Getting ready for your sugar fix this Halloween? It’s right around the corner, so it’s time for me to spoil your fun (insert sad “wah wah wah” sound).
We’ve heard time and again the evils of sugars. It contributes to diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and obesity just to name a few. When it comes to obesity, there is a big misconception that fats are evil. Sugars are the real culprit! I think it’s funny that some foods specifically have labels that say, “fat-free” because that really translates to “loaded-with-sugar” to compensate for taste. There’s a bunch of chemical reactions that happen with excessive sugar intake. Basically, when your body is exposed to a lot of sugars that it can’t burn off right away, the body stores the sugar as fat.
Here are some eye-opener stats on our love of sugar: In the 1800s, the average American ate 45 grams of sugar every 5 days on average, about the amount found in 1 can of soda.
Today, we average over 10 teaspoons of sugar every day! Soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar. A nonfat vanilla latte has 4 teaspoons of sugar (hopefully you don’t add even more sugar to that).A small carton of chocolate milk has 4 teaspoons of sugar added to it.
Forget once a year Halloween sugar fixes. Some feel the need for a sugar fix on a daily basis. Like around 3pm. Sugar is addicting. Period. Those stats speak for themselves. Remember when fruits were sweet? Remember when you only needed 2 pumps of sweetener added to your latte or sweet tea? How much sweetener are you using today? If you’re finding things aren’t as sweet anymore, don’t blame the product. You might be addicted to sugar!
Photographer Christopher Boffoli has a “Big Appetites” photo series like the picture above that I thought was hilarious. I guess that’s one way to dispose of your candy. It’s a given that sheer will power won’t be enough to keep your hands off that candy for the next few weeks. So, at the end of the trick-or-treating extravaganza, take the candy somewhere you won’t have access to it -give it as a gift to friends, family, or coworkers. Give us a call if you’d like to “detox” off that sugar habit. Just don’t bring me candy.
Michael Corsilles, ND, PA-C
