The holiday season is upon us, and we’re about to be bombarded by deliciously addictive sugary and starchy foods.
How are you supposed to say no to those homemade treats that will be everywhere you go between now and the new year? Why not just give in for the season? You can just go back to healthy eating in January, right? That’s how I used to think. I thought that overeating sweets and starches only affected my weight, and that as long as I got back on track after the holidays and lost the 10 or 15 pounds I’d gained, then no harm done. But I’ve come to understand that this is not true.
During the holiday season, most people attend tons of festive events — and nearly all of them center around fattening food. Add seasonal stress and zero time to cook or hit the gym, and you have a recipe for holiday weight gain.
When people hear the word “sugar” they often think of the familiar sweetener in the sugar bowl. That sugar is sucrose and is the most familiar form of sugar to home bakers. But there are many types of sugars, which scientists classify according to their chemical structure. Sugars occur naturally in a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and dairy foods. They can also be produced commercially and added to foods to heighten sweetness and for the many technical functions they perform, including: contributing to foods’ structure and texture, sweetening and flavor enhancement, controlling crystallization, providing a medium for the growth of yeast in baked goods, and preventing spoilage. The sweetening ability of sugar can promote the consumption of nutrient-rich foods that might not be otherwise be consumed. Some examples are a sprinkle of sugar added to oatmeal or adding sugar to cranberries in the juice-making process.
More than 50 percent of Americans are already insulin-resistant, pre-diabetic or diabetic.
This means there’s more than a 50/50 chance that you, and most of the people you love, are in the same sugary boat. And it’s not just obesity or Type 2 diabetes waiting for you down the road; insulin resistance is the single most powerful risk factor, by far, for the health problems we all fear the most, including cancer, heart attacks and dementia.
Carbohydrates provide energy for the body. Once consumed, they travel to the liver, which breaks them down into glucose, or blood sugar. Carbohydrates are especially used to provide energy to the brain and to the central nervous system. Carbohydrates are labeled either complex or simple, reflecting how fast the sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream.
Carbohydrates are the body’s most important and readily available source of energy. Even though they’ve gotten a bad rap lately and are sometimes blamed for the obesity epidemic in America, carbs are a necessary part of a healthy diet. But there is a BIG difference between the natural, wholesome, “good” carbs we are designed to eat and the unnatural, highly-processed, “refined” carbs so many of us consume on a daily basis!
Bad carbs are refined, processed carbohydrate foods that have had all or most of their natural nutrients and fiber removed in order to make them easier to transport and more “consumer friendly.” Most baked goods, white breads, pastas, snack foods, candies, and non-diet soft drinks fit into this category. Bleached, enriched wheat flour and white sugar — along with an array of artificial flavorings, colorings and preservatives — are the most common ingredients used to make “bad carb” foods. These “bad” carbs are contributing to a health crisis in America and other parts of the world in the forms of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Health problems can develop when you eat too many complex carbohydrates that contain refined sugars. These sugars lack vitamins and fiber but offer a lot of calories. Eating too much refined sugar will lead to weight gain. Examples of these foods include white flour, polished rice, table sugar and white pasta. A good rule to remember when eating carbohydrates is to eat them in as natural a form as possible.
Here’s a suggestion: Decide now what your goal will be. Will your goal be to splurge only on Christmas Day? Or only at the Kwanzaa celebration? Only on New Year’s Eve? Or are you planning to go the distance and stay true to your diet throughout the season? And if you do decide to take a holiday from your healthy diet, what will your definition of splurge be? You may want to set your heart on very specific indulgences that will really be worth it, as opposed to having a free-for-all. If you establish very clear goals, you’re more likely to stick to them than if you try to wing it. Then, once you’ve decided on your goal, tell other people about it so they can support you.
Take good care of yourself and live the best life possible!
Glenn Ellis is a health advocacy communications specialist, author, columnist and radio commentator who lectures nationally and internationally on health-related topics.
