Most of our mother's told us the same thing: "Sugar puts holes in your teeth". Unfortunately sugar does more than invite the whirring of the dentist's drill. It prevents our immune system from doing its job – a big deal, especially during flu season.
The way I understand it, when too much sugar enters the blood stream, it occupies the white blood cells so that they cannot fight bacteria properly. (I am not a chemist so by all means Google 'sugar and the immune system' for further details.)
As a hopeless sweet tooth myself, I did not greet this information warmly. More distressing is the fact that it is not just the things we think of as 'sweets' that have this effect. Right up there with candy, ice cream and cake are any processed carbohydrate made from refined ingredients (even organic ingredients if they are not whole grain). That's right, bread, pasta, baked chips (potato, rice or corn) and crackers. These too break down into sugar and prevent our immune systems from functioning properly.
(Please don't get me wrong. I am not advocating a low carb diet. Just a low processed carb diet. There is a BIG difference. Veggies are carbs as are fruit, potatoes and healthful grains like brown rice and quinoa.)
Food allergies that go untreated have the same effect. I've told you many times about our son's gluten free, cow dairy free, egg free diet. Its a lot of work but the improvement in his immunity has been startling.
If your child is educated anywhere other than in your home, you have seen the outbreak of H1N1 tear through the student population. Every time I start wishing I didn't have to do all this preparing I remind myself of this success and march right back into the kitchen.
So yes, he's doing fine. But then along comes flu season. I want him to have every natural advantage available to him. So without explaining this to him, I am trying to cut back on his sweet and processed carb intake by being strict about the one (low glycemic sweet per day). This makes sense whether or not you choose to vaccinate because vaccines are not 100% effective. Indeed, I've heard varying statistics about last year's flu shot but the highest efficacy rate I've read was 40%. Not stellar.
So you can label me a mean Mommy because I try to minimize my child's sugar intake. I can handle that. I know that I do it out of love and to protect him.
Wouldn't it be grand if children and those who care for them could learn to associate carrot sticks and hummus with love instead of a brownie????
One Green Voice 