Sugar and Mental Health

This past weekend, we got it reinforced for us why diet is so important for us due to its effect on our family.  I have an extreme sensitivity to caffeine that I have known for years.  However, we are now really understanding the impact processed sugar has on our children.  This past weekend, we experienced the effects of a sugar binge.  We changed our hot chocolate to the Tim Horton's hot chocolate from our usual brand because the grocery store was out of stock.  What we didn't realize is Tim Horton's hot chocolate has twice as much sugar in it, 24g per two tablespoons.  In 48 hrs, ten cups were drank which meant 1 kg of sugar was drank.  The effect was remarkable.

In those 48 hrs, we saw an addiction at work, no food eaten, 1 hr bed routines turned into 3.5 hrs, inability to deal with any sound, extreme anger and uncontrollable crying, objects thrown and broken, room torn apart, extremely high paranoia, desire to hide at all costs and all joy gone.  We were living with someone we did not recognize.

However, once we got in the truck and went for a long ride, threw all the hot chocolate out of the house, and listened to the radio, we were back to normal within six hours.  The following day, exhaustion set in and lots of sleeping happened.  By the second day, we are back in school, laughing and playing, and telling ourselves we can't let sugar into this house.

We have always known sugar is not good for us, but I set out to explore what is it about sugar that is so bad for our kids living with FASD.  Again, I'm not a medical practitioner but this was a fascinating study to me.  We know sugar leads to several medical conditions like obesity and diabetes, but the thing about it that really impacts FASD to me is the increase in serotonin and dopamine that comes from eating sugar.

Serotonin and Dopamine are described as neurotransmitters and exist in our brain and our blood stream.  In my understanding, a neurotransmitter is the chemical that carries messages from one spot of the brain to another spot.  These two also carry messages.  Serotonin helps regulate our emotions, anxiety and sleep patterns.  https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/serotonin#functions  However, like so many other things related to the brain, there is disagreement over how serotonin works.  https://www.medicaldaily.com/social-phobia-linked-high-levels-serotonin-time-rethink-ssris-and-other-anxiety-drugs-338608  The latest research, though, seems to indicate high serotonin increases anxiety levels.  For us, it certainly explains what we saw this past weekend.  It also comes from our gut through our digestive system.  Dopamine ties in with this as well.  High dopamine levels can create addicting behaviours so eating sugar leads to more eating sugar.  It also affects mental health including depression, lack of motivation, lack of joy, and a lack of movement.  https://www.healthline.com/health/dopamine-vs-serotonin#other-psychological-conditions and http://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/movement/2015/dopamine-and-movement  You will also see reference to SAD or seasonal affective disorder and a lack of serotonin which also helps explain why Nov-Feb are always so much tougher.  We just aren't getting the same levels of sunlight.  

As I was reading through this information, there were lots of references made to the fact these neurotransmitters are not well understood and their functions.  Like so many other things related to the brain, our children's neurotransmitters are not functioning as well as others.  And so, when there is an imbalance, they really can't handle it.  We are becoming more and more aware of just how much sugar is being put in our foods. 

If you are struggling with impulsivity, anger issues, sadness, laziness, lack of focus, sleeplessness or anxiety, an easy thing to look at is diet and sugar intake.  Eat fresh vegetables and homegrown meat and avoid the processed foods.  Besides, the Scotsman in me has figured out the processed foods are also the most expensive.  You won't go wrong with your local butcher and greenhouse.