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 mad hatter 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. There’s no doubt about it, the scariest thing about Halloween is not the costumes or the haunted settings – it’s 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.
The scariest thing about Halloween is not the costumes or the haunted settings, but the candy. Click To TweetWhen our children eat sugar, they are ingesting a substance that not only results in tooth decay, but also leads to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, obesity, acne, heart disease, ADHD, cancer, high blood pressure, anxiety disorders, microbial overgrowth, 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.
Halloween Celebrations Don’t Need Sugar
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. Going on a hayride or visiting a haunted house. Instead of candy, you can give away cool looking pencils or erasers, trail mix without sugar added, raisins, apples, dates, pumpkin seeds, or beef jerky.
Use your imagination and I’m sure you can come up with some ideas of your own. I provide a variety of other ideas for healthier snacks in these two posts from previous years:
If you have problems enforcing a no sugar policy in your home due to your own addiction to sugar, then you can find the support you need to make this change in my sugar addiction recovery toolkit.
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.
