Dr Cory Couillard

Here’s a dirty little secret about white sugar: It contains absolutely no nutritional value. Sugar is often called the anti-nutrient. Consumption of sugar steals important vitamins and minerals from the body such as calcium, potassium, thiamin, chromium and vitamin C. ¹ Processed sugars and carbohydrates, which convert into sugar, will cause a rapid increase in insulin levels in the bloodstream. This rapid increase causes a release of endorphins. These endorphins will cause the body to have a chemical mental “high”, which lifts your mood. Continuous use of sugar causes the brain’s endorphin sites to slow and shut down to regulate the amount of endorphins in the brain. When these endorphin sites are damaged in the brain it will cause a chemical mental “low”, commonly called depression. To maintain endorphin levels in the brain, a person must consume more sugar to get out of the depressed state. This will cause a vicious cycle of depression and addiction. A study published in the

The holiday season can be a time full of joy, happiness, parties and family gatherings. But for many people, it is a time of depression, loneliness, reflection on past failures, self-evaluation and anxiety about the upcoming year. Even more people experience post-holiday depression resulting in additional stress and exhaustion. Lack of sleep, limited meal ideas, poor time management and stress all play a significant role in the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is a key messenger that creates an anti-depressant effect in the brain, it makes you happy. We need to identify and resolve the effects of inadequate sleep, abundant stress and negative self-confidence on depression and realize that this will not happen through medication. This can only be accomplished through living a life with purpose. This is the time of the year to get focused on creating a championship game plan for your health. You were born with the ability to have a championship marriage, children, business and

230 million prescriptions are now filled for depression every year. Antidepressants are one of the most-prescribed drugs in the United States. More than 1 in 20 Americans are still depressed according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research over the last two decades has shown that people with cardiovascular disease are more likely to suffer from depression than otherwise healthy people. The reverse is also been found to be true, people with depression are at greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease. The National Institute of Mental Health states that “people with heart disease who are depressed have an increased risk of death after a heart attack compared to those who are not depressed.” Cardiovascular disease now affects over 12 million Americans and is classified as one of the leading causes of death. The depression incident rates skyrockets to 1 in 2 for people who have survived their first heart attack according to the institute. Depre