Trick-or-treating was made popular many years ago, with the earliest national news documentation in the United States being in the 1940s. Traditionally, after the sun has set, children dress up in costumes and go door to door in their community collecting treats from their friendly neighbors. Popular treats given to trick-or-treaters consisted of fruits and even sweet treats such as sucking candies. These days kids are bombarded with sugar all year round. The sneakiest way it gets into them is by high fructose corn syrup.
According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, since 1950, corn sweeteners in our diets have multiplied by eight times! That is, we get eight times more corn sweetener in our diet today than we did sixty years ago. But why?
HFCS is cheap to make and easy to use. While sugarcane requires a hot climate to grow in, corn can be grown almost anywhere and we have tons of it here in the US, it is also subsidized by our government. HFCS’s liquid form also makes it cheaper to transport, since it can be piped into trucks with less loss than granular sugar. That liquid state also makes HFCS easier to blend with other ingredients than sugar and acts as a preservative as well as a sweetener.
Most brands of soda sold in the U. S. contain HFCS. It’s also a common ingredient of cereals, candies, crackers, and ice cream. Even healthy-seeming whole wheat breads sometimes contain the sweetener. Ketchup contain HFCS, barbeque sauce, canned fruits and even some canned soups. You will also find it in salad dressings, frozen dinners, pizza and more. It literally is everywhere!
So when Halloween first became popular, giving candy out was a special occasion. Nowadays the average person in the US is consuming 60-70 POUNDS of sugar per year and close to 50 lbs of high fructose corn syrup per year! We also have the highest rate of cancer, heart disease, diabetes in adults and obesity in both adults and children than ever before in the history of the United States. Ask yourself the question..does our country appear to be getting healthier or sicker? Most would say sicker.
High fructose corn syrup and sugar are known to cause obesity, diabetes, cancer, inflammation, learning problems, sleep problems and tooth decay...so why are we still eating it. The even bigger question is why are we letting our kids eat it and why are we glorifying it with every holiday that comes along??
Some companies have come out with organic lollipops and treats. They are better - no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and no HFCS. But each pop still contains 17 g of refined inflammatory sugar! Yes it's better, but what else can we do?
Each year since I can remember I have limited my kids to 10 pieces of Halloween candy. After going around the neighborhood, they dump all their candy onto the floor and start the tedious process of choosing the 10 pieces. They usually eat 2 or 3 and feel crummy so they put it away. They forget all about it and a week later I toss it! You can also use the "Switch Witch" idea that I was given by one of my practice members. After the kids pick their 10 pieces, when they go to bed at night the Switch Witch comes and takes the rest of the candy and leaves a book, puzzle or toy behind in exchange!
This year I really changed gears. In the past I had given out pretzels and other alternative snacks, even those organic candies. This time I decided to ditch the food altogether and instead gave out glow bracelets to all the kids as they came around for their treats. Only 2 teens scoffed at the lack of candy but overall the kids were really happy about their glowing gift and the parents were totally grateful. One less candy! So if that's what we really want and that's what makes us happy as parents (because we know what's best for our kids), isn't it time we share out knowledge with our kids and teach them the value in healthier choices? It all begins in the home and it all starts with you. Have no fear, the Wellness Warrior is here!
My ongoing frustration...This year I went on a mission to try to make some changes in Halloween in my community. As a holistic wellness expert and chiropractor, I regularly teach people how to eat healthier so I didn't think this would be such a difficult task. First, I held a workshop in my office during the lunch hour to teach parents how to have a healthier Halloween and how to teach their kids to make better choices on the holiday and all year long. 3 speakers were lined up, a pediatric dentist, a family wellness coach and myself. The entire office was decorated and a table was set up for people to bring their kids with them to color pumpkins. I advertised to my own practice members and all over Facebook, created events in the local paper's website. A total of 2 people showed up! (A mother and her son). The mother was extremely impressed with the wealth of information she received from the 3 professionals,and her little boy learned some cool stuff too. She also could not understand why more parents didn't show up. Yesterday we had a healthy Halloween party in the office which was also promoted everywhere, natural foods, fresh fruits and veggies, kids activities and glow bracelets... About 35% of my practice is children - not one came in for their adjustment! It was bizarre! Don't people want a safe and healthy environment where their kids can learn to choose something healthy, or does everyone just continue to follow the herd of parents who just let their kids go sugar crazy on Halloween? Don't people want new strategies to create better health or are they still going by the old paradigm of waiting for a crisis to hit before make necessary changes to have better health. They are already celebrating at school, you know they are going to trick or treat in the neighborhood, but why not show them there is a better way? Health is our #1 asset. We must start teaching them now. Sugar and HFCS are everywhere and they are toxic poisons that causes disease. So after the trick or treating ended last night, the kids had their friends over. I whipped out a veggie tray for them to snack on. They were so happy they forgot about their candy and went to town on the fresh veggies. Success!
Be brave, Dr. Nicole
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