, go for a walk. Exercise not only gets you out of the kitchen and onto the street and away from your temptations, it has also been shown to reduce cravings.
• Brush your teeth: Brushing gives you a sweet taste and many people don’t feel like eating once their mouths have been cleaned.
• Drink water: Sometimes cravings get mixed up in your brain and what your body really needs is water and not sugar. Try drinking a glass of water when your cravings begin.
• Try supplementing: Supplements can help with cravings, including:
  • Amino acids: Tyrosine, phenylalanine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), tryptophan, and glutamine can help. Glutamine is sweet-tasting and can be placed under the tongue after a meal or between meals to calm cravings.
  • B-complex: A good mixture of B-vitamins is essential for reducing cravings.
  • Minerals: Some researchers claim that cravings are based on the need for minerals in our bodies. This is especially true of chromium, which has also been shown to help balance blood sugar levels.
  • Gymnema: This herb has been shown to help with blood sugar control and cravings.
  • A good multi-vitamin: Multi-vitamins can help quell cravings. Many include the B-vitamins and minerals (as mentioned above).
• Remember, it is just a craving: You don’t have to be a slave to your cravings. You have probably eaten recently so you are not going to starve — even though your brain is trying to convince you that you are. Often, you can out-wait your craving and it will go away.

You can do it!

You can break free of your sugar addiction; it just takes a little effort. The effort, however, is well worth it. You have no idea how much better you will feel if you remove sugars and foods that act like sugars from your life. You have a great opportunity to avoid many of the diseases that will cut your life short by staying away from sugar foods.

Check out my 30 Sugar Free Days Program

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I’ve created this list of top Health Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make because it will give you an idea where to best focus your energies. Yes, you should consider which bottled water you should be drinking (if you should be drinking any bottled water), but the areas Health Mistakes below are where you are going to get the most bang for your buck. Some of them are not easy (actually most are not that easy), and the reason why most people don’t do them. But choosing to take care of you requires a bit of dedication because we live in a world that supports our ill health and not our good health.

Take a look the following Health Mistakes and see how well you are taking care of yourself.

Not Investing in Yourself

Most people will throw money at a new car, new TV, or new cell phone before they will spend the extra money on their anything to do with their health. You, by the way, are worth spending money on; once you’ve lost your health, you’ve lost everything (including your new cell phone). Investing in yourself means not only making sure you visit your naturopathic doctor, chiropractor or other health practitioners, but that you also you consider your health a priority and invest in yourself by buying supplements, reading books about health, getting massages and exercising.

Eating Sugar and Foods that Act like Sugar

This is probably the toughest one on the list and the topic of my book Sugarettes, but there is not a single thing you do every day that will cause more harm to your body than eating sugar and foods that act like sugar. When your blood sugar rises, your body pays the price.

Not Getting Enough Sleep

Sleep is so important; it should be considered a vitamin in itself. There is good research that shows that not getting enough sleep harms memory, concentration, mood and poor sleep even has been linked to heart disease. How much sleep should you get? The answer is individual to each person, but it is generally recommended to get somewhere between 7 and 9 hours of sleep.

Not Exercising

Outside of the food that you put into your mouth there is nothing than can have a bigger impact on your health than maintaining a lifetime exercise program. Exercise improves blood sugar control, can help with weight loss, improves mood, reduces anxiety… exercise is so powerful it is almost a panacea. Walking is enough, but cycling, running, swimming and other forms of exercise are great.

Not Relaxing

Here is the funny thing, we all know how to keep busy and get things done, but very few of us know how to truly relax. In order for the body and mind to rejuvenate, we all need a rest period. This can be as simple as taking a 15 minute walk after lunch. Better yet, try taking a week off every year to focus on relaxing; this is not a typical vacation where you are running around, but a time to just hang out and do nothing.

Avoiding the Sun

If you are typical, you are probably a bit sun-phobic, but you shouldn’t be. The dangers of the sun have been highly overblown. Yes, you should avoid being burned, but we need sun like we need water and food. We tend to live and even travel in boxes that block out the sun and fresh air. Get out of your boxes and see the real world.

The Best Investment You’ll Ever Make!

Focusing on your health is well worth it; especially as you age. Some of the above tips are hard, but working on your health will pay great dividends. When asked what they fear the most, older people tend to fear having to have someone take care of them in their old age. Do you really want someone dressing and feeding you? You can avoid this kind of fall into ill health by making a small investment in your health over time. Start Today.

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