Who thought it would be a good idea to send kids door to door for nearly unlimited amounts of sugar and candy??  Trick or Treating has origins in the late medieval practice of “souling” when poor folk would go door to door receiving food in return for prayers for the dead.   From roots of simplicity, as a day to help the poor, modern commercialization has turned this service oriented holiday into a day of indulgence and gluttony with serious sugar over-consumption.

Is sugar REALLY that bad though?

The body requires glucose for primary life sustainingprocesses in organs, blood, and brain function.  Therefore, our taste buds respond to this need by inducing pleasurable sensations when we taste sweet.  It is a force of nature turned on to sustain life and is very good for the body… in the packages that nature has already provided, like an apple.   Apples are full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and yes, sugars.  The problem comes when these great sugars are isolated then concentrated.  This is a whole new “monster” for the body to deal with.

High Fructose Corn syrup (HFCS) … an ingredient you’ll find in nearly all packaged candies, packaged by nature with sugars, vitamins, minerals and fiber).  Corn is highly processed and the baked goods and limitless other consumables.  Made from the sugar in corn (again, originally sweetness you taste in that fresh ear of summer corn is isolated and extracted producing a manmade simple sugar, sweeter than any foods found in nature.  All simple sugars are metabolized quickly and disrupt insulin levels causing them to spike, and increased insulin in the body eventually leads to damaged cells which is a main contributor to most chronic illness.  Given at an earlier age causes children’s growing bodies to proliferate with damaged cells.

Hum… could this be  children increased amounts of sugar in their growing years causes this cell damage to happen a contributing factor to why our children today have the highest rates of obesity, ADD, ADHD, autism, and many other physical, emotional, and mental problems than we’ve ever seen?  When kids are fed highly processed foods, rewarded and bribed at every turn with candy and sweets I would be so bold as to say HELLO… yes, there is definitely a connection.  HFCS and all simple sugars negatively affect the body.  After HFCS began to be widely introduced into the food supply 30-odd years ago, obesity rates skyrocketed.  Keep that in mind when you’re tempted by a bite (or more) of those Halloween treats.

 Sugar and Inflammation

Inflammation is the body’s defense mechanism to signal to us that our body is out of balance.  Inflammation is caused by viral and bacterial infections, surgery, a bruise, a broken bone, allergies, vaccinations, high blood pressure, oestrogen therapy, smoking, obesity, chronic fatigue, and dental problems, among others, or basically anything that invades the body and causes a disruption.

When we consume sugar over and over again, our insulin is continually spiked causing a weakening and inflammation response of the body tissues, white blood cells, and immune system.  With the combination of these 3 systems weakening, our bodies now are open and susceptible to disease and sickness.  As this cycle repeats, inflammation response repeats, which causes the diseased state of the body to be chronic.  And most, if not all, disease is caused by, or is contributed to some form of inflammation.

1. Mariah Allen:

   October 27th, 2012 at 1:56 am

   Loved your article and gives me a game plan for Halloween!