Sugar Baby

Posted on October 18, 2019 by dragonspitapothecary

Halloween is coming up very soon. I’ve browsed the candy aisle a couple times already telling myself I was just going to look at what is on sale. You know, I have to buy a lot of candy for all the little trick-or-treaters that will be coming to our house and it can’t hurt to pick up a bag while things are on sale. Yet when I get home, that bag is soon opened where my family and I are “sampling.” Before I know it I’m out of candy and need to walk down that sweet aisle again looking for more.

The sad part is Halloween candy is just the start of holiday sugary sweets that will soon fill our homes. Yes soon there will be other candies, homemade and purchased, cookies, cakes, pies, and other baked goods all filling up the counter for the holidays. Resistance can seem futile because who can resist a warm chocolaty peanut butter brownie fresh from the oven? I can’t. I admit it.

Sugar is so easy to be drawn to and include in our diets. I have a sugar canister on our counter and soon realized our son in the process of clamoring up to get a plate or snack was dipping his little fingers into the sugar for a taste of that sweetness. We are all addicted to sugar and it takes great willpower and strength to eliminate, reduce and avoid it. For most of us that willpower is short lived like a halfway run down disposable battery that despite doing all the normal tricks to preserve it for one more run it is out of power.

Sugar – Friend of Foe?

Sugar in and of itself is not evil. Fruits have natural sugar yet you never hear of someone getting addicted to watermelon, bananas and apples like we do processed white sugar especially when it’s used in things like apple pie. Honey is also a natural sugar and yet we hear of only Winnie the Pooh going overboard with the honeypots. So what is it about that white powdery substance that is tripping our brains and bodies?

The reaction of white sugar in our bodies is similar to that of someone addicted to drugs like cocaine. If you do a brain scan of two people, one with sugar in their system and one on cocaine they will be almost identical. Over time our body’s inability to process sugar and operate at this level can decrease our body’s insulin function rendering us diabetic and insulin resistant. We literally flood our insulin management system until it breaks and then we need medications and diets to manage our body’s functions for the rest of our life. There are other health problems that can transpire when this occurs including kidney failure, blood pressure issues and of course weight, tooth decay and deteriorating general health. Despite this our society functions on a very high amount of processed sugar every day!