This is the time of year that I call The Danger Season. Why? Because it is often the season of “too much.” There is a tendency to party too much, spend too much, drink too much alcohol, smoke too many cigarettes, and of course, eat too much.  Although we’ll talk about those other excesses before this season is over, this particular blog is about overeating, and especially, overeating “sweets.”

From Halloween night until the morning of January 2, it’s one big food fest – from candy corn and caramel apples to cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie to peppermint sticks and fruitcake.  Do you notice a pattern here? Carbohydrates, or sugary foods or ”sweets” are in abundance.

(A clarification here: by “sweets” I mean simple carbohydrates only, or those foods that go directly into your bloodstream as sugar, such as cakes, candy, pastries, white breads and ice cream. This is as opposed to complex carbohydrates, which the body has to break down into sugar, and which are healthier. These include most fruits and vegetables.)

Too much sugar can be as dangerous as too much alcohol, too much partying, or too many cigarettes. Since the body uses just what it needs of the fuel we give it for immediate energy, sugar molecules in excess of what’s needed turn into fat. Gaining weight leads directly to many health problems, including osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, high blood pressure and heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes. The latter is not just about too much sugar in the blood, as your grandmother might’ve said. It’s the deadly disease that affects virtually every organ in the body, and can lead to kidney failure, heart attacks, blindness, poor healing, and painful nerve damage, among other complications.

But we know all that. And still we can’t stay away from the dessert table during this season. Why? Because sweets are associated with childhood, pleasure,  and holidays. So we don’t tend to see them as dangerous, as we see alcohol. As a result, we’re not as careful with the amount of sweets we take in as we are (or should be) with alcohol.

And even though we may think we’re only going to have a “taste” of the goodies, it’s never just a taste. There’s a physiologic reason for this. When sugar enters the body, it immediately stimulates the release of insulin to push the sugar from the bloodstream into the cells. This results in a lower blood sugar level which makes the body want more fuel, resulting in your appetite being stimulated again, especially to want more carbs.

Here are suggestions that may help to avoid those sweets next week at Thanksgiving dinner (and thereafter).

• Don’t go to a holiday event with an empty stomach. Drink a warm beverage before you go, and eat something filling like an apple.
• Fill your plate quickly with nutritious foods: turkey, chicken, fish, veggies, fruits, nuts and cheese.
• Avoid the dessert table like the plague. Don’t even look at it.
• Limit your alcohol intake. The more you drink alcohol, the more uninhibited you become and the more you’ll eat.
• Keep yourself well hydrated with nonalcoholic beverages. This will also make you feel full.
• Watch out for hidden carbs such as the dressing/stuffing inside the turkey and those delicious holiday punches.
• Be mindful of what you’re eating.
• Enjoy being healthy!