Sweet and Sticky Won’t Help Us Stick Around

When we consume sugar, it is converted in the body into glucose. Glucose feeds the brain allowing it to function. If you remember your biology classes, glucose is needed to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the main source of energy in the body. Glucose starts the body’s cellular engines revving, so the ATP can be made and then power the various cells throughout our body. Glucose is also responsible for some regulating functions too, such as creating the cellular building blocks for neurotransmitters (such as dopamine, serotonin…) that function as the body’s intracellular messenger system. We clearly can’t function without glucose. It is essential for the brain. But like so many things in life, there needs to be a balance. Too much or too little can have negative effects on the brain. Think like Goldilocks, porridge can’t be too hot or too cold. It needs to be just right. Same story with glucose.

Any time glucose metabolism is unbalanced in the brain it can impact the brain and the whole person. High blood sugar (low blood sugar too) can cause confusion, cell death, damage to nerves in the hands and feet which we experience as tingling and numbness. It also can cause oxidative stress – the formation of unstable molecules that ravage other molecules for their electrons. Oxidative stress is linked to inflammation and the breakdown of DNA. Oxidative stress has been associated with diabetes and developing cancer.

How much glucose do we need to ingest? For women, the total amount of sugar needed per day is six teaspoons. Most of society ingests much more than that, which is probably one of the reasons there are so many chronic illnesses. Today people are consuming an astonishing 19 teaspoons of sugar per day. That is three times the amount advised for women. And just for a bit of perspective, it amounts to an extra 60 pounds of sugar a year. All of that extra sugar is making our thinking foggy, making us fatigued, achy, and overweight. Fatigue, foggy brain, and inflammation are three common themes that we see linked to many of today’s chronic illnesses. Eighty years ago, society feared infections because they were the major cause of death by

illness. Due to a more sedentary, yet also more hectic, lifestyle, along with consuming processed foods, today’s biggest fear is chronic illnesses (Type 2 diabetes/heart disease…), most of which, if you have been following along, can be controlled/avoided/healed through lifestyle changes.

In light of this information, I propose a challenge to make a small shift in our thinking and behavior this Purim. Why don’t we, the leaders of the next generation, modify the current conception of mishloach manot? Perhaps instead of just continuing the tradition of what we think mishloach manot should be, we tweak it where it has gone off the rails. 

The reason for giving mishloach manot is to increase social bonds within the community. That is for each of us to feel more connected to one another and bask in the love of community. That’s why we should focus on giving more to those who are less connected to the community and less to those who are more connected – the exact opposite of what is usually done. By doing this, we help those who feel disenfranchised within the community, since they are most at risk for feeling alone and left out of the simcha of the holiday.  

So the challenge is this – find someone that you are not trying to impress who will really be happy to get your mishloach manot – and give them a lovely one. During planning, designing, and execution of your theme or idea (if you do that) take it up a notch. How? Well if you love someone you want to feed them food that will make them healthy, right? Just like you wouldn’t send someone foods they are allergic to, you shouldn’t send foods that will injure their health in other ways, either. If we are in the middle of celebrating Am Yisrael finally getting their act together and acting as a unified nation in the face of annihilation, wouldn’t we want to give a gift of good health? One time at the beginning of Adar I was at my local gym and it was almost empty. I commented to one of the instructors who shook her head and commented that “everyone was out buying junk for mishloach manot”.