I've been noticing a pattern of my own in relation to my diet and when I get sick.  It seems that inevitably I catch a cold after I've binged on sweets.  Usually I keep my sugar intake to a minimum, but I have a weakness for extra dark chocolate.  I practically ate an entire box of gourmet chocolates sent to me for my birthday and soon after, I came down with a horrible chest cold.   Then soon after after tearing open and (guiltily) enjoying a few packets of unclaimed Halloween candy- boom, another cold.
  
Yes, it could just be a coincidence.  But according to Ann Louise Gittleman's book "Get the Sugar Out, 501 Ways to Cut the Sugar Out of Any Diet" she says that along with sugar being a known immunosuppressant, she notes that sugar has been "proven to destroy the germ-killing ability of white blood cells for up to five hours after ingestion and that it reduces the production of antibodies, proteins that combine with and inactivate foreign invaders in the body."  If that isn't reason enough to start limiting your sugar intake, her book also lists 60 plus symptoms, ailments and illnesses related to excessive sugar consumption--from cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease to depression, anxiety, adrenal gland exhaustion, yeast infections and shortened life span.   I recommend her book highly to my clients interested in reducing their overall sugar consumption.

Individual tolerances to high-sugar diets and simple carbohydrates varies and can be different for you from month to month, and year to year depending on your lifestyle and other factors.  While some people can eat high sugar diets and remain healthy for most of their lives, it doesn't mean that there might not be a backlash later in life when metabolisms shift and our biochemistries alter the way we process our foods. For me, I've found that binging on sugary food all at once, or I call it "sugar shock" wreaks havoc on my entire body.  I breakout with acne, PMS gets worse, I get very irritable and moody and the worst part is I then crave it all the more!
 
Could sugar be the culprit for your health issues? It could be worth paying attention to how much sugar you are consuming and where it may be hiding in your diet and in foods you thought as "healthy".  While it may be nearly impossible to cut all of the sugar out of your diet all at once (I never recommend cutting it out entirely, as it is a natural craving).  It is possible to reduce your sugar intake gradually, by eating less processed foods and more whole foods, reading labels carefully, and making wise (and still sweet) substitutions in recipes and snacks. 

If you need guidance reducing sugar from your diet, or to find out more about how sugar consumption may be contributing to your own health issues, please contact me!