Yes it is here - the official candy season is now upon us.  Candy season begins when the first bags of Halloween candy hit the store shelves.  It used to be it began with Halloween because we never thought to open the bags of candy before Halloween.  But now it is traditional for many folks to buy the candy a month early and expect to have to buy more to replace all that gets eaten before Halloween.

One might argue that candy season is genetically driven.  It is in our genes to overeat once we notice the days getting shorter.  It signals our brain that winter and likely famine are just around the corner.  Just like most mammals that hibernate through the winter we are wired to go on an eating binge for as long as we can to put on as much weight as possible to carry us through the winter.  And sweets are the very best way to do that.

Sweets, particularly those with fructose in them, trigger an adaptive metabolic syndrome that puts us into fat making and fat storing mode.  In ancient times this was triggered by the sugar in tree fruits that ripen in the fall.  All those apples, pears, and end of summer fruits are especially high in fructose and carbohydrates.  These overwhelm the liver and cause the liver to produce uric acid, which in turn produces the inflammation that stimulates metabolic syndrome that eventually leads to diabetes.  But fruit also has high amounts of antioxidants and other healthy phytochemicals that help block the inflammation that leads to diabetes, and as a result only produces massive weight gain.  That is just what you want as calorie storage for the lean winter months.

Ahh, but we have short circuited this mechanism by inventing sugar without the protective antioxidants and phytochemical supports.  We invented cane sugar and beet sugar, then high fructose corn syrup, and finally agave syrup.  Each progressively has more fructose (and therefore sweetness) that produces the liver damage and inflammation that is killing us.  This massive change in our available sugar supply is responsible for most of the degenerative disease that afflicts our current population.  It is the direct cause of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, vascular disease, and the huge rise in cancer.  It is also directly linked to the decline in mental functioning in our population.  Over consumption of calories driven by the addictive effects of sugar has now been found to cause a loss of the blood brain barrier protection of our brains leading to brain inflammation and brain cell death.  In short, we are getting stupider because of what we are eating.

It is one thing to chow down in the fall so we can get fat and happy for the holidays, but quite another to end up destroying our health in the process.  Our ancestral reality is that for a significant portion of the year food simply was not available.  Yearly periods of hunger and forced food restriction were the normal reality throughout most of human history.  We developed the ability to get fat easily to cope with this yearly experience.  We are not designed to have food abundantly available to us all the time.  And we are especially not designed to have food available to us that has been stripped of its natural combination of ingredients that protect us from damaging parts of the food source.

What are we to do?

The most important answer is to wake up and adapt to our current reality.  We have food abundance available to us now so we have to develop moderation and eat sparingly.  Historically it served us to be gluttons and eat as much as we could whenever it was available because in short order there would not be enough.  But now, being gluttonous will and does kill us.  Moderation is the key.  The body is cleverly built enough to be able to handle small amounts of even inflammatory foods like sugar.  So how does this look with the upcoming Halloween season?

The most popular Halloween candy kids will be getting are the miniature or snack size candy bars such as Snickers, Milky Way, Hershey's, and so on.  The miniatures run around 6 to 8 grams of sugar each and the snack size average 10 to 12 grams of sugar each.  So how many candy bars can a human body tolerate without much damage?  30 grams per day is the maximum you can handle.  That means 4 miniatures candy bars or two to three of the snack sized bars - assuming you have no other sources of sugar anywhere in your diet the rest of the day.

Unfortunately sugar is in almost everything you buy from the store.  So I would say an appropriate level of moderation for Halloween candy consumption would be one snack sized or two miniature candy bars per day.  This is a good goal for any of us - especially kids.  Throw the candy in the freezer after Halloween Trick-or Treating and limit yourself and your children to just one or two candies each day.  Teach your kids the self-discipline of moderation from day one and you will be giving them the gift of health.  Teach your inner child the same thing and you will be giving yourself the gift of health.

The idea is not to say "NO" to the experience of life.  That kind of resistance produces a lot of stress that will cause as much damage as the foods you are resisting.  The idea is to say "YES" in moderation.  The trick is to discover just how much of something equals healthy moderation.  Just how much can your body handle without undue stress.  For some things the amount you might be able to handle is zero.  That is what I have to do with gluten.  But other things that may not be the best for us might also be not that bad in small quantities.

I know that unfortunately a few of you can not tolerate sugar at all.  The consequences are simply too great.  So the answer for you is to find substitutes for the experience you want that will not damage you.  That is what I have done for gluten and sugar by creating my Miracle bread with the flavor packets and Sugar Substitute that allow me to reproduce many of the treats I used to love so much but can no longer have.  I still have to practice moderation even with them.  Too much of anything will have consequences.

 

It is our ego that damages our health more than anything else.  That is why all spiritual disciplines teach minimizing the ego in order to learn true happiness.  Ego is actually a byproduct of fear.  We create ego to help us cope with fear.  Because it is made out of our fear reactions, it can never know peace and happiness.  So it chases power instead.  It wants to win, to beat others...that is its idea of happiness.  It finds safety in separation from the uncertainties of actually connecting to others.  While it may want attention, it does not want real connection.  Consequently it is forever alone and unhappy.  Bottom line, identifying with and defending our ego is the choice to be unhappy.  An unhappy life is an unhealthy life.

Moderation and substitution are not thrilling to our ego, but it is an essential part of the path to peace and joy.  Peace and joy produce health.

Enjoy,

David          

 

 

by Gypsy 

The Modern Food System and the Roots of Obesity

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The bright red phytochemical lycopene found in tomatoes has been found to reduce the incidence of strokes.  Lycopene is an antioxidant that reduces inflammation and blood clotting.  So score a win for spaghetti sauce!

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Lab Grown Leather

About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
Spiritual Life Coach

 

 

Catherine Cummings

 

 

Jin Shin Jitsu

 

 

Lorena Morales

 

 

Massage Practitioner

 

 

 

 

 Is there a sweet that is not poisonous?  Yes!


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