How was your weekend? Good? Bad? Indifferent? Are you doing the hustle-bustle dance of shopping? Spending happy times with family and friends? Overwhelmed? Fighting the blues? Maybe a bit of everything? It’s not uncommon to have our feelings/emotions ride the holiday roller-coaster, especially if we are eating more sugar and junk than we’re used to eating. It is amazing to me how much food can affect our emotions. Now I’m not talking about eating carbs as comfort food. I’m talking about the physical changes that sugar can produce in our system to frazzle us more than when the one light burns out on the tree and the whole thing goes dark!
According the Franklin Institute, glucose is the form of sugar that travels in your bloodstream for your brain power, and is the only fuel normally used by brain cells. Too much sugar or refined carbs at one time can deprive your brain of glucose and compromising your brain’s power to concentrate, remember and learn. Too much sugar gives you a spike, but then drops and you can feel spaced-out, weak, confused and nervous.
Irritability can result when high glucose levels go uncontrolled. In adults with diabetes, the constant battle with high blood sugar can lead to feelings of anger and frustration, according to Mayo Clinic diabetes educators Nancy Klobassa and Peggy Moreland
The best way to avoid the sugar crazies is to monitor how much sugar you eat – just be mindful and intentional of what you’re eating. Remember, a craving will normally pass within 15 minutes, so walk away from those sugar-infested brownies that are caroling your name (“Fa-la-la-la-la…scoff me down now!”). Remember how crummy you feel when you have a good case of the sugar blues, or how bloated you feel when you’ve eaten more sugar than is healthy for you – is it really worth it?
You can have your cake and eat it, too – in moderation. Exercise caution, and have fun baking those cookies with the kids or some friends – just be sure not to eat the batch once they’re out of the oven!!
Blessings,
Linda
Sources:
http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/332947-what-are-the-effects-of-a-high-glucose-level-on-ones-emotions/#ixzz1gMKuHVqa
No comments:
Post a Comment