Diabetes News

I just learned that my labor of love -- i.e., my book SUGAR SHOCK! -- has been listed on the influential OprahSelects.com website. Now that's pretty exciting!

In case you're wondering, OprahSelects.com is billed as "A look at the books, must-haves and favorite things as seen on The Oprah Winfrey Show, O At Home and O, The Oprah Magazine."

As I hope you already know, Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen are two well-respected physicians on the cutting edge.

In fact, their # 1 New York Times bestseller YOU: On A Diet comes on the heels of their # 1 YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body That Will Make You Healthier and Younger.

By the way, previously, Dr. Roizen also interviewed me for his radio YOU: The Owner's Manual Radio Show on the Health Radio Network.

Anyhow, I need to thank Renee of ReneeGetsFit.com for the heads-up about SUGAR SHOCK! being listed on OprahSelects.com.

You see, thanks to a Google Alert, I found out that Renee was nice enough to post a positive review of SUGAR SHOCK! on her blog. (Thanks, Renee!)

Well, at the bottom of her item, Renee posted a few links, which I followed, and lo and behold, I landed up at OprahSelects.com, only to find out that SUGAR SHOCK! has been featured!

Don't you just love how following clicks a few times on the Internet is, in some ways, akin to a treasure hunt except the "prize" is that you're mentioned? Well, that's how I see it.

You see, lately, now that SUGAR SHOCK! has been published, I'm finding mentions of my book on sites all over the World Wide Web.

Incidentally, it's thanks to Google Alerts that I know about some of these SUGAR SHOCK! citations. (If you're not familiar with this service, you absolutely must learn about it. It's the best!)

Anyhow, if you haven't purchased SUGAR SHOCK! yet, I invite you to do so.

Wondering what people think of the book? Check out a few of the reader raves the book has been receiving.

For instance, listen to the following four comments I received:

Readers Rave About SUGAR SHOCK!

"Reading Sugar Shock! is a watershed event. To sum up Connie's book in a word: WOW! No other book I've read on it (starting with Sugar Blues) has motivated me to get off the junk even though I've felt tired, humiliated, lackluster and FAT for years now and have had the blues and out-of-control sugar cravings. ..."THANK YOU, CONNIE, FOR HAVING WRITTEN THIS BOOK! It has the potential of being on the cutting edge of saving millions of lives. That is not an exaggeration, in my opinion. I wrote a review on Amazon, and this book deserves more than the usual five stars, that's for sure. ...Disclaimer: LOL, no, I don't know the author and am not being paid for this endorsement. But it's that good. I haven't had many life-changing and life-saving books, but this is definitely one of them."
-- Pat

"Stopping sugar stopped my pains and mood swings. ...I am a distance study student of Natural Health Institute, Canada. I became one basically, because I was puzzled at all my bodily pains (joints, muscles, bones) my mood swings and my low energy ALWAYS by 4PM. I am 56 years old. After researching about sugar and finding out about your book, I eliminated sugary products and desserts from my diet. After only a month, I am a different person -- no aches, no pains, no mood swings, no low energy...and a happy and proud owner of your SUGAR SHOCK! book... Thank you Connie. Bless your effort to reach out to people and tell them about sugar's problems."
-- Edna, the Philippines

"Great book! It is a masterpiece. As an organic chemist and author of Health Myths Exposed, I found the book to be one of the best written books on the subject -- and all other subjects relating to health! Way to go...I can tell you worked your ass off! Thanks for the effort!"
-- Shane Ellison, M.Sc., author, Health Myths Exposed

"I'm LOVING your book! Thanks for writing it. It is already making a difference in my life. I am taking it to show my integrative medicine M.D. next week!"
-- Sue

If you feel hooked on sugar, SUGAR SHOCK! is for you. This book, I'm convinced, can wake you up to sugar's dangers and give you valuable tools and tips so you can finally break free of your habit. So get the book now on Amazon or on BarnesAndNoble.com.

Former President Bill Clinton and talk show host Rachael Ray are teaming up to fight the childhood obesity crisis, according to an article in the New York Times by reporter Kim Severson.

For her part, Ray just launched Yum-O, a nonprofit organization that "educates kids and their parents about cooking, enabling them to explore the joys of food while making meals that are easy, healthy, affordable and delicious," according to the group's website.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the anti-childhood obesity initiative Clinton's foundation created with the American Heart Association, will be one of Ray's partners in this new venture.

Clinton's organization, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, works with schools nationwide to improve their menus and to implement other health-giving programs. Ray will give items from her line of cookware to schools on the forefront of improving nutrition, and may even visit some of those schools as well. Together, Ray and Clinton's alliance will also promote Nickelodeon's "Go Healthy Challenge," which is part of the channel's "Let's Just Play" series.

The two announced their plans on a recent episode of the popular "The Rachael Ray Show," which reaches 4 million viewers, according to Severson's story.

Clinton's zeal on this issue was partly inspired by his 2004 quadruple bypass, which, as he says in this clip of his appearance on Ray's show, was necessitated by years of indulging in fast food, fried foods and other artery-clogging stuff.

Both Clinton and Ray will bring an amazing amount of star power to this worthy endeavor. In fact, Clinton has interesting weight tales himself -- he was overweight as a child, he tells Rachel Ray, noting that when he was 13, he was 5'8" and weighed 185 pounds.

Of the scary possibility that today's generation of kids may actually face shorter life expectancies than their parents, Clinton declared "it will be immoral if we let that happen," according to the New York Times story. I couldn't agree more!

His appearance on "The Rachael Ray Show," isn't the only time that Clinton's been sounding the alarms about childhood obesity lately.

Now, a cynic might ask why Clinton didn't do more about the issue of childhood obesity when he was president -- and that's certainly a valid one. And not every recipe on Ray's Yum-O website is a perfect example of healthy food, in my opinion (like her Chocolate Yogurt Parfait).

But for me, raising a 4-year-old in this junk-food saturated world, it's never too late for our leaders and celebrities to take action, and I don't need perfection. I applaud Clinton and Ray for trying to address the very serious issue of childhood obesity, and I hope that their popularity and influence will inspire others to take action, too.

From Jennifer Moore

It's great to see a high profile-person speak bluntly about the crisis of childhood obesity in America, and in a speech before the National School Boards Association in San Francisco, Bill Clinton did just that.

"We are playing Russian roulette with our kids' future," Clinton declared to the gathering, according to journalist Thomas Peele's story in the San Jose Mercury News.

The former president warned that "America's obesity epidemic threatens to destroy the health care system, the economy and the nation's future," Peele reported.

Thankfully, Clinton cited sugar as a major culprit in America's obesity epidemic in his speech. He also pointed to trans fats, ever-increasing portion sizes and economic pressures that lead families to make less-than-optimal nutritional choices.

Clinton urged school boards to make good nutrition a top priority, and he used the devastating example of a woman he met in Biloxi, Mississippi to illustrate what might happen to many American kids if responsible adults don't act now.

The woman, whom Clinton estimated couldn't have been more than 35, is obese, wheelchair bound, and had her right leg amputated due to her diabetes, according to Peele's story in the San Jose Mercury News.

As you may already know, Clinton has been actively trying to fight the childhood obesity epidemic since May 2005, when the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association teamed up to create the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (who, by the way, wrote a glowing endorsement for Connie's book SUGAR SHOCK!), is the Alliance's co-chairman. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which just pledged over $500 million to combat the obesity problem, awarded the Alliance for a Healthier Generation an $8 million grant in support of its Healthy Schools Programs, according to Clinton's foundation website.

Clinton delivered a message that cannot be repeated and amplified enough: Childhood obesity will destroy the health and lives of countless kids if we don't do something about it. Kudos to him for being on the forefront of this issue, and let's hope he can influence others to take action.

From Jennifer Moore

With The Sopranos returning Sunday for its final, nine episodes, Tom Karlya of dLife e-mailed some of us bloggers a look at this exclusive interview of star Aida Turturro talking about her battle with diabetes.

dLife -- which airs Sundays at 7 p.m. EST on CNBC -- isn't airing this piece on TV; rather it's just for the blogging community to share.

Just click on the right arrow button below to watch the interview -- FYI, it may take a while to download:

By the way, this brief interview is intriguing. Turturro is very frank about the challenges of living as a diabetic, including how she tries to take time to exercise; how she now strives to keep her blood sugar levels stable; how she initially didn't face the reality of the disease; how she realized that her irrititability was a result of unstable blood sugar levels; etc.

What I do find curious about the interview is that the actress doesn't discuss losing weight or cutting out sugar and refined carbs.

You can learn more about dLife TV here.

FYI, I just posted this press release, which you'll be able to soon see at various websites.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nicole Richie’s Hypoglycemia Diagnosis is All Too Common, Author Says

Hypoglycemia Expert Connie Bennett Gives 9 Warning Signs of Low Blood Sugar

NEW YORK, N.Y., March 22, 2007—Nicole Richie’s recent diagnosis of "hypoglycemia" isn't surprising to health experts familiar with signs of the condition.

Nicole Richie — who suffered from much-publicized fainting spells, as well as moments of weakness, wooziness and dizziness, while on the set of the reality show, “The Simple Life” — recently learned that she has hypoglycemia and is “taking steps to manage it,” according to her representative.

“The symptoms that Nicole Richie reportedly experienced — faintness, lightheadedness, weak spells, dizziness, and difficulty walking or speaking clearly — are among many tell-tale symptoms of hypoglycemia, which is also known as low blood sugar,” says hypoglycemia and sugar addiction expert Connie Bennett.

“Nicole Richie is among some 74 million to 174 million Americans with hypoglycemia, who are often mystified as to why they’re enduring such ailments as vertigo, mental confusion, depression, exhaustion, Jekyll-Hyde mood swings, anger outbursts and fatigue,” adds Bennett, author of SUGAR SHOCK!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life—And How You Can Get Back on Track (Berkley Books, 2007), with Stephen Sinatra, M.D.

“Sadly, hypoglycemia is one of the least understood and most maligned health conditions — even by members of the mainstream medical community. Most people don’t know that their symptoms are manifesting because their blood glucose drops abnormally low, and often eating too much sugar, becoming very stressed, skipping meals or over-exercising triggered those ailments,” Bennett continues.

“Nicole Richie must be so relieved to get answers that finally explain her dizziness, weak spells and faintness. I just hope that her doctor also advised her to avoid sugar, soda, sweet desserts and refined carbohydrates,” adds the author, whose doctor gave her these very instructions in 1998 when he diagnosed her reactive hypoglycemia.

Bennett says that you can prevent such mystifying hypoglycemia symptoms such as fainting, weak spells and vertigo by:

• Eating moderate portions of high-quality foods every three to four hours (or about five to six times a day).

• Completely cutting out sugar and refined carbs such as white bread, most crackers, white rice and white pasta.

• Getting ample protein, slow-acting carbohydrates (such as vegetables and low-sugar fruits) and healthy fats.

• Never skipping meals, especially breakfast.

• Exercising regularly, if possible. (Light snacks before and aftewards may also be helpful.)

• Working with a qualified nutritionist or health care professional.

Bennett—a certified holistic health counselor, former sugar addict and self-described “Ex-Sugar Shrew!”—gives Nicole Richie fans and other people 9 of many warning signs of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. (These symptoms also could mean that you're in sugar shock or have a sugar addiction.)

1. Feeling unexplained faintness, dizziness or weak spells (such as those experienced by Nicole Richie).

2. Experiencing such baffling symptoms as staggering, lack of coordination, abnormal weight (loss or gain) and mental confusion or “brain fog” (which Nicole Richie also reportedly suffered).

3. Suddenly becoming wiped out and spacey. (Usually, people with hypoglycemia or low blood sugar wrongly grab quick, sugary snacks or drinks, which only make matters worse.)

4. Flipping from wired to tired, at a moment’s notice.

5. Getting abnormal, almost insatiable cravings for candy, soda and other sweets or fast-acting, refined carbs such as chips, white flour bread or white rice.

6. Suffering from ferocious headaches, the shakes or heart palpitations.

7. Displaying unpredictable cranky behavior, temper outbursts or crying spells.

8. Having excessive fatigue—so much so that extra sleep even doesn’t seem to help much.

9. Hearing unconvinced loved ones or doctors falsely assuming that your symptoms are “all in your head.” (Bennett wonders if Nicole Richie went through this frustrating experience, as do many hypoglycemia sufferers.)

Nicole Richie -- as well as millions of people with hypoglycemia, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes and sugar addiction -- can make important lifestyle and dietary changes that could bring level moods, better concentration, more consistent energy, improved relationships, and maybe even increased libido, says Bennett, whose book, SUGAR SHOCK! includes revealing information about the dangers of hypoglycemia and the tragedy of misdiagnosis.

SUGAR SHOCK! also includes a chapter, entitled, “It Might Not Be `All in Your Head’: What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know Or Believe About Hypoglycemia.” You can read an excerpt from the book here, entitled “Hypoglycemia: A Hidden Hell.”

SUGAR SHOCK! [ISBN 0425213579] is available at online retailers such as Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com and bookstores throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Again, you can read the excerpt here for "Hypoglycemia: A Hidden Hell."

Read more about Bennett' reaction to Nicole Richie's diagnosis here.

Needless to say, this is an exciting day.

Today, the much-revered Dr. Mehmet Oz interviewed Stephen (Dr. Sinatra, contributing editor for SUGAR SHOCK! and me) for "Oprah & Friends Radio."

As most of you know (unless you've been hiding under a rock), Dr. Oz is co-author with Dr. Mike Roizen of the mega-bestselling books, YOU: On A Diet and YOU: The Owner's Manual, both of which I raved about here previously.

You can learn more about today's show by visiting Oprah.com.

While you're at the Oprah & Friends website, make sure to read what Dr. Oz says about sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

It's easy to listen to the show. Just can sign up for a free 3-day trial of XM Radio Online today.

Is pop star Britney Spears under the grips of a dangerous sugar addiction?

Are these media reports true:

• Is Britney Spears really mindlessly downing one Cokes after another?

Does she constantly suck lollipops or incessantly chomp on other hard candies?

Do danishes and donuts frequently land in her stomach, as well as cake or cookies?

In other words, is Britney flying high on sucrose, high fructose corn syrup and caffeine -- so much so that she's constantly throwing her poor stressed-out body into an almost constant state of SUGAR SHOCK?

And I can't help but wonder: Might drugs, sugar or alcohol have triggered erratic, unpredictable behavior in her such as when the pop star shaved off her gorgeous locks on Feb. 16?

Now, please bear in mind that I have no inside information about Britney's sugar habit. I am, in fact, relying on Star magazine's un-bylined article "Britney's Rehab Rebellion," which reports that the pop diva has dived into the depths of a sugar habit and demanding, undignified diva-ish antics that show no signs of letting up.

Britney has, as Star puts it, a "raging sweet tooth," a phenomenon that also grabbed the attention of the gossip website, Defamer.

It's perhaps ironic that the pop star is now in rehab, as People and other publications reported. She's reportedly been getting treatment at Promises Rehabilitation Center in Malibu, California, since Feb. 20 for conditions that Star claims are "substance abuse, bipolar disorder, bulimia and postpartum depression."

The sugar behavior recounted by an anonymous source to Star is quite scary. The observer said:

"She has been drinking tons of Coca-Cola — about two cases a day, or 24 Cokes in 24 hours. She drinks one after the other!"

Oh goodness, that's sugar-and-caffeine overload! That'll throw you into SUGAR SHOCK! many times over!

Star did some calculations -- there are 140 calories in a single Coke — "so that means Brit's imbibing at least 3,300 calories every day from the soft drinks alone," the publication reported.

But another important piece of math that needs to be thrown into the equation, too. Each 20-ounce bottle of Coke contains about 16.87 teaspoons of sugar (usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup). So, if Britney's guzzling 24 of these over the course of a day and night, then she's taking in nearly 405 teaspoons of sugar! (It may be a little less if she's gulping smaller-sized cans of soda.)

Look, let's just say that the Star's source was exaggerating greatly. If Britney were consuming 8 twenty-ounce bottles of Coke a day, that would still come to nearly 135 teaspoons of sugar.

According to the Star's source, Britney's sugar fixes don't end with Coke:

"She is also constantly eating lollipops and other hard candy, and when she eats food, it's always something sweet, like danishes or donuts or cake or cookies."

Which brings us to the all-important question: Is Britney substituting one addiction for another?

From having researched my book SUGAR SHOCK! and having once been in the throes of a sugar addiction myself, it seems to me that this very un-diva-like sugar behavior is a sure-fire clue that there's something else going on.

Downing sweets with such frenetic fervor seems to signify that Britney is withdrawing from drugs or alcohol. This excessive, over-the-top clamoring for sugar also could point to some possible underlying nutrient deficiencies or biochemical dilemmas. In fact, some treatment programs recommend supplements as L-glutamine, B vitamins and chromium to help address these problems.

Let's assume for the moment that Britney is switching addictions here. You see, often, when substance abusers kick their habit, they boost their intake of sweets.

"The sugar solution is a kind of substitute for the drug," Robin Kanarek, Ph.D., a Tufts University psychology and nutrition professor told me while I was working on a chapter about sugar addiction for my book SUGAR SHOCK!

"The relationship between sweets and drugs has been known about for a while in less-than-scientific circles," agreed Blake Gosnell, Ph.D., an expert in taste preferences and drug taking and basic research director at the Neuropsychiatric Institute in Fargo, North Dakota.

In fact, Dr. Gosnell told me about a cinematic moment (from an older, classic movie) that dramatizes these strange, sugar-seeking antics. Sure enough, Britney's alleged, gotta-have-sugar behavior reminds me of the sugar-craving scene that appears in the 1955 Otto Preminger drug-addiction drama, "The Man With the Golden Arm," with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak.

In the scene, Sinatra's character (a dope addict and card dealer) spends a harrowing night kicking drugs cold turkey. After suffering withdrawal symptoms galore, guess what he craves? You got it: Sugar! In fact, he even licks the sugar out of his hands! Yuck!

Another anonymous source Star quoted makes a similar observation: "Usually when a patient eats [a lot of] sugar, it means that they are coming down from a drug that kept them really up, like cocaine or speed."

If a person is coming down off of drugs, alloweing them them sugar isn't going to solve the underlying biochemical problem. No offense meant to the staff at the rehab facility where Britney's getting treated, but if these media reports about Britney's frantic sugar-craving shenanigans are true (or even partly true), then just what kind of medical help is she getting? Why would she be allowed to go on potentially dangerous sugar binges, when the substance is clearly part of her problem, even if it's legal?

Look, I mean no disrespect, but perhaps the doctors and staff there could use an education about sugar's far-reaching dangers! I'd even be happy to supply several copies of my book SUGAR SHOCK!, which would alert them to the fact that all those sweets the celebrity patient is allegedly consuming in excess could bring on mental confusion, depression, anxiety, mood swings, temper outbursts, excessive fatigue and so much more.

With all that sugar coursing through her bloodstream and sending her from a series of blood sugar highs to lows, Britney (or anyone, for that mattter) could be bouncing around from wired to tired at a moment's notice and flying off in irrational rages!

According to previous news reports, Britney's attachment to sweets is nothing new. In fact, in October 2004, the pop star's junk food diet alarmed health professionals and elicited a story, entitled "Sugar High," by Noel Boddie in Blender.

Reportedly, at the time, people witnessed her downing Red Bull energy drinks and sipping Starbucks Frappuccinos, noshing on Cheetos (allegedly, one of her favorite snacks), and even smoking Marlboro Lights.

My heart goes out to Britney, because it appears that she has hit rock bottom but is struggling to get her life back on track. Congrats to her for taking that first step to get help, even if she was pressured into it, as one media report implied. Even so, she should pat herself on the back that she's beginning to address her issues.

And I'd like to assure Britney that there's huge hope, at least as far as her sugar issues are concerned. You can live a sweet, wonderful, life without guzzling one caffeinated soda after another! Now's a good time, too, for her to take care of her sugar issues so that she can pass along healthy food habits to her chileren.

If you also want to wish Britney well, you can visit her fan website.

A very special thanks to my research assistant Jennifer Moore.