Sweets. Not so sweet for your health.

We are trained from our earliest moments to reward ourselves with sweets. We're called honey and sweetie pie, given candy when we're good, cake and ice cream when it's a special day, and yet we wonder why we have such a hard time giving them up sugar.

Our brain's primary food is glucose, provided when our body breaks down carbohydrates. When we eat high glycemic foods, our brain gets glucose super fast, giving us an almost instant high.

Of course, we crash almost just as quickly, so then we need to repeat the process so we stay "up" and energized. When that doesn't happen, we quickly fade. This happens to many people so often that eventually they are feeling out of sorts all the time unless they have sugar, soda, fruit juice, or starchy carbs virtually all the time.

This is a vicious cycle that can lead to pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome. It can also lead to full blown diabetes, and heart disease. How does high sugar consumption lead to heart disease?

When you take in more carbohydrate energy than you need, the body stores it in a more concentrated form. That form is fat. Specifically it is transformed into triglycerides for transportation through the blood to storage sites throughout the body.

Want to do something nice for your heart on Valentine's Day and beyond? Eat less starch and sugar. Instead, eat more greens, brightly colored vegetables, and pasture raised poultry, beef, and lamb. All organically grown, locally raised, or biodynamically farmed, of course.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!