GUEST BLOGGER: Connie Bennett (Part 1)
Greetings, readers of Diabetes Notes. My name is Connie, and Rob has agreed to allow me to be a guest blogger here today and tomorrow as part of my SUGAR SHOCK! Blog Tour. This is a thrilling time for me, because my book SUGAR SHOCK! (Berkley Books) just recently hit bookstores nationwide and online retailers.
So you may be wondering how I got interested in the subject of sugar and refined carbs. You see, although I’m an experienced journalist and now blogger (www.SugarShockBlog.com), I’m also a former sugar addict, who very reluctantly kicked sugar on doctor’s orders back in 1998. My doctor said that my plethora of baffling ailments, including uncomfortable “brain fog,” unpredictable mood swings, ferocious headaches, severe PMS, and excessive exhaustion, were all symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia.
Now, nearly 9 years later, I now reveal the sour news about sweets, and I also offer some helpful tips to break free from your sugar habit. Frankly, what I’ve learned during the past five years years while researching and writing SUGAR SHOCK! and interviewing some 250 health experts has been quite mind-boggling and well, shocking, as the title of my book implies. What’s also alarming and especially shocking is that millions of Americans are unknowingly triggering a constellation of symptoms (including diabetes) just by eating too many sweets and refined carbs.
One thing I learned may startle many. If you suffer symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia — heart palpitations, dizziness, exhaustion, cold sweats, depression, irritability, mood swings, vertigo, headaches, etc. — you could be headed towards type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, this concept just isn’t universally acknowledged. In fact, many doctors don’t even recognize low-blood sugar symptoms unless they occur as part of diabetes.
The hypoglycemia-diabetes connection is particularly timely for me, because New York City is my adopted home, and we just heard news this week about how many residents of the Big Apple don’t have a clue that they have diabetes or that they’re getting it. It’s quite scary to think that about 207,000 of the 700,000 New Yorkers with diabetes don’t even realize that they’re at risk for getting heart disease, kidney failure and blindness due to their disease.
It would be interesting to hear from you:
– How long did it take for you to get diagnosed with diabetes?
– What kinds of symptoms did you suffer that made you seek out medical advice?
– What did your doctor tell you about sugar consumption (if any) and its relationship to diabetes management?
I’d also like to get a sense as to what you now believe:
– Do you think there’s a connection between eating these “culprit carbs” (my phrase for those heavily processed carbs) and getting diabetes?
– Do you try to limit sugars and refined carbs to control your diabetes?
Look forward to hearing back.
Connie
Author, SUGAR SHOCK! (Berkley Books)
www.SugarShockBlog.com and www.SugarShock.com
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6 opinions for GUEST BLOGGER: Connie Bennett (Part 1)
Larissa
Feb 1, 2007 at 5:15 pm
> How long did it take for you to get diagnosed
> with diabetes?
I was probably diabetic for a couple of years before I was diagnosed.
> What kinds of symptoms did you suffer that
> made you seek out medical advice?
I had started to be peri-menopausal, which I’m a little young for. So I went to see the doctor about that, to make sure it wasn’t something else.
She agreed that I was probably peri-menopausal. She also found the diabetes and a tumor in my ear.
The diabetes was pretty mild, so I hadn’t had a lot of symptoms yet.
> What did your doctor tell you about sugar
> consumption (if any) and its relationship to
> diabetes management?
Nothing. She didn’t have to. I had done my homework and adopted a strict diet as soon as I saw the lab results.
> Do you think there’s a connection between
> eating these “culprit carbs” (my phrase for
> those heavily processed carbs) and getting
> diabetes?
Probably.
> Do you try to limit sugars and refined carbs
> to control your diabetes?
That is, in fact, the only thing I have done so far to control my diabetes. I’m having my A1C checked tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Connie
Feb 2, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Larissa,
What a fascinating story you have! Good for you for doing your homework and changing your diet after getting your lab results! There should be more proactive people like you! Shame your doctor didn’t give you some good diet advice though! Good luck on your A1C. Let us know what happens. My question for you is this: Do you feel better having changed your diet like this? Also, are you exercising, too?
Connie Bennett
Author, SUGAR SHOCK!
http://www.SugarShockBlog.com
Larissa
Feb 2, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Yes, I do feel better for having mostly (I still allow myself a little piece of dark chocolate every day, and I eat pasta about once a week) given up refined sugar and other heavily processed carbs. I had a tendency to get hypoglycemic before. Now I don’t.
I have always been pretty good about cardio, but this summer I signed up with a personal trainer to help me stay motivated and push me to do more strength training.
Connie
Feb 2, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Good for you, Larissa. You do sound like you’ve made some remarkable progress and you’re really are doing a lot to keep your diabetes under control! That’s great that you’re also working out with a trainer, too! Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Connie Bennett
Author, SUGAR SHOCK!
http://www.SugarShock.com
Larissa
Feb 10, 2007 at 2:58 pm
A1C: 5.8
Maybe the doctor will want less of my precious bodily fluids, now that my SWEET SWEET BLOOD CANDY has been replaced by normal blood…
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