Special-Occasion Sugar
Treat yourself to it in small doses, but also learn the secret weapons that can
satisfy sweet cravings, healthfully.One of the most common questions I get (at least in October) is: “What do you
do on Halloween, Dr. Oz?” My answer: I do what everybody does. I have and
give out—shocker!—some candy. You don’t have to eat healthy every minute of
every day, and there’s a lot of emotional value that comes with diving into your
favourite foods, even if they’re not part of the first four letters in my FIXES
foundation.
Foods with added sugar (from cookies to Frappuccinos) top the bad-for-you
list. Because sugar comes in condiments, desserts, alcoholic drinks, and many
processed foods, it’s pervasive. And the reality is that our over-consumption of
sugar may very well be our biggest nutritional problem today. We eat too much,
and it sparks numerous biological processes that cause inflammation, heart
troubles, fat storage, and more. The average American eats more than 65 kilos of
sugar a year, and that’s just too much.
Yes, we need sugar for energy, but very, very, very few of us are active enough
to immediately burn all the calories in the sugar many of us consume. And if
sugar calories are not used quickly, they get stored as fat, wreak havoc on your
insulin response, and send your energy levels on a roller coaster through the day.
Sugar is like a powerful drug, and therefore it should be used with caution.
Have it irregularly, and only when you really want to enjoy the food and/or the
wonderful occasion that surrounds it. This isn’t a free pass, just permission to tap
into sugar now and then, when it makes you feel happy, connected, and engaged
with people around you. In other words, a special occasion. The problem occurs
when you abuse the “drug”—when you have too much, when you rely on it,