| Halloween and Heart Disease |
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| Monday, 24 October 2011 12:32 | |||
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A warm welcome to my guest blogger Cindy MacMillan! Her post on Halloween and Heart Disease is right on the money. Thanks Cindy!
- Julie
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Halloween is just one week away and it is no wonder that children everywhere are counting down the days. It is the one night a year that the rules parents work hard to enforce each and every day get thrown out and children are allowed to talk to strangers, run around the dark streets and stuff themselves with candy. There may even be a few grown-ups out there who are secretly looking forward to having access to a large bowl of chocolate. Does this sound familiar? “The kids won't notice if I take just one…” “I will just eat the ones they don't like…” or “better me than them…” We all know that it begins innocently. Inevitably though, you have lost count of the mini chocolate bars you have eaten by the time you blow out the candle in the jack-o-lantern and head to bed.
The most frightening thing about Halloween is not the ghosts and goblins ringing your doorbell all night.
It’s refined white sugar.
Studies show that too much sugar causes chronic inflammation in the body. A study published in April 2011 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who consume excess sugar are prone to chronic inflammation and it turns out that chronic inflammation is linked to many diseases and heart disease is one of them.
Your blood sugar levels play a large part in the risk of developing heart disease and the reason is that high blood sugar levels lead to inflammation throughout the body.
The connection between high blood sugar and heart disease.
When you eat too much sugar and refined carbohydrate foods, not only does your blood sugar become elevated but so does your blood pressure. Having excess sugar in your blood stream can create inflammation in your blood vessels. This inflammation can damage the lining of your blood vessels especially when blood pressure is high. The cracks, tears and lesions created by this inflammation are quickly repaired by LDL - low density lipoprotein (also known as the bad cholesterol). This substance is delivered to the site of injury and smoothed onto the area that is damaged. Unfortunately, if there are not enough antioxidants in the bloodstream, the LDL will oxidize causing further damage and attracting white blood cells to the site. These white blood cells try to help the situation and literally gobble up the oxidized LDL. When these cells die and eventually they do, they spill their contents. This leads to more damage, more inflammation and eventually a narrowing of the artery where the blood needs to flow. Narrowing of the arteries leads to a whole host of cardiovascular problems.
So if you are going to indulge this Halloween…have just a piece – or better yet, don’t have any.
If you can’t imagine saying no to the temptations of Halloween candy, try to get the sugar out of your system before Halloween arrives. It takes time to wean your body of sweets. For two weeks before Halloween, reduce your refined added sugar intake dramatically. For more information on "50 Ways to Leave Your Cravings", click here, or join her mailing list. You will see many benefits – from more energy, to greater mental alertness. You will find that by the time the big night rolls around you are less interested in dipping into the kids’ stash. If you do end up indulging a little on Halloween night, make note of how it makes you feel. You may just want to jump right back on the sugar-free wagon!
- Cindy MacMillan, Holistic Nutritionist
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Julie Daniluk hosts The Healthy Gourmet (Kaleidoscope Entertainment/Corus Entertainment), a reality cooking show that highlights the ongoing battle of taste versus nutrition with unique groups such as bikers, dragon boat racers and ballroom dancers. As a nutritional expert, Julie has appeared in over 300 TV and radio segments including City TV’s Perfect Fit, The Gill Deacon Show on the CBC, CTV’s Balance and Three Takes on Slice Network. She is most recognized by television viewers from her “busted” segments in The Right Fit (W Network), acting as a nutrition encyclopedia by examining what foods people need to purchase and grading healthy choices on restaurant menus.
After graduating from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition, Julie became Co-Operative owner of one of Canada’s largest health food stores, The Big Carrot Natural Food Market.
As the W Network’s official online nutritionist and one of the nutritionists for The Big Carrot, she continues to answer diet and nutrition questions from viewers across Canada. She offers entertaining and informative answers regarding why we crave certain foods while suggesting alternatives for optimal health.
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