Waking
Up to Sugar Addiction and Finding Help Online
by
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht.
No doubt about
it! We are a nation of addicts with sugar and re-fined carbohydrates
ranking right at the top of the list. Sugar and its relations
are absolutely everywhere and like wallpaper, we tend not to
see it, even though it surrounds us on all four walls. Sugar
is a
substance that can be abused,and while not formally listed along
with other drugs, it is responsible for a host of problems
ranging
from chronic disease to poor cognitive or mind function. While
some individuals can see the problem, many cannot. Fewer understand
it and even less know how to manage it on a long-term basis.
There are some people who question whether or not there is
a need to
manage it, accepting it as just a small problem sitting in a
sea of bigger and more important problems. Let's be clear
about this.
It is not.
Why this confusion
and lack of interest? The problem may begin with it's label of
innocence. We call people we like "sugar" or "sweetie"
and even Grandma encouraged us to eat. Just the idea of sugar
addiction brings giggles, sometimes followed by anger and even
remorse. People can even be heard defending it, as if it were
on trial. "After all, it's only food !!! Isn't there enough
in our world to be stressed about without adding what I put in
my mouth?" And then the rationalization, " If it were
so bad there wouldn't be so much of it around! Someone would take
it off the shelves."
If you are wondering
if you should be concerned or not about what you put in your mouth,
let me share some information with you. While most of us aren't
keen on reading statistics, they certainly can help to shake us
up a bit and help us focus on what's important. it does help to
put our focus in the right place. Here are just a few statistics
to put you in the mood for what comes next.
There are 15.7 million
or 5.9% of the population in the U.S. have diabetes. While an
estimated 10.3 million have been diagnosed, 5.4 million people
are not aware that they have the disease. Many of these fall into
the "sugar addicted" or reactive hypoglycemic description.
Each day approximately 2,200 people are diagnosed with diabetes.
About 798,000 people will be diagnosed this year.
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. and
the sixth leading cause of death by disease. Based on death certificate
data, diabetes contributed to 193,140 deaths in 1996. Many people
who fall into the "sugar addicted" category are adding
to these numbers in this very moment. Look around you. You can
probably see some of them right now.
First and foremost,
do know that sugar addiction is no joke, but a true medical epidemic
of pre-diabetes, heart and circulatory disease in drag. And that's
not all. Since sugar appears to be the under-lying addiction to
all addictions, you can add the rising number of addictions in
our society to this grand epidemic that is
raging and destroying our nation and other parts of the world
that follow our leadership.
There are many reasons
we have difficulty seeing the extent of the problem. As we explore
the first reason, we get a awareness lesson in waking up, or seeing
with "new eyes." The truth is that we have such an overwhelming
availability of unhealthy food and beverage, as well as the never-ending
advertisements by the food industry, it's difficult to see the
foods that are not sugar related. It's like other foods don't
even exist.
And then to make
the matter even worse, people are unaware of what happens to them
when they eat like this. The whole idea that food and beverage
is connected to any outcomes at all appears to be foreign. Forget
trying to get the idea across that there are both short and long
term outcomes. For some reason we appear to be a very uneducated
population in regard to how we manage our selfcare and it is taking
a very hard toll on our society.
Of course there
is a percentage of our population who is aware, but even those
who are awake to sugar addiction appear to have problems succeeding
in staying on course. If you are one of these people, I'm glad
you have decided to read this article. I also hope that you are
ready to become aware of the different ways to
approach the problems of sugar addiction & related disorders.
This is a big subject that needs a dedication to learning and
the applications of that learning.
I suggest that you
take a moment to review my mentored discussion group at sugar-addiction@yahoogroups.com
The archives alone will be worth that visit. This group has been
in progress for almost 5 years now and is currently working with
my book and CD series on Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder and
How to Lick It. There is no requirement to have the book or CD's
in order to join and work with the group.
Working within this
group is like being in a class or seminar. Participants are invited
to ask all sorts of questions, and so everyone learns from each
other. Understanding sugar addiction and it's management is a
vast subject, and sometimes it seems overwhelming, but when it
is presented in this friendly format,
the education builds on itself, just as it did when you were going
to school. In addition, keep in mind that all knowledge is self-motivational
and everything you read and apply will add to your success. You
may have personal experience with some of these things, but not
all, and so everyone can count on improving their
own level of health & optimum performance.
As a nurse educator
and clinical medical hypnotherapist, this group works with their
own subconscious mind programs, planting new ones & editing
old ones. This is the road to lifestyle change and inner motivation.
This is extremely powerful, even online, because each experience
can be made useful through something
called negative motivation. For example, if you don't have diabetes,it
can still be a negative motivator for you, keeping you away from
the lifestyle choices and behaviors that do build diabetes and
it's related killer diseases. The group also
benefits from complimentary mp3 downloads to enhance their learning.
It is a win-win healthy place to be.
The group learns
that SPECIAL PROBLEMS NEED SPECIAL TOOLS. While most of us can
recognize our surface problems, it is usually a big challenge
to harness these and successfully manage them. Let's use the image
of an octopus representing the problem of sugar addiction. It's
not enough to see the octopus head poking out of the sea. One
must locate the tentacles of the problem that lie under the surface.
The origins of some tentacles of sugar addiction are buried deep
in the ocean of the subconscious mind and although hidden from
sight, send up emotional messages that connect to current life
experiences.
When parts of a
problem are not identified, it is often difficult to make a good
plan for recovery or to find ways to implement it. Even when the
problems and it's parts are identified, there is still the matter
of staying motivated and persisting through obstacles for the
seemingly never ending periods of time necessary
to manage addictions or to solve other lifestyle changes.
Sugar addiction
management tools include high-level nutrition, heightened awareness
and interactive self-hypnosis. The online group is an invitation
to those around the world who choose to learn and actively apply
these tools in their lives. As mentor, I walk with the group through
all the steps needed to make power-
ful and life-long changes, not only in managing sugar addiction,
but in every area of life. These tools have no boundaries as far
as applications are concerned and the more they are applied in
life, the more opportunities call out to join in. The internet
was designed to be a place of learning and I am pleased to be
able
to play a part in this worthwhile goal.
© Elizabeth
Bohorquez
Elizabeth Bohorquez
RN, C.Ht is a Workplace Health and Lifestyle Change Educator,
President and Program Designer, Sarasota Medical and Sports Hypnosis
Institute located in Sarasota, FL and online at www.hypnosis-audio.com
and www.sugar-addiction.com
She specializes in stress management, high level health and achieve-
ment for adults, children, executives and athletes. Her sites
are
interactive and offer + 350 audio CD programs.