Lady Carla Davis, MPH
Specializing in Nutrition
The food a person becomes familiar with as a child forms the eating pattern he/she will follow throughout his/her adult life. Thus, giving sweets as a treat to children not only sends the wrong message, it inflicts a great deal of harm; harm that can affect them for a lifetime. This is especially detrimental when a child is not properly nourished. Sweets are not only addictive, they also become a psychological comfort. Hence, these people have a difficult time controlling their weight and craving for sweets; especially when they become depressed, lonely, or just wish to feel better.
Holidays, Halloween, and special occasions, such as birthdays, etc..., are the most common times of the year when sweet treats are most irresistible and sugar binging occurs.
To learn more on the global scale of this problem, read the transcript for Globesity - Fats New Frontier aired on Australia’s ABC TV on 24 July 2012: http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2012/ s3547707.htm
This Foreign Correspondent TV special exposed the shocking explosion of global obesity in China, Brazil, India, and Mexico, which are the biggest consumers of soft drinks in the world, and where diabetes is the number one killer. Sadly, people in these countries are addicted at an early age because of high pressure corporate advertising. Children are served soda in schools and babies are fed Coca Cola! In 1980 obesity was a rarity in Mexico. By 1999 a third of the population was overweight. By 2006 two thirds of the adult population was overweight! By 2010 the number of obese people globally had exploded to 500 million. It is predicted that by 2030 more than one billion people will be obese.
SWEET TREAT ADDICTION:
The Scourge of Sugar - Part 1