SUGAR SHOCK! Fan and Her 9-Year-Old Former Sugar-Addict Daughter Find Me at Whole Foods While I'm Out Having Fun

Usually, I don't post anything here personal on this SUGAR SHOCK! blog. Inevitably, there's a connection to my book SUGAR SHOCK! In fact, many readers, I suspect, aren't even aware of the fact that I'm a single, available chick living in Manhattan and that I have ample time to play these days now that my book is published.

But today, after much blog-soul-searching, I'm going to break new ground and get personal, because my two worlds collided recently in the most unexpected way imaginable. (Perhaps I got motivated by advice from popular blogger Melissa Lafsky, who I interviewed this afternoon on my Stop SUGAR SHOCK! Radio Show, which you can listen to now.)

...So, having said that, I invite you to go back with me in time about a week and a half ago to one of the Whole Foods locations in New York City, where I was going through first-get-together rites with a good-looking, interesting, charming man. (Let's call him "Dignified.")

Dear readers, I invite you to imagine now the following scenario: So there we were, my brand new acquaintance and I, sitting at a counter at Whole Foods.

Picture us: I'm eagerly relishing my scrumptious salad while Dignified chomps an organic Fuji apple and pulls out his just-purchased copy of SUGAR SHOCK! (Honest, it wasn't my idea to buy the book at the Border's upstairs!)

As my companion and I went through getting-to-know-you questions ("Where are you from originally? What are your favorite sports?," etc.), along comes a slim, attractive blonde.

She stops dead in her tracks when she spies SUGAR SHOCK!

She then looks directly at Dignified and asks him point blank, "Have you read that book? That's a great book. I've given it to a number of friends."

Needless to say, my jaw dropped! A slim, pretty woman, who read SUGAR SHOCK! pops by out of the blue to talk to a new friend and me about my book?

(Now, in case you're wondering, Blondie was not coming onto Dignified, despite his good looks. Instead, she was clearly just very enthusiastic about a book, which just happened to be mine!)

Suffice it to say that I gleefully laughed (and at length_ at his horribly unlikely situation! You seriously couldn't make up this stuff!

(In fact, initially, Dignified admitted later, he thought that I'd set her up to approach us in this manner. I promise you, folks, I did not arrange this!)

Anyhow, in response to Blondie's glee at meeting me, Dignified points towards me, quickly flips through SUGAR SHOCK! and settles on the inside front cover. Then he looks up at Blondie and quickly points to my photo as he said, "She wrote it."

At this point, Blondie looks at me with excitement in her eyes. (It really was quite flattering.) She's completely startled and she gushes some, even pleasantly complimenting me.

Next, she launches into a remarkable story about how reading SUGAR SHOCK! and getting off sugar has completely changed her life.

Not only that, but a sugar-free diet also has transformed Blondie's previously moody, depressed, often-sick, daughter into a sweet, amiable, cheerful, 9-year-old girl. (I'll call her Camille.)   

Meanwhile, Dignified sat spellbound for a while. (Or rather, he may have been bored, because he took off for a few minutes to let Blondie and I connect.)

Blondie then regaled me with her and her young daughter's sour-turned-sweet sugar tales. I was simply awestruck at hearing these amazing tales.

Blondie's Sad Story

As she told it, not so long ago, Blondie was "at wit's end" because she suffered severely from Crohn's disease and horrible ailments galore. When traditional medicine failed her, she went to a savvy nutritionist, who recommended eliminating sugar. At around the same time, she heard about and bought my book SUGAR SHOCK! and eagerly devoured it.

"All of a sudden everything started to come together," Blondie told me in a phone call after our initial Whole Foods encounter. "All these light bulbs were coming off."

Inspired by SUGAR SHOCK! and her nutritionist's advice, Blondie tossed sugar, juice and white bread out of the house and instead began stocking cupboards with healthy foods.

Soon, eating in a more mindful, healthy way helped Blondie to regain her health -- and she has the blood tests to prove it, she insisted. When the now-energized mother began feeling better, she then began to focus on her young daughter's ailing health.

Like Mother, Like Daughter: 9-Year-Old Camille's Tale

As many moms and dads will reluctantly admit, parents often pass on their sugar habits to their children. That was the case with Blondie and Camille except that the child developed a worse sugar addiction than the mother.

"The trouble started when she was 6," Blondie revealed. "All she wanted was macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, milk, bread, soda, juice, chocolate, candies and all that. She didn't want to eat chicken, fish or vegetables."

The Child's Sugar Nightmare: Mood Swings, Crying Spells, Depression Comes On

 While Camille was clamoring for sweets and quickie carbs, she also became, as Blondie put it, "depressed, irritable and crying all the time."

What's more, Camille also experienced "tremendous mood swings. She didn't want to go to school. She often had headaches.

"Her tummy often hurt, and she was constantly going to the school nurse. She did poorly in school. She had a terrible odor about her, too," her mother sadly remembered.

Child Endures Suicidal Thoughts

Worst of all, as the mom mournfully recalled, Camille "was talking about hurting herself and not wanting to live."

Then Blondie began talking to Camille's teachers and even a social worker at her school. They even conducted tests, which delivered inconclusive results. All throughout, school officials never considered that her daughter's problems could be diet-related.

Psychologist Wants to Put Child on Meds for ADHD

You will shudder at the most startling piece of this sad story: A psychologist at Blondie's young daughter's school wanted to put the pre-teen on medication for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)!

But Blondie resisted and opted instead to experiment with her daughter's diet. As she had hoped, removing sugar and refined carbs wildly succeeded.

Sure enough, a cheerful Camille is now in the 4th grade and is a "star student," the mom proudly explained.

"It's mind boggling," Blondie says in awe about her daughter's personality transformation after removing most of the sugar from her diet.

"She's a new person. She's now nice, friendly, happy and healthy."

Not surprisingly, given the onslaught of processed foods often tempting kids at school, her 9-year-old daughter doesn't always steer clear of refined sweets. (Hey, she's human.)

"If she has a chance, she'll grab sugar at school even though her brother is always watching her," Blondie remarks.

But now the mom is getting sugar savvy. "I can tell when she's had sugar, because she gets very moody again. She gets bad breath again. And she gets these sugar rings under her eyes like she hadn't slept or she was ill. When she's clean, her eyes are perfect -- no discoloration."

But much of the time, sanity prevails in Blondie's household now that sugar doesn't maintain an active presence anymore.

Aren't these the most amazing stories? I hear from people all the time, who write to tell me about how much better life is simply by cutting out those culprit carbs. But to run into someone while I'm out meeting someone new really has to take the cake, to coin a horrible cliche!

By the way, Blondie said she and her daughter would be willing to appear on TV to discuss her and her daughter's dramatic sour-to-sweet sugar stories. Oprah, are you listening?

(FYI, I'm mentioning this, because a few weeks ago, I learned that the Oprah show was seeking parents worried that their children were addicted to sugar and experiencing "sugar meltdowns" (as the Oprah producers put it).