Well it’s that time of year again when we dress our children up and then parade them around the neighborhood to collect a bag of poison that they will shove down their throats until they literally can’t eat another bite.

What? Poison, you say. Yes, and I’m not talking about some whack job who’s contaminated the candy supply. I’m talking about the poison that is inherent in the sugar-laced, nutrient deficient, non-food product called candy.

The scariest thing about Halloween is not the costumes or the haunted settings, but the candy.

It’s really kind of bizarre when you think about it. Most loving parents would never let their children ingest poisonous substances that will seriously damage their health, but we don’t think twice about allowing them, and even encouraging them, to pump their bodies full of sugared up candy, which essentially does the same thing in the long run.

When our children eat sugar, they are ingesting a substance that not only results in tooth decay, but also leads to type 2 diabetes, obesity, acne, heart disease, adhd, cancer, high blood pressure, anxiety disorders, depression and addiction to name only a few.

If you read the wrappers on your candy, you’ll find words like red #40, blue #2, artificial flavorings, high fructose corn syrup, sugar etc. Nowhere in this list is an actual whole food.

Let’s get one thing straight — Candy is not a real food.

It is a conglomerate of food dyes, preservatives, chemicals and mind altering substances. Sugar and many of the chemicals in candy impact the brain in the same manner as alcohol and hard drugs like cocaine. It’s like handing our children a needle and watching them shoot up. Sugar addiction is rampant in our society and is often the gateway to addiction to harder substances.

On top of that, collecting as much candy as possible and hoarding it away encourages gluttonous behavior that could lead to a life long pattern of overeating, food addiction and binging. I mean really, there is no need for all that candy.

Americans spend over 2 billion dollars in Halloween candy each year. Wow, that’s really frightening. Is this really the kind of behavior we want to teach our children? I don’t think so.

There are a variety of fun ways to participate in this holiday without destroying the health of your children and neighbors or encouraging addiction, gluttony, overeating etc.

Find alternatives for your children, like having your own Halloween party and serving just a few healthy treats. Instead of candy, you can give away cool looking pencils or erasers, trail mix without sugar added, raisins, apples, granola bars without sugar added or pumpkin seeds. Use your imagination and I’m sure you can come up with some ideas of your own. Read my post from last year that has a lot more great ideas for healthy snacks:
Healthy Halloween Snacks

Don’t feel guilty for protecting your children. You will be teaching them to engage in healthy eating habits and encouraging a value system that will benefit their emotional and physical health — two of the greatest treats we can give our children.

Image Courtesy of Natural News