Sugar Addicts' Diet

[Martha]

Hi there,
I've just co-written a book that came out on December 6. It's called Sugar Addicts' Diet (Thorsons/HarperCollins) and it's co-written with GMTV fitness expert Nicki Waterman. It's about her battle to kick 'extrinsic'/added sugars out of her diet because she was told she was heading for ill-health if she carried on being a 'sugar junkie'.
It's early days as it's only just gone on the shelves and, pre-Christmas, I think people are far more interested in buying 'fun' books like autobiographies, 'big lists' and coffee-table books. But if you're interested in finding out more, or, indeed, have an opinion about it, please feel free to make yourself known! It's my first book so there's a distinct element of the 'dark unknown' for me...
Martha

[Bill]

If you are interested in Martha and Nicki's book, here is the synopsis and a direct link:

Ex-sugar addict Nicki Waterman, the face of GMTV fitness, describes how and why she beat her sugar habit -- and how you can too. The Sugar Addict's Diet is a brand new nutrition plan that will help you lose weight and eliminate ailments by eliminating sugar entirely from your diet and increasing your levels of good fats to bust those cravings. Nicki Waterman's struggle with her own sugar addiction introduces this excellent and topical diet book. Refined sugar is the big baddie in our lives -- food companies and marketing executives are making the 'cocaine of the food industry' enormously difficult to avoid. Hidden sugars are everywhere and Nicki helps you to negotiate your way around the pitfalls on supermarket shelves.
* Discover if you are a sugar addict by checking your symptoms -- are you overweight, lacking energy, suffering headaches, irritable...?
* Learn how sugar contributes to major health issues, including obesity, diabetes, cancer, depression, candida, acne and a host of other problems.
* Understand the physical and emotional aspects of your addiction and what the real cost to your well being is.
* Cope with 'sugar dealers' -- people and situations that could set you on the wrong track.
* Lose weight and stop cravings by increasing your intake of the right fats -- follow Nicki and Martha's easy-to follow 14 day plan with delicious recipes.
* Win the sugar war with your kids by helping them choose healthier options -- and defeat the marketing industry's ever-present and invasive temptations.

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[Sparkle]

Would I be right in thinking this is a kind of Atkins thing (low sugars, higher in meat / fats?)

[Martha]

It's low in sugars in the form of 'refined' and 'added' sugars (aka 'non-milk extrinsic sugars') but it certainly doesn't cut out carbohydrates per se, as I believe Atkins does (except in the form of fruit and veg carbs, I believe?). The emphasis is on complex carbohydrates ('brown', wholegrain etc.) rather than refined ('white'). The reason is that carbohydrates break down into glucose so quickly in the blood that they may as well just be pure sugar whereas the fibrous part of complex carbs means sustained energy release. The book says that by eating protein (not just meat, but also plant proteins such as soya and legumes such as chickpeas in homous, and low fat dairy such as cottage cheese and yoghurt) with these complex carbs, you help to slow down the breakdown of the carbs to prevent blood sugar 'spikes' which cause 'highs' and 'lows' both physically and emotionally. Plus this keeps your metabolism 'stoked up' through the day to encourage (in conjunction with some exercise) weight loss and/or maintenance.
Nicki did this initially to 'free' herself from sugar because she'd been told how bad it was for her in the quantities she was eating it in, but the spin-off was that she lost weight. Hence it became a 'diet'.
One more thing to add about carbohydrates - the diet is about getting more balance back into your eating and only cutting out these 'added' sugars (such as chocolate and sweets) after 17 days of eating properly (rather than going 'cold turkey'). The idea is that if you stick to the diet and make it your daily routine (it's a healthy eating plan, not a faddy diet, so readers will hopefully feel they are not being asked to perform the impossible!), you'll eventually be able to put these sugars back in in a limited form (we're all human and life's about enjoying food, after all) but their consumption will be on YOUR terms rather than them controlling you (as Nicki felt).