GO EASY ON SWEETS

- Zippora Karz, Contributing Health Writer

 I was diagnosed with type 1, juvenile diabetes when I was 21 years old.  I am intensely grateful I didn’t have to spend my early years dealing with insulin shots and intense blood sugar swings like so many children and adolescents who have diabetes. But awareness of blood sugar levels is not just for the diabetic, every one of us, no matter our age functions best when our blood sugar levels are stable and not fluctuating up and down. A lot of us need to eat snacks through the day to keep our blood sugar levels balanced.

Here is a brief lesson. Everything we eat will be broken down into sugar in the body whether it is an apple or a piece of candy. Even though the apple will feed the body with nutrition the candy cannot, it all still turns to sugar in the blood stream. In order for the “sugar,” in whatever form it is to get to every cell of our body to nourish them (and I mean every part from the eyes to the toes) a hormone named Insulin is needed. Insulin works like a key unlocking a door.

The foods that turn into sugar the quickest are our simple carbohydrates, the sweets and pastries but also fruit and juices. When we eat a lot of these simple sugars the body responds with a surge of insulin that often leaves us feeling tired afterwards like we need a nap after the big rush of the sugar. In time, if there is always a call for a large amount of insulin (and depending on our weight) the body’s signals for insulin can get confused and exhausted. The insulin producing cells don’t do their job and the blood sugar levels rise in the blood, hence blood sugar swings and mood swings (and unfortunately greater potential health problems like diabetes and hypoglycemia).

With that said fueling kids with meals that balance their blood sugar levels is just as important as the quality of the food they eat. I have always felt lucky I don’t have a big sweet tooth, but I grew up in a home where plums and persimmons were on the table and tasted as good to me as the cookie at my girlfriend’s house.