Trick or Treat?
Halloween is right around the corner! It’s such a fun time of year for my kids but also one where I have to pay attention to try and regulate their sweets intake. I often get asked about my approach to Halloween candy and whether I switch out what my kids picked up trick-or-treating for “healthier” options. The short answer is no. Halloween night I let them go wild with their haul. Then after that, I comb through and take out anything with food dyes as those ingredients are known to have negative effects on attention span and behavior (and they’re banned in Europe). I put everything left in a big bag and let them pick their after dinner treats each night. After a week or two they completely forget about the candy and that’s when I take my cue and toss it in the garbage.
Every year I know many of us stress about the amount of sugar and the types of ingredients in a lot of the candy on the market. My philosophy is to let kids enjoy themselves for the holiday and not have my stresses effect what they may or may not eat. In my view the real problem arises when we are eating things like this every day on top of many other snacks that sneakily have sugar in them. That’s when the health effects start to add up.
While there are many companies making better candy products, which I like to buy to hand out, many of the items marketed as healthier aren’t. Just because something is lower in calories or has less sugar doesn’t inherently make it better. Often times, these candies can have so many of different rypes of fillers, fake sweeteners, and inflammatory ingredients that you’re better off having the real thing. What I look for when purchasing or consuming candy is no artificial dyes, no caramel color, no titamium dioxide, and cane sugar over other types of corn syrups and artificial/alternative sweeteners. Don’t get tricked by front of the box marketing, just enjoy your treat!