Tag: Sugar Shock

Halloween: Handing Out “Treats” Is “Tricky”—6 Tips To a Healthier Holiday

Halloween is a spooky time and not because of goblins, ghosts or ghouls. Oct. 31 is downright frightening because it is a nationally accepted Sugar Overload Day.
Around Halloween, just about everyone “forgets” the truly scary facts: Kids have been growing more and more obese, even developing type 2 diabetes—conditions that researchers attribute to such unhealthy activities as over-consuming sweets and refined carbs and lack of exercise.
Despite the dangers to our children’s health, every Halloween, it’s accepted—even encouraged—to pass out gobs of sugar-filled candies that could harm the health of our neighbors’ kids.
But every time you give candies to youngsters who come knocking on your door to playfully trick-or-treat, you’re tricking them, not treating them.
Indeed, the average child easily wolfs down about 20 to 40 teaspoons of sugar and more than 500 calories on that one night alone. Then, for days or weeks afterwards, the typical kid is still pigging out on leftover candies.
Research at Harvard, Yale and other institutions have discovered that eating fewer sweets and skipping the soda and other sugary drinks could help children and adults alike lose weight and reduce their risks of getting type 2 diabetes.
This Halloween, I invite you to quit encouraging sugar gorging and instead to begin to take some steps to make Halloween more healthy. Here are 6 tips to create a healthier holiday.

New Zealand’s Kids Aren’t Getting Enough Veggies and Fruits Either

New Zealand is one of many countries with the same problems that we’re facing in the United States. In fact, the Health Ministry there found that the average household spends more on confectionery foods (candy) each week ($6.50) than it does on fresh fruit ($5.90).
Like the U.S., New Zealand also faces a childhood obesity epidemic, with nearly one-third of children aged 5 to 14 either overweight or obese.
In fact, New Zealand’s Health Ministry nutrition adviser Christine Stewart told said about 40 percent of children didn’t eat the recommended three or more servings of vegetables and up to 60 percent didn’t consume two or more servings of fruit, according to stuff.co.nz.

The Internet is Abuzz With Talk About The Negative-Calorie Beverage Enviga, But Does It or Does It Not Have Sugar?

The Internet is abuzz with talk about Enviga, a new sparkling, green-tea-based beverage “proven to burn calories,” which will hit Northeast stores in November and roll out nationally in January.
The new, “negative-calorie” drink — developed jointly by The Coca-Cola Company and Nestle S.A.. — is being touted as actually increasing calorie burning — that is, if you drink three beverages over the course of a day. In fact, a press release from Coke and Nestle cites extensive scientific studies, which showed that three cans a day of the drink — which contain a blend of green tea extracts (epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG), calcium, and caffeine — will burn a net average of 60 to 100 calories.
This is absolutely brilliant marketing to get you, the unsuspecting consumer, to fork over the suggested $1.29 to $1.49 per can three times a day. (If you develop an Enviga habit, it can be quite costly. That’s a minimum of $3.87 a day, $27.09 a week, or a whopping $116.10 a month!)