With Halloween just ended its safe to say the holiday season is officially here. Along with the normal family reunions, laughter and lots of food that follows the year’s most festive occasion is the dreaded flu bug that has conveniently picked the happiest time of year to cause the most sadness, or is it? When you look at it though its no surprise that the flu would raise its ugly head around Christmas. We have Halloween the 31’st of November, Thanksgiving less than a month after that, Christmas about a month later, within a week New Years upon us, and if that was not enough Easter coming in less than four months after that. So when you look at it, its not a surprise that this time of year is the time when we are the sickest because it’s also the time when we consume the most sweets.

Of course we know it’s not rocket science to come to the conclusion that refined sugar is the cause of the most colds. Simple deductive reasoning will prove this. But you may ask yourself how much of those little white crystals can really affect my immune system to the point where it’s unable to fight even the simplest of bacteria. All it takes is 24 teaspoons of sugar. And believe me most of us consume double that in a day. According to the US Department of Agriculture the average American consumes 147 pounds of sugar a year. That equals to over 46 teaspoons of sugar a day. Almost double the amount it takes to knock out the immune system for the next sixteen to eighteen hours.

Should it be any wonder than why it’s so easy for us to pick up a cold and so hard to get rid of it? But just to drive the point home lets look at some common foods we indulge and the sugar content of them. Sugar is measured in teaspoons.

Malted Milk        -              120z       -              42

Soft Drinks          -              12oz       -              10-12

Canned Fruit      -              1 serving               8

Chocolate Cake -              1 (4oz slice)          8

Chocolate Candy              1oz         -                7

Fruit Pie               -              1 slice    -               7

Ice Cream            -              1 scoop -                5

Donut (glazed)  -              1 each   -              4

Jam, Jelly             -              1 Tbs.    -              3

Starting to get the picture? No matter how many flu shots you or your family takes it will not help to do what your body is unable to. And sometimes the shots makes matters worse because the body has to be tied up with too viruses foreign to it thus it cannot deal with the getting over the flu.

So what’s the solution? Why not lay off that coke for a week or so. Next time you stop a Starbucks, get a smaller cappuccino or better yet none at all. Not only will you be doing yourself a favor but those who are around you not to mention keeping some extra money in your wallet or purse from that excess sugar which was not needed or the trip to the doctor, and not to mention the pharmacy.

It might also be a good idea to boost your immune system. A good way to do this is take vitamin C (1,000mg) two times daily. A glass of lemon water in the morning is also good as it kills over 19 different bacteria. And of course your best medicine is to help out your body by not loading it with junk.

FUN FACT: Did you know that according to the medical definition of a drug (which contains no nutritional value, addictive and can cause withdrawal symptoms) refined sugar fits right in with that. It might be good to think about this next time you’re tempted to pick up that colorful cereal for you or your child which is 60-70% sugar. Don’t believe me? Check the label and see how many types of sugar you can find in just one cereal.