The four reasons you should ditch that leftover Halloween candy!

The four reasons you should ditch that leftover Halloween candy!



By: Alison Parsons, Wellness Centre Naturopathic Doctor

Refined sugars reduce your immune function. Added sugars (not the naturally occurring sugars in fruit or honey) in foods can hinder the ability of your white blood cells to fight off bacteria and viruses. Eating as little as 1 teaspoon (or 5 grams) of refined sugar can reduce your immune function for a few hours. Not ideal during cold and flu season!


Food colourings/dyes can negatively affect your memory and focus. There are a lot of sugary treats (and other foods) out there that contain food grade dyes. These are marked as “safe for consumption” but aren’t without negative effects on our body such as negatively affecting memory and causing problems with focus, restlessness and symptoms of ADHD. Read ingredient labels and avoid anything that lists artificial colouring or more specifically blue #1 or #2, yellow #6, red  #3 or #40, caramel colour, green #3, FD&C (may be a combination of colours).


Overconsumption of refined sugars can lead to overeating and weight gain. Sugar – also seen on labels as glucose, fructose, sucrose, barley malt, high fructose corn syrup, and dextrose – can increase levels of our hunger-promoting hormone Ghrelin. By increasing Ghrelin our brains continue to tell us we’re hungry even when we’ve already eaten and should feel satiated.


Too much sugar can affect your quality of sleep. Spiking blood sugar levels (from late night candy indulgences) can impair your body’s ability to fall asleep by leaving you feeling “tired but wired”. It can also cause more frequent waking in the night as it increases thirst and frequency of urination. Later into the night as your blood sugar crashes (which it inevitably will if you’ve had lots of sugar and haven’t paired it with any protein to help stabilize your blood sugar) you may experience night sweats, nightmares, chills, clammy skin and/or headaches.   


If you struggle with any of the above symptoms or are having trouble ditching the sugar from your diet (if you haven’t noticed it’s highly addictive!), book in with our campus Naturopathic Doctor. It’s free for all students to access and your appointment can be booked through the Wellness Centre by calling 705-330-4008 ext. 2116 or by stopping by OR 1015.