You don't have to eat all the holiday cookies!
This is a statement of absolute truth.
There is no reason for you to feel guilty that someone went to the trouble of baking or buying delicious treats, and thinking that now they're going to go to WASTE unless you take it as your sole responsibility to finish them. And do you want to know why?...
Because those treats are not good for you. I hate to break the news, but it's true. If we wanted to do a ranking order of healthiest options to gross-because-they're-not-even-made-of-food-ingredients options, we could. We would start with homemade, gluten-free treats. And then anything homemade. And then a long jump further down on the healthy scale would be anything store-bought.
But. We are not going to rank them. Because it doesn't matter. Because you don't have to eat them all! And the reason is this: they are all chock-full of sugar. Morsels of carbohydrates that will cause your blood-sugar to rise, and force your body to work extra hard to pump out insulin in order to counteract the onslaught. And what does this jump in your blood-sugar do?...
1) Carbohydrates are a fuel source for your body to do all the things it needs to do to stay alive. But if the amount you ingest is not needed immediately, it gets stored, and may be converted to fat.
2) Increases your risk of Type 2 Diabetes. If your pancreas is forced to work extra hard, repeatedly, over a period of time, it may just throw up its hands and stop producing insulin as effectively. Then the sugar will just sit in your bloodstream rather than be shuttled into cells, which is where it needs to be.
3) Increases your risk for cardiovascular (heart) disease. Over time, high blood-glucose can be a risk factor for heart disease. This is not to say that it necessarily causes heart disease, but there is a connection between the two.
4) May make you hungrier, sooner. When you eat a snack that does not cause your blood sugar to rise so quickly, your body feels more satiated and delays the return of hunger. Which helps you to maintain a healthy weight.
These are just a few examples. So please - don't feel guilty! Take those cookies to work; Freeze them for future special occasions; Throw them out while offering up silent gratitude for the kindness of others.
