Oh My Sugar!

I received a text message yesterday from a friend of mine that contained a picture of her one year old son eating a blue sucker. He had a blue tongue, blue slobber all over his mouth and down the front of his shirt. I think you get the picture. The intention of the text was to make me cringe because she knows about my indescribable dislike for blue food and drinks (unless it’s natural). She succeeded at making me cringe, but for two reasons. The other reason was that in the message, she said that he got the sucker at his pediatrician office visit. I guess I forgot that doctors still give children candy…candy! Yes, I remember as a child picking out a sucker at the doctors office, but I remember being just as excited about choosing pencils, erasers and other things from the basket at the dentist office as well.

Now, I’m not saying that children should be “deprived” of enjoying a piece of candy and sweets every now and then, but I do find it counterintuitive for it to come from the doctors office. The main reason is simply because it won’t help our children get better at that time. The majority of the time parents take their kids to see the doctor is because they end up being sick with an infection of some sort. If they have a bacterial infection, sugar from the candy should be the last thing that is given to them. I repeat to my patients, especially during this time of the year when infections are running high, that bacteria thrives on sugar. A lot of the times, this problem doesn’t end at the doctors office. What happens is then we take our kids home and give them fluids and soft foods to eat; the fluids being soda, juices and sports drinks, and the foods being pudding, jello, ice cream and applesauce. All this sugar creates stronger and more resistant bacteria, causing a poor healing process for our kids, and then we wonder why they get sicker and take longer to feel better. These foods can be a treat every once in awhile, so let’s choose wisely when and what goes in our children’s mouths. I just recommend to avoid as much sugar, especially when they are sick, and instead to pump our kids up with healthier, more nutritious foods, which will allow them to get better, faster.

I did use children as my example for this post; however, the same goes for your own health no matter how old you are. A good question to incorporate in your kids and your daily life is, “Is this food nutritious that will make me strong and healthy, or will it make me sick and feel bad?”