Your Loveland Chiropractor and Nutrition Response Testing experts want you to start the Holiday Season the right way!
Halloween is right around the corner, followed by our favorite holidays and celebrations. One common theme is – SUGAR!!!
-Halloween is the Candy Holiday.
-Thanksgiving is the Pie Holiday.
-Christmas is the Cookie Holiday (and so many more treats!).
-All the while, building up to the Alcohol Party – New Years Eve!
With all of the reasons for feasting, do yourself a favor and be mindful of your sugar intake NOW! Wouldn’t it be nice to have a New Year’s Resolution that isn’t about starting a diet (and/or an exercise routine) because of how you feel after all of this binging?
We know a future ideal is not as inspiring as a current crisis, so we’re giving you some inspiration to make this new mindset kick into gear.
Dr. Nancy Appleton was a nutritionist and a prolific writer and researcher. She wrote several books detailing the effects that sugar has on the human body (we recommend them all). The following link will show you the 144 ways that sugar ruins your health, compiled by Dr. Appleton.
144 Ways Sugar Ruins Your Health
That list is in no special order, so we’ve broken it down into different categories, showing you how sugar is bad for “Children”, “Cancer Patients”, “Digestive Disorders”, “Bones, Joints and Muscles”, “Cholesterol and Heart Problems”, “Diabetes”, and simply “Women”.
Did you notice all the references to immune system health as well? It should make you wonder if we really have a “cold and flu season” or just a “sugar overload season!” Your future self will thank you for cutting sugar out of your diet.
Tips and Tricks for Kicking the Sugar Habit
We want our kids to have fun, and we want them to be safe. After reading those above lists of how sugar ruins your health, we all must do our best to protect our children from harm, even if it is a far-off concern.
To help control youthful sugar cravings, it first helps to understand why they happen. Many babies are fed fruits as one of their first foods, competing with less pleasurable foods like vegetables and meats. We learn early on that sweet stuff tastes good.
Sugar triggers a pleasure center in the brain. Not only does it taste good, it makes you feel good. It is surprisingly easy to become addicted to sugar.
Sugar is an appetite stimulant. Before our modern era, the only time most humans consumed fruits was in the summer months and only when they were ripe. This meant that their primary source of several key nutrients was only available for a short time. To help stock up on these nutrients, the sugar in those fruits triggered a bigger appetite, helping those early humans eat more.
Today, we have sugar in everything and all throughout the year, but we also still have the same reaction to sugar. Cravings for something sweet usually lead to more cravings until you’re snacking all day. We know, we’ve been there!
To help kick the sugar habit, be sure to give your kids nutrient-dense foods. Their sugar makes them hungry, and continued compliance to those cravings usually doesn’t lead to healthy options. It is highly likely that your kids are chronically nutritionally deficient! Once their bodies get the nutrients they need, those cravings slip away. One of our favorite supplements to provide a dense blast of nutrients is Trace Minerals-B12 from Standard Process. If you want to know how we can help with these and other diet changes, start here.
One of our favorite nutritional products for calming those sugar cravings is an herb called Gymnema. This herb has been used for hundreds of years to desensitize your taste buds to sugar. If you can break the “taste” part of the addiction, you’re well on your way!
For this Halloween, there are several fun options out there. You could try “The Switch Witch” where your kids trade their candy for healthier options. Even using a healthier candy is a step in the right direction – don’t expect perfection right away!
When our kids get home, they root through their pile and pick out 5 to 10 of their favorite pieces. We screen them to find healthier options (like dark chocolates) and throw out anything that has tons of chemicals and dyes. The rest goes back into a bowl on the porch for all of the late trick-or-treaters! Out of sight, out of mind.
Throughout the rest of the year, for your kids and yourself, keep these ideas in mind. Eat something before going to parties so that you don’t gorge yourself on sugar-laden snacks and drinks. Take those supplements mentioned above to calm the urges. But most importantly – stay consistent.
If you’re good for a while on your sugar intake and then you slip, you will find out the hard way just how much sugar had affected you. For us, when we eat too much sugar we immediately feel it with more congestion, inflammation in certain body parts, and noticeable changes in mood and mental function. All the time we were addicted to sugar, we never noticed these issues because they were simply “normal” for us!
Great health doesn’t require great acts. Start doing the small things that make a big difference. Achieve and maintain the health you deserve by calling us today at 970-685-8060 for Quantum Nutrition Testing.