October always brings Halloween. I personally hate this holiday for a myriad of reasons. But one of the biggest reasons for my distaste for this holiday is the immense amount of sugar it exposes us and our children to.
On a regular day, the average person in the United States consumes around 17 teaspoons, or 71.14 grams, of added sugar per day, which far exceeds recommended limits. That’s enough to send you screaming into the night! A gram of sugar contains about 4 calories, which means that many people consume almost 285 calories a day just from added sugar!
According to 2013 data collected by Coupon Follow, the average child will eat about 3 cups of sugar on Halloween. For those who aren't on the metric system, that equals roughly 384 grams of sugar — almost 16 times the maximum daily recommendation of 25 grams suggested by the American Heart Association.
According to AHA guidelines, most men should consume no more than 150 discretionary calories of sugar per day. This is equivalent to 38 g or 9 teaspoons (tsp) of sugar. Women should use no more than 100 discretionary calories on sugar per day. This is around 25 g or 6 tsp of sugar. And children between the ages of 2 and 18 should consume no more than 25 g, or 6 tsp, of added sugar daily.
Now, as a natural health care practitioner, that’s WAAAAAY too much sugar to me. With so many alternatives, I can’t understand why anyone would choose to do this one thing to their bodies that they have complete control over.
Eating too much sugar can increase a person’s risk of many health problems, including weight gain, obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and tooth decay.
Most people are aware that eating sugar has negative consequences to our health, leading to things like obesity and diabetes. However, most haven’t made the connection that it also has an effect on our immune system. A big impact at that – immune function decreases for hours after sugar is consumed. But an even more disturbing effect is eating or drinking too much sugar curbs immune system cells that attack bacteria. A research study done by Loma Linda University in which participants were fed different forms of sugar found that the effectiveness of white blood cells (our immune cells which fight infection) decreased up to 50% after 1-2 hours of eating sugar, lasting up to five hours! And once the white blood cells are affected, it's thought that the immune system is weakened for about 5 hours after.
A gram (g) of sugar contains about 4 calories, which means that many people consume almost 285 calories a day from added sugar alone.
How much sugar does it take to weaken your immune response? A nutrition study shows that it takes about 75 grams of sugar to weaken the immune system. If we are feeding our sweet tooth on a daily basis, this can render our immune system weak and ineffective continuously!
But wait! The bad news continues. Bacteria and viruses (can you say COVID?) have a sweet tooth! It's no coincidence that these microorganisms attack the human organism to make us ill, for example when they give us pneumonia or flu. The great majority, around 80%, of these bacteria and viruses seek out the sugars on the surface of our cells. Many parents don’t think twice about putting unnecessary and dangerous masks on their young children, and yet fill them full of the very food the virus is seeking on a daily basis. As a side note, it is well documented that Cancer feeds on sugar. Scared yet?
You may be thinking you’re in the clear because you avoid sugary treats like soda or the baked goods … but you may want to think again. If you’re consuming any processed food like bagels, pizza, crackers, or popcorn (just to name a few), you’re consuming sugar without knowing it, as all processed foods break down into sugar in our blood stream. To understand how much sugar you’re consuming, all it takes is a simple equation; four grams of any carbohydrate breaks down into one teaspoon of sugar in our blood. For example, one cup of cooked plain spaghetti is about 43 grams of carbohydrate, which breaks down into almost 11 teaspoons of sugar. If you were to replace the spaghetti with one cup of zucchini noodles at 3.7 grams per cup, it would equate to less than one teaspoon of sugar!
According to Dr. Mark Hyman’s book Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? “Some estimates from US government surveys say that the average American consumes 152 pounds of sugar and about 133 pounds of flour [which converts to sugar] annually. That’s more than a third of a pound per person per day.” This is because 75% of processed foods also have added hidden sugars! Some of the biggest culprits of hidden sugar are condiments like ketchup and BBQ sauce, salad dressings, crackers, pasta sauces, and vegetable juices. Try reading labels of products in your pantry or next time you’re at the grocery store to see where sugar is hiding.
Examples of added sugars to look for on food labels include:
refined white sugar
brown sugar
raw sugar
invert sugar
malt sugar
coconut sugar
molasses
syrup
maple syrup
corn syrup
high-fructose corn syrup
corn sweetener
honey
fruit juice concentrates
sugar molecules ending in “ose,” such as fructose, glucose, dextrose, lactose, maltose, and sucrose
So what are we to do? God made the tips of our tongues sensitive to sweet, so obviously He didn’t want us to go without anything sweet whatsoever. Here are some healthier alternatives, but even they must be taken in small doses. ANYTHING in excess is not good for you, so go easy! Honey, molasses, applesauce – homemade or organic with no added sugar, and natural fruit! Dates, raisins, bananas, figs, apples, peaches, pineapple, cherries, grapes, lemons, limes and oranges, pomegranate, berries, and melon of all sorts – the options are endless! And unlike sugar – these all offer vitamins and nutrients.
I won’t lie to you. Getting off sugar is hard. In the brain, sugar lights up the same sensors as cocaine, and when you try to get off it, you’ll understand. Expect headaches of the worst kind. That’s because it is a “drug”, and you are addicted to it. That’s why you’re going through withdrawals. Rest assured, it doesn’t last long and once you break the vicious cycle, you will begin to experience the sweetness that is already in many foods without added sugar. You will become sensitive to sweetness and best of all, you won’t crave it the way you do with sugar.
Halloween is scary. But destroying your health with the “white death” is even scarier. Especially when you don’t have to. Put down the cookie and pick up a piece of fruit. Stay healthy out there, and Let's Get Better!
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