Waking Up to Sugar  Addiction - An Online Approach to Self-Management
Author - 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 can-
not.  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 impor-
tant.  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 cer-
tificate 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 dis-
ease 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 les-
son 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 self-
care 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 ad-
diction.  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  ad-
diction are buried deep in the ocean of the subconscious mind and
although hidden from sight, send up emotional messages that con-
nect 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 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
_http://www.hypnosis- audio.com_ (http://www.hypnosis-audio.com)  and
_http://www.sugar-addiction.com_ (http://www.sugar-addiction.com)   She is the author of
Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick  It.  She specializes in stress
management, high level health and  achievement for adults, children, executives
and athletes.  Her sites are
interactive and offer + 350 audio CD programs plus free  mp3 downloads.