Diabetes News

Food costs are on the rise, as various news outlets have reported. But we need to look deeper into this whole phenomenon, something that TIME magazine's John Cloud helps us do. The intrepid reporter offers a wonderful perspective on our food spending patterns.

In fact, he says that despite the recent price increases, "Americans still spend less to feed themselves than any other people on the planet--probably less than any monetized society in history."

What's up, Americans? Why don't we Americans care about feeding ourselves well? Why do we fork over only 9.9 cents of every dollar we spend on food when people in Britain spend 16 % of their household expenditures on food; Brazilians, 23 percent, Thais, 29 percent?

TIME magazie's John Cloud also observes that these rising food costs are due to our food being shipped great distances and gas being high. He also cites demand for ethanol triggering the price of corn to spike, and thousands of processed foods containing such derivatives like high-fructose corn syrup. (Of course, as you'll read here and in my book SUGAR SHOCK!, I'm not a fan of HFCS nor other refined sweeteners.)

In the fascinating TIME story, you'll also learn about U.S. subsidies of corn, which lead corn-dervied snacks to be well prices and convenient; "Engel's law" about how "as you get rich, you spend proportionately less to eat"; etc.

And then, a big hurrah for reporter John Cloud, because he suggests: "In short, we should stop subsidizing junk [food]." What's more he points out that healthy food, on a dollar-per-nutrient basis is not more expensive and more satiating than processed junk food. Read the TIME article now.

As regular readers of this SUGAR SHOCK! Blog know, I attended and graduated from the amazing Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York City, which brings in a Who's Who of nutrition experts to teach students there.

Now, as an alumni of IIN, I periodically receive e-mails about subjects of interest. I am including verbatim the contents of one such e-mail because it is vitally important. It's about the Farm Bill currently up for consideration in Congress.

I believe that it's important to galvanize as many people as possible to tell our legislators that they need to change the Farm Bill so that we make significant changes in the availability of healthy foods and nutrition education for Americans.

Please join the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and me to send an important message to your representatives in Congress so that they will realize that their constituents believe nutrition and health should be a major priority in the Farm Bill and that the bill should help:

• Improve the nutritional quality of school foods
• Increase the availability of fruits and vegetables in schools
• Expand research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Ensure that low-income pregnant women and small children have access to nutritious foods
• Strengthen nutrition education initiatives through the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program

This is what the Institute for Integrative Nutrition sent me:

Make your voice heard in Congress!

This month the American Congress will vote on the “Farm Bill,” a major piece of legislation on food, agriculture and nutrition in the U.S. for the next five years.

This legislation is a chance to make significant improvements to the availability of healthy foods and nutrition education in America. In partnership with Michael Jacobson and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Integrative Nutrition and our students and alumni are getting active.

Please take a moment now to send a message to your representative in Congress. Let them know that you think nutrition and health are a major priority.

When you're done, please forward this message to everyone you know. Your life depends on it!

Together we can rock this world! Thank you for your support.

Please click here to take action now.

Again, I urge you to please join the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and me so that we make our legislators realize that we need the Farm Bill to increase the availability of healthy foods and improve nutrition education for Americans.

Thanks to Calorie Lab for joining in and spreading the word about the fact that Americans are just eating way too much sugar. Sarah White for the site's Calorie Counter news section discusses our love affair with the substance while summarizing the wonderful CBS News Sunday Mornng story, "Is America Too Sweet on Sugar?," which aired last Sunday.

FYI, while Calorie Lab points out that my brain fog lifted when I kicked sugar and refined carbs, that was only one of many conditions that completely vanished. In addition, my excessive fatigue, mood swings, severe PMS, ferocious headaches and other ailments also totally vanished -- just from kicking all those culprit carbs. In fact, I tell my amazing story in chapter 1 of SUGAR SHOCK! I invite you to learn about my remarkable transformation by getting my book now.

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Parents, you've been besieging me for years with questions like, "How do I help my sugar-loving kids cut back on their habit?"

Or you've been repeatedly asking me, "How do I get my children to enjoy vegetables?"

Parents, I have some help for you -- so you, in turn, can help your youngsters.

I'm presenting a special teleseminar on July 17 with famous obesity expert David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Ludwig, author of Ending the Food Fight, will give you all kinds of helpful pointers to get your kids to eat more healthily, feel better, and ultimately live longer.

To prepare you for our exciting July 17 teleseminar, I highly recommend that you get Dr. Ludwig's must-read-for-parents book, Ending the Food Fight.

In this book -- which is written in a warm, compassionate bedside manner -- Dr. Ludwig some simple, but effective ideas to turn your kids' passion for junk food into enjoyment for healthy vegetables, fruits, etc.

If anyone is equipped to give advice to parents to help their overweigt youngstgers, it's Dr. Ludwig. He's an endocrinologist at Harvard, who has pioneered the use of a low-glycemic diet in combating obesity.

Not only that, but his groundbreaking research is the basis for some of the most successful diets of the last decade, including the South Beach Diet and Sugar Busters.

In addition, Dr. Ludwig has personally helped more than 5,000 youngsters himself. Ten years ago, he founded the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) program at Children's Hospital Boston. There, he and his team tailored his low-glycemic diet for children and combined it with a nine-week progressive plan that benefits the patient and the entire family.

Ending the Food Fight addresses, for the first time, all three key factors affecting body weight -- biology, behavior, and environment -- and integrates them into a powerful prescription for weight loss.

And you have the rare opportunity to gain access to this cutting-edge physician. Get more info now about this exciting July 17 teleseminar with Dr. David Ludwig.Hope to see you on July 17.

You can listen to me at 8 am on "The Big Show" with Michael Patrick Shiels, a radio program that is aired on 12 stations statewide on The Michigan Talk Network.

We're going to talk about the recent Kellogg's story about how the company is avoiding litigation by making some changes to improve the nutritional value of their cereal. What a great topic!

Listeners of "The Big Show," write to me here and let me know that you tuned in today. The first three listeners who contact me here at my SUGAR SHOCK! Blog will receive a free teleseminar on Wed., July 17 with famous children's obesity expert David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., who will help you help your kids to slim down. You'll be in for a real treat!

Thank you, CBS News Sunday Morning -- in particular correspondent Susan Spencer and producer Jason Sacca -- for today's very intriguing, informative lead story about sugar.

Susan and Jason, of course, as well as CBS, deserve major kudos for shedding light on this important subject, and I do hope and believe that CBS News Sunday Morning's five million viewers will find the segment quite eye-opening.

It's my greatest hope that the millions who saw the CBS News Sunday Morning story will reassess their intake of sugar and refined carbs and think about cutting them out -- or at least cutting back -- so they may get more energy, concentrate better, peel off the pounds, and maybe even reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes.

Wow! Susan did a spectacular job pulling together so many intriguing bits of information and then weaving them into a highly enjoyable, engrossing segment. (Susan -- who creates impressive, thoughtful stories -- really draws you in when presenting some salient facts and fascinating tidbits about Americans' love affair with sugar.)

For those of you who missed this morning's CBS News Sunday Morning segment, right now you can read the transcript of the sugar story here. (Of course, you'll miss out on the dazzling video footage, which included oodles of gooey, sugary foods; obese people waddling along; interviews with experts, including the one Susan did with me, as well as with one of my favorite experts, David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D. (read on); sugar historian Sidney W. Mintz, author of Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History; a representative from the Sugar Association; and a crowd of about 200 gathered at my recent book signing and my signing copies of SUGAR SHOCK! at Border's at Columbus Circle in New York City.)

I'm very grateful to CBS News Sunday Morning for showcasing my book SUGAR SHOCK!, which has received, much-appreciated, pivotal support from contributing author Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. and Nicholas Perricone, M.D., who wrote the foreword. In addition, I'm indebted to numerous bestselling authors and top health experts for endorsing the book including frequent "Oprah" guest Mehmet Oz, M.D., author of YOU: On A Diet.

It was a pleasure to be included in CBS News Sunday Morning's important piece, and it was nice to see that David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., one of the health experts I greatly admire and recommended, was quoted in the CBS News Sunday Morning segment.

Speaking of Dr. Ludwig, mark your calendars. On Tues., July 17, this world famous children's obesity expert -- author of Ending the Food Fight -- is participating in an exciting teleseminar with me to teach parents how to help their kids slim down.

Parents, this is your amazing opportunity to ask questions of this knowledgeable expert, and we'd love to have you. Just sign up here now for this July 17 event. (Please note that the date has been rescheduled.)

For the record: While the CBS News Sunday Morning piece was absolutely fabulous, comprehensive and entertaining, I'd like to clarify some figures cited in the story.

According to the USDA, the average American consumes about 142.6 pounds per year or a little more than 3/4 of a cup per day of added caloric sweeteners, including refined sugar (from cane and beets), high fructose corn syrup, glucose syrup and dextrose. However, I believe, as do other experts, that the average American takes in more like 170 pounds per year or just shy of a cup of sugar per day. It's important to note that this 142-pound figure (or 170-pound figure) does not include artificial sweeteners, as mentioned in the CBS piece.

In fact, if you add in stats for artificially sweetened foods and drinks, the figures are considerably higher. According to the Calorie Control Council, a whopping 180 million American adults (as of 2004) consume low-calorie and sugar-free sodas, other beverages and foods using five different sugar substitutes approved by the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame-K, sucralose and neotame.

Which, of course, begs the question. Are these sugar substitutes safe to consume? This is one of the Frequently Asked Questions I answer in SUGAR SHOCK! (I had to cover this, because while researching my book, thousands of people I've been coaching or connecting with online wanted to know if they reduce their sugar intake if it's OK to drank or eat foods using sugar substitutes.)

I was shocked at what I learned. Interviews with health experts revealed that questions have been raised about the safety of all artificial sweeteners on the market -- this, despite repeated claims from the FDA and the companies creating them. In SUGAR SHOCK! you also can learn about what some experts call a "paradoxical weight gain" that some people experience when ingesting foods with artificial sweeteners.

Anyhow, back to the wonderful CBS News Sunday Morning sugar story. I recommend that you read the transcript here now.

Again, thank you CBS News Sunday Morning. Hats off to you, Susan Spencer, for your diligence, dedication and intrepid reporting. And applause goes to you, Jason, for coming up with the idea for this segment in the first place and for so seamlessly pulling together various sources and concepts for this piece. Your viewers will benefit from your hard work. It was also an honor and pleasure to work with both of you.

By the way, I'm also grateful that the CBS News Sunday Morning story featured the cover of my book in the segment. Americans are curious, which has been evident since all day SUGAR SHOCK! has been moving up the charts.

At last look, SUGAR SHOCK! soared from #3,153 around 9:15 in the morning to # 43 on Amazon late Sunday night/early Monday morning. Meanwhile, BarnesAndNoble.com also saw an upswing in sales to # 77.

Join in the movement to learn about and stop SUGAR SHOCK! now -- get this book for you, a loved one and a work colleague. I like to believe that this book can not only open your eyes, but help you to break free from your sugar habit. (That's my intention at least, and according to the dozens of e-mails I've received, it does just that.)

Thought you'd find the following interesting:

Product Details

Now here's BarnesAndNoble.com:

• Paperback
• ISBN: 0425213579
• Pub. Date: December 2006
• Sales Rank: 77
• Customer Rating:
  

Check out the CBS website to find a description about Sunday's cover story about sugar, on the CBS News Sunday Morning. The piece is now entitled, "Short and Sweet." Here's the item on the CBS website.

Set your TiVos now if you plan to be busy for Father's Day. Learn first where the CBS News Sunday Morning airs in your area.

FYI, you can learn more about this segment here and also here, when I first posted about my exciting day with the CBS News Sunday Morning crew.

(CBS)

Exciting news comes from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

After a year and a half of negotiations, the CSPI came to an agreement with the Kellogg Company to adopt nutrition standards for the foods it advertises to young children. In announcing the agreement, CSPI hails this as "an historic commitment."

Kudos really go to CSPI for its hard work to reach this new agreement, which now means that CSPI, as well as the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and two Massachusetts parents, will not proceed with a previously announced lawsuit against the company. (FYI, I mentioned this pending lawsuit in my book SUGAR SHOCK! So this is the latest info that you can't currently find in my book.)

According to the new agreement with Kellogg, CSPI states, "foods advertised on media—including TV, radio, print, and third-party Web sites—that have an audience of 50 percent or more children under age 12 will have to meet new nutrition standards."

In addition, thanks to CSPI's efforts, Kellogg also agreed not to:

• "Advertise to children any foods in schools and preschools that include kids under age 12;
• "Sponsor product placements for any products in any medium primarily directed at kids under 12;
• "Use licensed characters (Shrek, SpongeBob, etc.) in mass-media advertising directed primarily to kids under 12 (for example, on the labels of food packages unless those foods meet the nutrition standards);
• "Use branded toys in connection with foods that do not meet the nutrition standards."

Watch CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson, Ph.D. discuss the settlement.

I'm pleased to give you an update about the sugar story that CBS News Sunday Morning is airing this Sunday, June 17, at 9 am EST and various times in other markets.

Previously, I wrote here on the SUGAR SHOCK! Blog about my exciting day with the CBS crew, when they filmed me, as well as some other sugar addicts I'd gathered. Now, here's a press release that I just wrote and am distributing.

Spread the word about this exciting sugar story that will air on CBS News Sunday Morning!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK--Connie Bennett, author of SUGAR SHOCK!, is one of several experts appearing this Sunday on the national show, CBS News Sunday Morning, in an approximately 8-minute segment about sugar. It is the lead story, barring any breaking news.

"This is heartening that a major national TV show such as CBS News Sunday Morning is delving into this extremely important subject and telling people the truth about sugar," says Bennett, a former sugar addict, journalist and certified holistic health counselor.

"Americans need to learn that they're probably getting at least one-quarter to one-third of their calories from refined sugar and processed carbs. And they should know that consuming so many nutrient-deprived foods and drinks could lead to a host of health-damaging problems, including depression, failing memory, fatigue, headaches, heart disease, sexual dysfunction, cancer, hypoglycemia, type 2 diabetes and premature aging," adds Bennett, whose book SUGAR SHOCK! has been endorsed by a number of renowned health experts, including frequent "Oprah" guest Dr. Mehmet Oz. Bestselling author Nicholas Perricone, M.D. wrote the foreword; and Stephen T. Sinatra is the SUGAR SHOCK! contributing author.

The CBS News Sunday Morning segment about sugar is reported by the talented, Emmy Award-winning journalist Susan Spencer and produced by the thorough Jason Sacca.

Other experts or self-described "sugar addicts" interviewed for the segment include:

* Children's obesity expert David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., author of Ending the Food Fight.

* Sugar historian Sidney W. Mintz, author of Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History.

* Melanie Miller, vice president of public relations for the Sugar Association.

* Six self-described current or former "sugar addicts" -- Bhaswati Bhattacharya, MD.; Deborah Buell, H.H.C.; Sheila Drew; Christy Goldfeder, C.H.H.C.; Moe M. Leary, H.H.C.; and Donna Sonkin, C.H.H.C.

Tune in this Sunday, June 17, at 9 am EST to CBS News Sunday Morning to watch the sugar segment.

Click here to find out where and when it airs in your market.