Getting the Sweet Out

Getting the Sweet Out

News Flash: Sugar is bad for you. Caught you with that one, didn’t I? Of course not. For many years, beginning with our parents warning us to cut out the candy to scientists telling us that sugar “feeds” cancer, we’ve been told to avoid sugar. But, oh that sweet tooth!

Human beings have a natural craving for “sweet.” In ancient times, people tested foods for safety with their taste buds. If it tasted bitter or foul, put it down. I bet that apple in the Garden of Eden was very sweet. Hmm, seems to be a clue in there somewhere.

Apples are good for you -- as are other fruits which contain the natural sugar fructose. But the processed foods we eat today include too much sugar. Sugar is composed of two types: fructose and glucose. Glucose is metabolized by every cell in your body, but fructose can only be metabolized in the liver. If you are an Olympic athlete, your liver has no problem with fructose. But if you are a couch potato or weekend warrior, fructose in your liver goes straight to fat. This fat affects your liver almost like alcohol. Your liver gets drunk on sugar.

Too much sugar has some other alarming effects. It raises your risk for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Sugar is addictive. Test rats will starve themselves drinking sugared water rather than eating readily available food pellets. Sugar contains no vitamins, minerals or other nutrients. To top it all off, sugar makes you hungry. It turns off the “enough” button in our brains and makes us overeat. 

We are “drunk” drivers in the supermarket lanes; chocolate cupcakes, the glazed donuts, sugary cereals, and super-sized candy bars beckon us to refill our sugar tanks. In the regular American’s diet, sugar is ubiquitous. How can we get the sweet out of our diets? We need to think AA – Aware and Avoid.

Be aware: Read EVERY label. If it says “added sugars,” such as high fructose corn syrup, put it down. Many packaged foods contain added sugars. Even those listed as natural or organic should be avoided. Most juices and bottled drinks contain loads of sugar. When buying foods or eating out, stick to foods that are as close to nature as possible. Eat the apple instead of the applesauce. 

Creamers have sugar. Sauces have sugar. Crackers have sugar. Condiments have sugar. Canned veggies and fruits have sugar. Foods labeled “healthy” have sugar. If you haven’t made it from scratch in your own kitchen, suspect that sugar has been added.

What about that sweet tooth? Save it for the occasional dessert, candy on holidays, and celebrations. Give your liver a break. It is hard to replace — in fact, impossible. Keep it lean and in top form. Be aware. Avoid sugar. Get the sweet out and the healthy life in.  

Better Than a Kiss

Better Than A Kiss 

On my right knee, a two-inch scar reminds me of a day, many years ago, when my grandparents were coming to visit. When their taxi pulled into the driveway, I raced across our brick patio to greet them. Crash! Blood flowed, cries followed. After calming me down, and bandaging my cut, my mother “made it all better” by giving my knee a healing kiss.

A mom’s healing kiss is magic. Children believe that their parents can heal all of their hurts. Parents teach us many good things. Their words and actions shape our lives — and our values and beliefs. Good parents are mindful of the influence they have on their children, but sometimes, even the best intentions, have unintended consequences.

In her book Mind Over Medicine, Dr. Lissa Rankin raises an interesting question: When we rush to “heal” our children, are we undermining their abilities to heal themselves? Dr. Rankin writes, “Many of us were programmed to have disempowering thoughts about our health at an early age.” We were unwittingly taught to rely on outside sources, doctors, medicines, and even a mother’s kiss, for healing causing children to believe that they “have little or no power to help themselves get well.” 

Rankin suggests an alternative approach. While never withholding medical treatment when really necessary and offering comfort and kisses, she recommends teaching children that their bodies are “self-repair mechanisms.” Instead of programming children to look to the outside for healing, teach them to reach for inner power first: “Imagine if parents programmed impressionable young subconscious minds to believe that we have self-healing superpowers to fight disease and activate health, instead of teaching us that illness must be treated by dosing us up with medication every time we get sick and hauling us off to the doctor’s office for a shot. Imagine how optimally healthy our subconscious minds would be.” 

Having a healthy outlook on life heals many hurts. Children who are raised to feel healthy, empowered, and able are more likely to be well, confident, and capable adults. A child who believes she can get up after falling down is more likely to do so. A child who experiences success after failure is more likely to try again. A child who is trusted to do it by themselves will be more likely to reach higher and work harder.

I loved my parent’s healing kisses and gave many kisses to my own children. Children need to know that their parents love and support them. We must also teach them that they have their own “superpowers” which will support them through whatever life brings their way.  

Kisses are healing. Believing that you have inner resources is healing too. Help your children find the “superpowers” they need to make life “all better.”