What Are Little Girls Made Of?

This is a very cute little nursery rhyme we all learned in school. It goes like this:

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and everything nice!

It goes on to ask what are little boys made of and you know the rest.

This rhyme popped into my head as I was thinking about the many tales and lies we are all fed as children and even as adults. I thought of the many diagnoses of diabetes among the women in my family and circle of friends. It also got me thinking about the chronic diseases plaguing our entire region, the continuous bombardment of advertisements promoting unhealthy eating habits while pushing sugar and high calorie foods daily. We are constantly fed with TV commercials of endless fast-foods, which not only contribute to our decline health and longevity but also to many other ailments including our mental health and well-being.

There are many studies about the effects of sugar on our bodies, yet we continue to be thoughtless about our health and the amount of sugar we consume daily. Not only is sugar converted to unnecessary fat in bodies but it also creates a breeding ground for diseases. This is in addition to the overload of carbohydrates we also eat which also converts to sugar.

Many folks are still addicted to sugar and despite the many warnings on labels of food products we continue to consume these on a daily basis. I was one of those who had been on the "Diet" product roller coaster. I assumed that "diet anything" meant it had less sugar and was better for us. Boy, was I wrong! When my constant headaches and joint pains started, no one could figure out what was happening. I had been to many doctors locally and abroad.

Then one doctor, an Osteopath, finally asked if I was consuming diet drinks or using sweeteners? Of course I was using a well known sweetener and was on this stuff for years. Never once did it occurred to me to check the side effects of these products. For me, they had to be good replacements for regular sugars, right? Wrong! I encourage you to do your homework on these so-call substitutes for sugars which brings to mind another creepy little secret no-one talks about.

First of all, remember that many fruits contain natural sugars so you do not need more sugars to your fruit smoothies.

Secondly, always check the sugar content in all the other ingredients being added as well i.e milk, juice etc.

Thirdly, it's not just fruit smoothies that contain loaded sugars but drinks made with coffee products which we all love are also contributors to extra sugar in our diets daily.

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