Halloween: Famous for smiling ‘trick or treaters’, going door to door, tearing through the candy, and then gobbling it all up! But unfortunately we know today that dyes, sugar, high fructose corn-syrup and hydrogenated fats, are not foods that are healthy for our children! This new knowledge does however provide a dilemma for some of us moms…
Food dye, which is in just about everything today, is made using PETROLEUM. While cars are able to function using this fuel, people can not (well, they don’t function optimally anyhow). We are not built to process these types of chemicals and they are known to cause many problems in kids. This substance is used instead of real food colors because they are cheap – and that is what it comes down to – it’s a business decision…
Sugar actually affects the brain, is addictive and compromises the immune system significantly. 4-grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon.
Corn-syrup is a man-made substance designed to trick the metabolism into thinking it has not consumed “food” and doesn’t register in the body!
Hydrogenated Oils & Trans-fats – are chemically altered and undergo a destructive process of hydrogenation, thus creating Trans-fats, and other dangerous formulas. Trans-fats will not ever break down … so imagine what it does inside your body?
Dr. Hyman says “It’s like eating plastic”! “These trans-fats binds to a spot in your cells that block your metabolism, slows fat burning, increases cholesterol, and leads to insulin resistance or trouble balancing your blood sugar.” They make you fat, make you sick, raise your LDL, lower your HDL cholesterol levels and can cause a number of degenerative diseases.
Although I may sound like the “Scrooge of Halloween”, it is something that we need to shed light on… Here are a few suggestions, Moms:
-Make sure the kids eat before trick or treating. Specifically, make sure they eat protein because it slows down the absorption of sugar!
-If you have young children, have them pick a few pieces if candy out, and get dispose of the rest! If you have older children, have them swap it for a toy! You will be doing them a favor, teaching them self control, and setting them up for a healthy week ahead!
-Also for younger children, use The Halloween Witch – She’s really effective! Here is what we do in our house: You take the bags of candy, and leave them on the front steps overnight. She swings by in the middle of the night and swipes the candy, leaving a toy on the steps in its place! My children look forward to her all year!
What the kids don’t know is that The Halloween Witch can either dispose or donate the candy! By doing so, please know that you are saving your family (and others you care about) from:
-A lowered immune system -Chemically synthesized ingredients are designed to disrupt your metabolism, hormones & cause weight gain. -Sluggish cellular functioning due to poor quality “food”. -Empty and anti-nutrients!You can hand out: Granola bars, stickers, pretzels, small toys and more… but bottom-line, it’s okay to deviate from the traditions that we “enjoyed” growing up – it’s okay to start new traditions.
