Sugar is the bad guy. We've heard, "Sugar is poison." "Sugar is toxic." We've come to think of it as devilish, bleached, stripped, nasty stuff. And yes, it's everywhere - not only added by manufacturers to most packaged foods, but sugar occurs naturally in every fruit and vegetable in the plant kingdom. Trying to decipher the quagmire of names that are used to label sugar can be exhausting at best. The Corn Refiners have just petitioned the FDA to label HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) as corn sugar- just to mess with our heads even more.

If we want our families to enjoy good health and live with vitality it requires a diet of whole, natural foods, low in empty sugars. Natural food sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, dates and agave nectar, while they still contain sugar, are more easily assimilated by the body, have nutritional value and pose less health risks than processed sugars - especially for children. Let's reel in this broad net of blame and get smarter about sugar so we can solve our problem of disease. So, is all sugar bad?

To clarify, Glucose is the name for sugar in your blood. Your body cannot function without it. Fructose (accompanied by nutrients and fiber) is the sugar in fruit. Fresh fruit - especially when eaten alone - binds with metals and other toxins escorting them out of your body and is cleansing to your system. HFCS is made from the genetic modification of corn. It depletes leptin storage, which keeps us feeling hungry and can be addictive. It is widely used because it's inexpensive and has preservative qualities. Sucrose may have started out from beets or cane sugar but is refined and processed. The term generally refers to bleached, white table sugar. It has zero nutritional value.

Most of us have come by our sweet tooth honestly - with practice. The foods you like are the foods your children will learn to like. Taste is acquired, so learning to love Twinkies can happen just as easily as learning to love raw fish. Walter Willet of the Harvard School of Public Health said about diabetes, "Apart from lung cancer, there is no other disease that can be almost eliminated with simple lifestyle changes."

It comes back to personal responsibility. In order to reduce the risk of diabetes and obesity for ourselves and our families, we'll need to find a satisfying replacement for processed sugar and HFCS. A little patience goes a long way here. In the beginning let's shoot for tolerable replacement. When given a chance - tolerable can turn in to satisfying. Satisfying can turn into a new favorite and a lifestyle change that will stick. You've got to set yourself up for success by giving your family options.

Here are some simple lifestyle changes you can make:

Keep fruit handy

Keep plenty of your favorite fresh, seasonal fruit on hand - perfect plump, ripe peaches, big juicy oranges, a little basket of rainier cherries or whatever sounds good to you. Make sure they have a chance to ripen on the counter to perfection. Then refrigerate until really cold. Slice or present it just the way you like it. Then, you won't miss the ice cream because you've been looking forward to that perfect, juicy, tastes-like-summer peach!

Substitute sweeteners

Use chopped dates instead of sugar to sweeten muffins, cereal, cookies and smoothies. When chopped super fine, they can be used many places adding just sweetness and not so much of a date flavor.

Use agave nectar to sweeten tea or other drinks.

Maple syrup and honey are whole foods and can be used for cooking and sweetening most anything.

Just say no

Let your children see you refuse sugary foods and make smart food choices. They'll begin to value their own health as well.

It takes practice to adjust unprocessed sweeteners to taste, but as you practice you'll be reducing the amount of white sugar and HFCS in your family's diet while still enjoying a treat. We remember Paracelsus, the father of toxicology for saying, "The dose makes the poison." Consuming processed sugar and HFCS in high amounts is poisonous and setting ourselves and our families up for disease. With the availability of fresh fruit and other whole food options you can satisfy your sweet tooth, reduce your family's risk of disease and teach your kids how to eat well all at the same time.

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Our kids have come by their eating habits honestly - they got them from us. In our process as intelligent, caring parents we're learning more about food and how to keep our children thriving. Oftentimes the dietary changes we'd like to make are met with a scrunched up nose and an "ew." If they've been taught good manners, that little scrunched up nose is followed by "ew, no thank you."

This calls for the "don't ask, don't tell" approach to dinner time. With some careful tweaking and sneaking to your menu plan, they'll be chowing down on nutrient-dense foods and not even know it.

Re-acquire taste

Our taste is acquired. The good news is we can acquire a taste for new and different foods - it just takes time. Some foods are easy to adjust so your family can slowly come around to the different textures and flavors. Even a "two bites of green beans = small victory" is worth celebrating.

For example, my 3-year-old granddaughter Sophie can pick at a plate, nose scrunched up, "ew-ing" with the best of them. However, on a recent visit from Grandma Loa (that's my favorite title) I made a batch of kale chips. She loved them. Lots of kids do. They're salty and crunchy and are handled like a potato chip. Yet, rather than harmful, toxic ingredients worthy of lawsuits, she's getting health-benefiting polyphenolic flavonoid compounds such as lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, and vitamins while she snacks away. The greater benefit and the bigger picture is that this enjoyable vegetable snack becomes a gateway food. This occasional appearance of a dark green vegetable in her diet will make her more likely to try other green foods as she grows up. Even if there are only two or three vegetables that your child will eat, keep offering them - it's a place to start.

Vegetables don't have to be boring, laying on the plate screaming, "I'm good for you." There are plenty of ways to secretly add them to meals that kids love.

Here are a few of my favorite "health by stealth" tricks that will keep your family eating well.

Veggies in spaghetti

When making spaghetti sauce, even if it's from a jar, start by sautΓ©ing finely chopped vegetables in olive oil and cook them down until tender, almost caramelized. They'll blend in with your sauce and the nose scrunchers won't know they're there. Try red and yellow peppers, onions, carrots (shred them), garlic and zucchini. If you chop them small and cook until tender, it will be your secret.

Fruit smoothies

Kids and parents love a breakfast smoothie. Start with a base of 1 cup grape juice, 1 cup frozen strawberries or blueberries, 1 banana and add a handful of fresh spinach. Voila! You've alkalized their breakfast, added vitamin C, iron, and phyto-nutrients that have disease prevention properties all while they had no clue. The grape juice camouflages the green color. My grandson Bronx, another nose-scruncher, has this every morning and proudly sports his purple mustache after he drinks it.

Muffin tricks

When baking muffins or cookies, reduce the amount of sugar by 2-3 tablespoons. Try replacing a half cup of flour for almond meal. They won't miss the sugar. Overtime, they'll get used to a lighter sweet taste. Plus, you've added 12 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber and a small dose of leptin which helps reduce sugar cravings. Your family might not even notice a difference in the taste and hey, what happens in your mixing bowl, stays in your mixing bowl.

Rice creep

Before cooking white rice, replace one fourth the amount of rice you are preparing with brown rice and cook as normal. In a few weeks, replace half with brown rice. By slowly allowing your family to get used to the texture, they are more likely to make the transition without drama. Eventually, the goal is to phase out white rice and serve only brown rice. It's a better choice as it contains the endosperm which generates all of the proteins and 80 percent of the minerals, plus vitamin E.

This list will get you thinking about ways you can turn those little nose scrunchers into smiley faces that hug you and say, "Thanks, that was yummy!"

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Acute stress, or what happens in our day-to-day lives when we are stuck in traffic or rushing to meet a difficult deadline at work, can be negative or positive. It's short lived and usually there's an end in sight to feeling overwhelmed. Just knowing the end IS in sight, prevents us from becoming completely unglued. But when acute stress runs rampant and goes unchecked it begins to feel normal and can cross the line to "episodic acute stress." Know anybody you consider a "drama queen?" Or, how about the guy at work who would "lose his head if it weren't attached" both have allowed episodic acute stress to become their way of life.

The type of stress that does the most damage to the body is "chronic stress." Feeling stuck in a job you hate, trapped in a bad marriage, or an ongoing situation that continually keeps you on the edge will create a form of stress that ages the body and exhausts the mind. Watch for symptoms in your body that are calling out to you, asking you to make a change, like when your thoughts are racing, continually "changing frame" in your head, or when you notice your heart rate speeding up. Other signs of chronic stress are feeling nervous, edgy and less joyful, weight gain, stomach trouble, trembling hands, low libido, or tired from lack of a good night's sleep.

No matter what type of stress you are experiencing on any given day-remember you are in charge of your well-being and if you acquire the skills-you will be able to offset or even prevent damage from occurring in the body.

We can't prevent all stressful situations. But, the goal is for stress to roll off of us like "water off a duck." When we are aware of our own physiological changes that occur when we are nervous, tense or agitated —we have a chance to make the adjustments that keep our system in balance. So, it's important to know how your body reacts to nerve-wracking situations.

Stress translates first, into tension - stiffness in the neck and shoulders, tightness in the belly and irregular digestion, or maybe low back tightness and pain - it can occur anywhere from head to toe. If you are in tune with your body and are listening- you are more likely to be able to figure out where you are storing tension. This quick exercise can be done anywhere and can significantly improve your health in a myriad ways.

First, power down or step away from the "noise" of the moment. Turn away from your desk or close your office door. Clear your mind, feel the quiet, and take a big deep breath. "Feel" or go inside your body, take a trip around starting from the bottoms of your feet working your way up to the top of your head, sensing and noticing how you feel along the way. See if you can locate stiffness, discomfort, or what some perceive as a low-grade buzz or sense of confusion. When you have found a trouble spot, stay there, try to soften the area, release any tension. Breathe in to that spot and on the exhale breath, release the tension as if you were "sending it out" along with the breath. Stay on that spot, until it is relaxed. Then, check around again to make sure: Your face and the back of your neck are relaxed and soft, your shoulders are low, your belly has a sense of peace, your low back, knees and feet are all settled and calm. Then, bring your awareness to what gives you the greatest joy - your greatest gift, or most priceless blessing, and as you feel gratitude for this gift, draw in a big finishing breath, exhaling slowly.

This may take four or five minutes and after the first three or four times, you will notice it becomes easier and more effective. Soon, you'll find that it only takes a few moments to align your spirit. With this exercise, not only will you feel more calm and clear-headed immediately but you are also managing the rate at which your body ages and making a smart investment in your long-term health. Your life at work will become more productive and gratifying.

The post Managing stress at the office appeared first on FamilyToday.

Bob was describing "eustress" or positive stress. Eustress is exciting and challenging. It's fun and keeps us feeling vital and alive, like a roller coaster ride. You may be screaming "Oh no! Stop this thing!" when you are actually having fun. We all have eustress at certain points in our lives. While it can be tiring, it's usually not detrimental to our health.

Acute stress

Or what happens in our day-to-day lives when we are stuck in traffic or rushing to meet a difficult deadline at work, can be negative or positive. It's short lived and usually there's an end in sight to feeling overwhelmed. Just knowing the end IS in sight prevents us from becoming completely unglued. But when acute stress runs rampant and goes unchecked, it begins to feel like the norm and can cross the line to "episodic acute stress." Know anybody you consider a "drama queen?" Or how about the gal at work who would "lose her head if it weren't attached?" Both have allowed episodic acute stress to become their way of life.

The type of stress that does the most damage to the body is "chronic stress." Feeling stuck in a job you hate with no way out, trapped in a bad marriage or an ongoing situation that continually keeps you on the edge will create a form of stress that ages the body and exhausts the mind. Watch for symptoms in your body that are calling out to you and asking you to make a change, like when your thoughts are racing, continually "changing frame" in your head or when you notice your heart rate speeding up.

Other signs of chronic stress are feeling nervous, edgy and less joyful; weight gain; stomach trouble; trembling hands; low libido or feeling tired from not being able to get a good, restful night's sleep.

You're in Charge

No matter what type of stress you are experiencing on any given day-remember, you are in charge of your wellbeing if you acquire the skills-you will be able to offset or even prevent damage from occurring in the body.

We can't prevent all stressful situations at work from occurring. But, the goal is for stress to roll off of us like "water off a duck." When we are aware of our own physiological changes that occur when we are nervous, tense or agitated, we have a chance to make the adjustments that keep our system in balance. So it's important to know how your body reacts to nerve-wracking situations.

How Stress is Handled Physically

Stress translates first into tension - stiffness in the neck and shoulders, tightness in the belly and irregular digestion, or maybe low back tightness and pain - and it can occur anywhere from head to toe. If you are in tune with your body and are listening, you are more likely to be able to figure out where you are storing tension.

Here is a quick exercise that can be done anywhere and can significantly improve your health in a myriad ways:

• First, power down or step away from the "noise" of the moment. Turn away from your desk or close your office door.

• Clear your mind, feel the quiet, and take a big deep breath. "Feel" or go inside your body, take a trip around starting from the bottoms of your feet working your way up to the top of your head, sensing and noticing how you feel along the way.

• See if you can locate stiffness, discomfort, or what some perceive as a low-grade buzz or sense of confusion. When you have found a trouble spot, stay there, try to soften the area, release any tension.

• Breathe in to that spot and on the exhale breath, release the tension as if you were "sending it out" along with the breath. Stay on that spot, until it is relaxed. Then check around again to make sure your face and the back of your neck are relaxed and soft, your shoulders are low, your belly has a sense of peace, your low back, knees and feet are all settled and calm.

• Then, bring your awareness to what gives you the greatest joy-your greatest gift, or most priceless blessing, and as you feel gratitude for this gift, draw in a big finishing breath, exhaling slowly.

This may take four or five minutes, and after the first three or four times, you will notice it becomes easier and more effective. Soon you'll find that it only takes a few moments to align your spirit. With this exercise, not only will you feel more calm and clear-headed immediately but you are also managing the rate at which your body ages and making a smart investment in your long-term health. Your life at work will become more productive and gratifying.

The post All health’s breaking loose appeared first on FamilyToday.