Halloween Edition: The Scary Effects of Sugar
Written by Dr. Suzanne Tang
October 4th, 2023
October marks the visible shift to Fall as squashes, persimmons, and clementines come into season, the mornings and nights are cooler, and one of my favorite holidays, Halloween is celebrated. Halloween makes me feel like a kid again as I adorn my house with too many Nightmare Before Christmas decorations, dress up in creative and fun costumes with friends at annual Halloween parties, and delight over the adorable and spooky trick-or-treater faces lighting up as they make their way through our neighborhood.
The Sugar Scare: A Startling Reality
All fun and games aside, the massive amount of sugar that makes its way into the American diet, particularly during this time of year is downright frightening. It is estimated that Americans consume, on average, 17 teaspoons of sugar daily or about 60 pounds of sugar yearly primarily from sodas, sports drinks, juices, cookies, candies, cakes, baked goods, sweetened yogurt, dried fruit, and processed foods. However, food manufacturers also add sugar to soups, salad dressings, breads, sauces, ketchup, chips, crackers, and cured meats to enhance flavor and shelf life, making it a challenge to avoid refined sugar completely. The recommended sugar intake is 6 teaspoons per day, which is still a significant amount.
To minimize sugar intake, start by reading ingredient labels on food products to identify the presence and amount of sugar added and its many aliases, such as:
high fructose corn syrup
syrup
Invert sugar or invert syrup
dextrose, cane sugar or cane juice
beet, date or coconut sugar
agave nectar
brown sugar
fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose
turbinado sugar
honey
molasses
Sugar's Sinister Effects on the Body
Some of these refined forms of sugar, act similar to addictive drugs like crack and cocaine and activate the reward centers in the brain, specifically dopamine receptors, increasing sugar cravings and the need to eat more and more sugar to maintain the “feel good” effects of dopamine. Not only does eating sugar leave you hooked and craving for more, but too much sugar causes excessive pain and inflammation, weight gain, cavities, and skin and cellular aging and wreaks havoc on many organs, including your heart, brain, kidneys, liver, pancreas, digestive tract, and reproductive system.
When sugar is consumed, the pancreas releases insulin to aid the absorption of sugar into the cells to be used as fuel, thereby regulating blood glucose. With frequent and excessive sugar intake, more insulin is released and the cells can become resistant to insulin, leading to insulin resistance. Excess glucose and insulin increase the risk of concerning conditions like excess belly fat, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Sugar can also drastically disrupt female and male hormones and contribute to severe premenstrual syndrome, perimenopause, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. High levels of insulin signal the ovaries to make more testosterone and lower sex hormone-binding globulin, contributing to excess estrogen levels and signs and symptoms of acne, facial hair, hair loss, mood swings, breast tenderness, heavy periods, and uterine fibroids.
A Grave List of Health Risks
Excessive sugar increases the risk of many debilitating and potentially life-threatening diseases, such as:
Heart diseases, such as atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes
Metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes
Obesity
Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
Gout and arthritis
Cavities and gum disease
Dysbiosis or overgrowth of bacteria and/or candida in the gut
Fatty liver disease
Fatigue
Anxiety and depression
ADD/ADHD
Polycystic ovarian syndrome
Acne
Poor immunity
Colon, pancreatic, and prostate cancer
Breaking Free from the Sugar Shackles
Breaking the sugar habit may seem like a huge feat, yet it can be done! Start by purchasing fresh food and preparing wholesome, healthy, and balanced meals of protein, fats, and complex carbohydrates for your family, significantly reducing sugar intake. Choosing complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables, whole grains, fruit, and legumes will provide the glucose needed to fuel your brain and muscles without throwing off your blood sugar and insulin levels. Short on time and energy? Not a problem. One of my favorite healthy and fresh, low-carb meal delivery companies is Amani Meals. Click here https://amanimeals.com/ to start your order of consciously sourced and lovingly prepared meals.
Small amounts of honey, molasses, monk fruit, coconut sugar, maple syrup and/or stevia are healthier substitutes for refined sugar. But what about using artificial sweeteners? Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners can cause many negative side effects, such as headaches, migraines, weight gain, nausea, dizziness, digestive upset, and cardiovascular disease, such as strokes and heart attacks. The artificial sweetness can retrain taste buds to need more sweets leading to an addiction to overly sweet foods, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and kidney disease.
The top artificial sweeteners to avoid include aspartame found in Equal or Nutrasweet, acesulfame K, saccharin also known as Sweet N’Low, sucralose or Splenda, and erythritol.
Minimize consumption of refined carbohydrates, like white bread, white rice, pasta, tortillas, chips, white potatoes, white sugar, and beer that have a high glycemic index and rapidly release sugar into the bloodstream and cause insulin to rise. Replace these foods with low glycemic foods, such as whole grains, quinoa, beans, nuts, seeds, root vegetables, avocados, organic dairy, eggs, turkey, chicken, and wild fish. Siete makes delicious grain-free tortillas and chips from cassava root that are tasty substitutes for corn or flour tortillas and chips.
If your sweet tooth is still not satiated, nibbling on dark chocolate, fruit, homemade sorbets with frozen fruit, unsweetened coconut yogurt parfaits, healthy muffins, and almond flour cookies can help satisfy your sweet tooth. Check out my go-to recipes when I’m craving a little something sweet.
This scrumptious and protein-packed almond flour cookie recipe, courtesy of my dear friend, Tracy is one that I give out regularly to my patients and frequently bake for family and friends as a healthy dessert option.
Trade Tricks for Healthier Halloween Treats
Although Halloween is notoriously known for excessive consumption of candy and cookies laden with inflammatory hydrogenated oils, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and dyes there are tricks to making treats much healthier.
https://coastalkids.com/healthy-halloween-candy-alternatives/
Tips for a healthier Halloween:
Choose fruit and veggies. Use clementines and celery sticks to make pumpkin treats. Bananas and dark chocolate chips are great ingredients for spooky ghost snacks. Use green apple slices, cut strawberries, sunflower butter, and sunflower seeds to make terrifying apple monster mouths. For a super sweet tooth, stuff pitted dates with dark chocolate chips for an extra sweet treat.
Fill up first. What kid doesn’t want to eat their favorite candy right when it goes into their trick-or-treat bag? Have a healthy meal with protein, fats, veggies, and whole grains BEFORE your kids go trick-or-treating can reduce their temptation to snack while walking or to overindulge because their tummies will be full.
Bag the monster bag. Choose or make a smaller collection container for your child and steer clear of the pillowcase method. If you encourage kids to only take one piece of candy from each house, they’ll be able to visit more houses in the neighborhood and get their steps in, too.
Be that house. You don’t have to pass out candy on Halloween. Start a new tradition and give out healthier treats or non-edible items. Get creative, and keep it colorful and kid-friendly. Below are some ideas.
Healthier Treats:
Clementines, blood oranges, or oranges decorated like Jack-O-Lanterns (with non-toxic ink)
Snack-sized packages of popcorn, trail mix, nuts, or pumpkin seeds
100% real fruit strips, ropes or leather
Dark chocolate
Low-sugar gummies from Amborella Organics https://amborellaorganics.com/collections/garden-gummies or Smart Sweets
Non-edible items:
Bouncy balls
Small toys
Crayons and coloring books (or intricate coloring pages for older kids)
Stickers or stamps
Temporary tattoos
Bubble makers
Slime or putty
Friendship bracelets
Hope you feel motivated and supported in breaking old habits that no longer serve you and to creating new and nourishing habits for many more celebrations to come! Wishing you and your family a fun and festive Halloween!
Yours in Wellness,
Dr. Suzanne Tang, ND, LAc
Important Announcement from Magnolia Wellness!
Due to changes with staffing support, starting November 7th, Dr. Tang will only be providing in-person acupuncture, cupping, and craniosacral therapy services at Magnolia Wellness on Tuesdays. Naturopathic services will no longer be offered in person and will be provided via phone or telemedicine on Thursdays. For patients, who already have a combination of naturopathic and acupuncture appointments on Tuesdays, no changes will be made to your appointment. If you have an appointment that needs to be rescheduled or adjusted, please be aware that the Magnolia Wellness team will be contacting you to help support the adjustments to your appointment.
If you would like more flexibility with your visits and receive in-person naturopathic care, please contact Dr. Tang's other office location in Laguna Hills, OC Whole Family Wellness at (949) 202-0047 to schedule your appointment. We truly appreciate your flexibility and understanding during this time of change. Offering you consistent, comprehensive, and compassionate care is our priority! Please contact Magnolia Wellness at (949) 612-7247 if you have any questions or concerns.
