It’s that spooky time
of year again.
Not because of neighborhood
kids masquerading as ghosts, goblins and ghouls.
But because of scary candies.
Beginning Halloween,
through the end of the year — for a whopping two-plus months — millions tend
to completely “forget” the fact that too much sugar can trigger harmful
effects on your children’s health, including obesity, of course. .
On Spooky Sugar Overload
Day – my phrase for Halloween — millions develop collective amnesia about how rates
of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other crippling sugar-triggered ailments are skyrocketing.
And every year, at
this time, I watch in astonishment at how cool, chic and accepted it’s become to
hurl your neighbor’s kids into Sugar Shock.
For instance:
- This
year 74 percent of households in the United States are expected to hand candies
to trick-or-treaters (80 percent of households with children will do so),
according to the candy-promoting National Confectioners Association. http://www.candyusa.com/FunStuff/content.cfm?ItemNumber=5137&navItemNumber=4569
- Of those sugar pushers, 72 percent
of those households will give away two or even three) pieces of candy per
trick-or-treater.
Let’s put this in
simple terms: On Halloween night alone, the average child in your neighborhood may
mindlessly scarf down between 5 to 50 teaspoons of sugar and hundreds of
calories.
In short, Spooky
Sugar Overload Season starts with Halloween.
Factor in all the
sugar that most people will gobble up during Thanksgiving dinners, holiday
parties, as well as Christmas or Chanukah vacations.
All this sugar
gorging begs these questions:
- Why
has it simply become un-American NOT to hand out candies on Halloween? - Why
is it outright weird NOT to give your neighbors’ kids sugar-filled treats, which
will surely send them into Sugar Shock? (Think anxiety, difficulty
concentrating, mood swings, temper tantrums, crankiness and much worse.) - Why
is candy-giving expected even though just about everyone knows that too much
sugar (candies) can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diseases, which,
in turn, can kill you?
Thankfully, a small
but growing number of us are urging parents to give out safe, fun toys instead.
Unfortunately,
though, it’s far easier to find candies than it is to locate sweet, sugar-free toys
such as glow-in-the-dark insects, spooky fingers, Halloween-themed stickers or
pencils, rubber worms, creepy fingers, action figures, kazoos and whistles,
baseball cards, plastic animals, spin tops, and party favors like engine
whistles, key chains, pen, and stickers.
Furthermore, let’s
face it, these cool Halloween options cost more than sugar-filled, or high
fructose corn syrup-laden candies.
Right now, I urge you
parents to take charge. This Halloween, just become more mindful.
Every time you dish
out candies, think about just two things.
- You
are an “enabler” – as drug addicts are to other drug addicts. Your neighbors
and you could be paving the way for neighborhood kids to crave candies. For
that matter, you could be addicting or re-addicting their parents, too. (A
number of coaching clients confessed to me that they stole their kids Halloween
candies!) - You
could be contributing to soaring rates of obesity and other diseases in your
neighborhood.
Do you really want to
have that on your conscience?
Instead, why don’t
you find ways to help your children and your neighbors’ kids to observe Halloween
in a safer, healthier way?
For instance, you
could:
- Offer your kid(s) a healthy meal
with ample protein, fiber and fat before she or he cavorts around the
neighborhood. - Give away one candy per
trick-or-treater. (Don’t let kids grab a handful of sweets.) - Hand out small bottles of water.
That way, you’ll help trick-or-treaters stay hydrated. - When your child or children come
home from trick-or-treating, have fun together doing high-intensity play
or dancing for at least 10 minutes. - Hug your kids and figure out one
or two other ways to give them lasting sweetness.
About the Author:
Connie Bennett, CHHC, CPC, ACC, is a self-mocking former sugar addict and author of two bestselling books, Sugar Shock! and Beyond Sugar Shock.
Her first book, Sugar Shock! How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life– and How You Can Get Back on Track, was praised by Dr. Mehmez Oz and many others.
Her latest book, Beyond Sugar Shock: The 6-Week Plan to Break Free of Your
Sugar Addiction & Get Slimmer, Sexier & Sweeter, has been endorsed by numerous luminaries, including Wayne Dyer, Dr. Daniel Amen, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Bernie Siegel, Joe Vitale, Marci Shimoff, Kathy Smith, John Assaraf, Colette Baron-Reid, Janet Bray Atwood, Donna Gates, Alex Jamieson, and Dr. JJ Virgin.
Connie is also a certified health coach, certified life coach, EFT practitioner, widely published jouirnalist, columnist, and and essayist (AOL News, eDiets.com, The Los Angeles Times, www.SheKnows.com, etc.), as well as an in-demand speaker, entertaining TV and radio show guest
(“CBS News Sunday Morning,” “Oprah & Friends Radio,”
“The Howard Stern Show,” etc.).
In 1998, Connie was a tormented sugar-addicted journalist, who secretly “used” candies galore just to make all her deadlines. When she was bombarded by brain
fog, heart palpitations, severe PMS and 41 other baffling ailments, Connie finally turned in deperation to a doctor, who ordered her to quit sweets. Much to her surprise, all her ailments went poof!, and the journalist was reborn, filled with determination to spread the sour news about sugar.
Now sugar-free (mostly) for 15 years, Connie — now known as The Sugar Liberator — had helped thousands of people worldwide to break free of sweets and discover that Life is
Sweeter Naturally™.
Get free gifts at www.Connie-Bennett.com. Then discover if you’ve been
brainwashed to become a sugar addict by taking The Sugar Shock Quiz at www.SugarShockBlog.com.