Easter is right around the corner and many kids will be waking up to baskets full of Easter candy brought to them by the very special Easter Bunny.  Yes, the kids will be excited to see all of the sugar, and yes, they will be asking to eat some right away.  Trust me, I have two girls, and one year we allowed them to eat some candy before breakfast; let’s just say I have know exactly what an early morning sugar high looks like.

We all love to see the joy in our children, but let’s briefly discuss what too much Easter candy can do to your body.  I don’t eat a lot of “sweets” or candy, and I also try to limit my intake of carbs on a daily basis.  I have read too many books and research articles that show how damaging an excess intake of carbs can be on your body.  Easter candy is a prime way to get too many carbs in your system too quickly.

Consider this: roughly every handful of Easter candy you eat probably has nearly 100 calories in it.  If you go back to the Easter basket several times a day, then you could easily add an extra 1,000 calories to your daily intake.  With most of that being sugar and carbs, I think too much Easter candy is an easy way for your body to quickly become desensitized to glucose.  In other words, all of those extra carbs will eventually be stored as fat.

Here are a few of the top Easter candies and what to think about before, or while in the process, of eating them:

Jelly Beans – These have the smallest calorie count of all the Easter candy, but most dentists will agree that sticky substances can have the ability to get stuck in between our teeth, allowing bacteria to grow throughout the day

Peeps and Cadbury Creme Eggs – Yellow Dye No 6, need I say anymore?  This food dye has been linked to neurological disorders including ADHD in children. If you don’t want your kids to listen the rest of the day, then make sure they eat two for these eggs for breakfast.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs – This one is hard for me to discuss because I love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, but these eggs are made with soy lecithin (although what processed food isn’t these days). I have tried to eliminate all soy from my diet this year.

Tips to Help Easter Candy not be so damaging:

Drink a lot of water with Easter candy.  This helps neutralize the acids produced by the bacteria.

Swish your mouth with water after eating Easter candy in order to help dislodge small pieces of candy that may be stuck in between your teeth.

Eat Easter candy with nuts. This helps lower the glycemic index of the candy, thus lowering the severity of the insulin spike.  The nuts also help break up the stickiness of some candies preventing them from getting stuck.

I hope this article has been informative.  My goal is not to deter you from eating Easter candy, but to educate you about what you are eating.  I don’t think you will have serious health complications if you eat some Easter candy, especially if you have a fairly healthy diet to begin with.

Happy Easter!!

Dr Spencer Charlet
Mooresville Chiropractor
704-663-7625

 

Luke 24:3-6 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!