Will eating too much sugar while sick keep me from getting well?

[runcible spoon]

So said my mother when I was a kid, but I'm curious how that would even work. I could see eating nothing but candy might not give you sufficient nutrients or vitamins or what-have-you (can you tell I know very little about nutrition?), but I'm wondering about sugar on top of your regular diet.

[Markxxx]

I think what mum is getting at is if you eat sugary things you will be full and won't eat the good food your body needs to get better.

[Lynn Bodoni]

If you're diabetic, high blood sugar will greatly slow down healing, but if you're not diabetic, eating sugar won't raise your blood sugar very much. In fact, that's one of the ways that they test for diabetes...feed a person a great big huge load of sugar, and take several blood sugar readings over a period of time.

If a nondiabetic eats nothing but sugary stuff, I guess that s/he would not be interested in more nutritious stuff.

[purplehorseshoe]

Moms will say or do pretty much anything to get their kids to eat more healthy stuff and less candy.

If you're sick or otherwise feeling miserable, it works pretty well from a Mom standpoint to threaten you with the idea that you're prolonging your own misery by eating that candy.

[freckafree]

I've always wondered where that belief came from. When I was a kid, I remember one of those written-for-kids biographies of Clara Barton. (Anyone else remember those? All the illustrations were silhouettes.) Anyhoo, there was an incident in the book where someone sneaked two pieces of rich cake into two boys who had been quarantined for something....smallpox seems to severe; measles, maybe? -- and the boys ate the cake and took a turn for the worse.

It smacks of the whole "Feed a cold" thing...

[rhubarbarin]

It used to be common knowledge that eating sugar and starch made you fat and sickly in general.

I believe there's enough good science out there to support this ancient wisdom pretty well.. if you look for it. There's also a ton of observational evidence.

I've 'cured' all my minor health issues (acne, eczema, digestion problems, migraines) by going sugar(and grain)-free, so I'm very biased here of course.

[Katarawinternight]

Are ya'll crazy! Of course sugar is bad for you! It's always bad for you! Chocolate is NEVER Good for you. Consuming sugars is dangerous. Sugar "...promotes wrinkling and aging skin; makes your blood acidic; can lead to osteoporosis; rots your teeth; raises your blood sugar level; contributes to obesity; is addictive; can create the urge to binge; provides empty calories with no nutritional value; contributes to diabetes; robs your body of minerals; robs your body of energy; contributes to heart problems; can cause cancer; contributes to ulcers; can cause gallstones; contributes to adrenal fatigue; can suppress you r immune system; raises the level of neurotransmitters called serotonin; weakens eyesight; sugar can cause hypoglycemia; low blood sugar levels; cause aging; can contribute to eczema; can cause arthritis."
If you have a cold or a cough or a fever, you need a certain amount of sugar to give you energy to fight the bacteria or the virus.
Sugar suppresses the immune system making it easier for you to catch viruses. If you eat healthy, like your suppose to not just what parents say, you will have a healthy immune system and are least likely to get sick. Fruits, vegetables, and stuff like salads are really good for you because they're so natural. Our bodies were built to live off of these kinds of foods not the processed food we make now a days.

[John Mace]

Originally Posted by Katarawinternight

Are ya'll crazy! Of course sugar is bad for you! It's always bad for you! Chocolate is NEVER Good for you. Consuming sugars is dangerous. Sugar "...promotes wrinkling and aging skin; makes your blood acidic; can lead to osteoporosis; rots your teeth; raises your blood sugar level; contributes to obesity; is addictive; can create the urge to binge; provides empty calories with no nutritional value; contributes to diabetes; robs your body of minerals; robs your body of energy; contributes to heart problems; can cause cancer; contributes to ulcers; can cause gallstones; contributes to adrenal fatigue; can suppress you r immune system; raises the level of neurotransmitters called serotonin; weakens eyesight; sugar can cause hypoglycemia; low blood sugar levels; cause aging; can contribute to eczema; can cause arthritis."
If you have a cold or a cough or a fever, you need a certain amount of sugar to give you energy to fight the bacteria or the virus.
Sugar suppresses the immune system making it easier for you to catch viruses. If you eat healthy, like your suppose to not just what parents say, you will have a healthy immune system and are least likely to get sick. Fruits, vegetables, and stuff like salads are really good for you because they're so natural. Our bodies were built to live off of these kinds of foods not the processed food we make now a days.

You revivied a more than one year old thread to post that nonsense? Please be aware that this forum is for asking questions and giving factual answers.

[Ambivalid]

Originally Posted by Katarawinternight

Sugar "... robs your body of energy"

If you have a cold or a cough or a fever, you need a certain amount of sugar to give you energy to fight the bacteria or the virus.

Come again??


(bolding mine)

[runner pat]

Originally Posted by Katarawinternight

Sugar "...promotes wrinkling and aging skin; ; *snip* cause aging;

I thought that was caused by time.

[John Mace]

Originally Posted by runner pat

I thought that was caused by time.

Sweet time.

[Rachellelogram]

Originally Posted by Katarawinternight

Chocolate is NEVER Good for you.

Chocolate raises your brain's serotonin levels, which makes you happy. Unless you think being happy is bad?

Plus, it staves off the aftereffects of dementor exposure.

[KarlGauss]

Do any of the "sugar is bad for you" types understand that within minutes of eating most any carbohydrate, your body has converted it to sugar? Rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, even vegetables, they're all "sugar".

(Yes, the rate of rise of one's blood sugar and/or insulin levels does differ depending on the nature of the ingested carbohydrate, but that is not relevant to the basic issue that carbs become "sugar" after they're eaten.)

[si_blakely]

I thought that a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down...



Si

[dracoi]

My only response is that the phrasing of the question ("too much sugar") requires us to say "Yes."

Too much might mean trying to consume 300 lbs in one sitting, until you dehydrate or your stomach ruptures, but yeah, eventually we'll find some quantity of sugar that will prevent you from getting well. We can do the same with water, chicken soup, fruit, salad and anything else you might take while sick.

[Michael63129]

Eating sugar (or fat or protein, they are all the same in the end) in addition to your normal diet (as phrased by the OP; "on top of your regular diet") will cause weight gain if sustained over time (many people do this by drinking soda), otherwise, I don't remember ever getting sick after eating too much candy at once after Halloween/Easter/etc as a kid (of course, I wasn't already sick, and you will get uncomfortable if you eat too much).

[Lust4Life]

The immune system is IMO very much influenced by the mind.

If you get a better time when sick then you do when well, your body, directed by your consciousness will not try to hard to make you better, or in some cases turn you into a hypochondriac.

Nowadays this is exacerbated by immature parents allowing their kids to watch tv, play video games and giving them excessive sympathy when they've got minor illnesses .

Result ?

The kids will consciously try it on, to delay going back to school, and at the same time their subconscious would be doing the same thing.

Personally, when I was a kid if I was off school because of illness, I had to stay in bed.

When you're feeling pretty awful you don't care, let alone mind, but when you start getting better its so BORING, you can't wait to get better, and that even includes going back to school.

Now I can continue functioning reasonably normally even when quite badly injured, or suffering coughs, colds etc.

Except for "Flu", and on the rare occasions I get that then I'm not so good .

So I suspect that giving your kids sweets/US candy, or milkshakes is probably not a good thing when they're ill; as they'll turn out a bunch of milksops when they're older.

Now get the fuck off of my lawn.

[dtilque]

Originally Posted by Katarawinternight

Sugar "... raises your blood sugar level; ... sugar can cause hypoglycemia; low blood sugar levels; ...

Yep, right, whatever you say.