What To Do With All That Candy in Annapolis, MD

Halloween is complete and all of our youngsters came home with more sugar filled treats in their bag than is good for them. Before you as a parent allow them to eat our normal “just one per day rule” – consider this about their health:halloween-candy-by-phanton-kitty

  • High sugar intake causes blood sugar imbalances that lead to Type 2 diabetes.
  • High sugar intake can lead to tooth decay, headaches & migraines, hypoglycemia and kidney damage
  • High sugar leads to obesity. The body converts sugar to fat!
  • Sugar is linked to immune system suppression and contributes to other diseases, like heart disease and cancer.

Helpful tips:

  • Sugar has many names including: sugar, cane sugar, cane syrup, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, fructose, maltose, dextrose, rice syrup, agave, molasses, steevia, splenda
  • Try not to exceed 100 calories a day of added sugar
  • Try not to consume a food or drink with over 10g of sugar per serving
  • Drink water instead of soft drinks and juices
  • Check the label for sugar content per serving

If you have just way too much candy from the night of celebration, we invite you to donate the extra to our drive for Operation Gratitude.  Balanced Life Skills will collect candy until December 2 and will be sending care packages to U.S. Military around the world. In fact our own Ms. Ariel has a brother who is serving abroad and will receive a package.

How to Reduce Stress Part 2: The Effect of Food on Stress

We have all heard that ‘you are what you eat’.  While we don’t eat stress, what we do eat can stress the cells in our body and brain, and they do know the difference between what is good for them and what is really just filler material – that most of the time is easier to get and can taste good.  If we do not give our bodies what it needs you cannot be at your best, physically or mentally.

First lets talk about healthy food that reduces stress.  Our bodies are made up of 70% water yet most people only eat between 5 and 15 percent of water based foods in their diet.  Immediately that causes a deficit of the most valuable part of the makeup of your diet.  The water you get from drinking water and in fruits and vegetables actually allows you to think better, as the cell connections in your brain are aided by water.  Eating foods that are water based, fruits and vegetables as the majority of your diet is the best.

However putting good food in is only one part of the system.  Reducing or eliminating the bad things we put in our bodies is also an important step.  Here are two of the biggest culprits in our diet  that are not healthy choices and will increase the affects of our stress.

Caffeine: hidden in more foods than you can imagine, can make you feel good short term, but can also increase sleeplessness and panic attacks.

Sugar: Looks good, tastes great and is added to more prepared foods than you can imagine, will give you a quick high and then a big let down.  The up and down effect can leave you wiped out.

In our busy lives though, eating correctly is one of the toughest choices we have to make.  Doing so though will make us feel better physically, mentally and just as important, we will know that we are doing the right thing!