Your Blueprint for a Healthy & Goblin-Free Halloween

It’s almost that time. Halloween. The time of year that marks the slow and steady decline into crappy eating habits, overdoing it on the holiday cheer, and the inevitable extra poundage that settles in around our waistline.

What is it about the cooler weather than gives us the green light to put anything and everything in our mouths?

Before we go into my holiday tips to keep your weight in check this season, which can be found here, let’s talk about how to make the most out of this “holiday” that creates wired and moody goblins out of perfectly behaved and focused children.

First, the facts. These are some of the poisons that are in Halloween candy:

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

While the corn industry swears up and down that HFCS is no worse for you than regular sugar (which has also been compared to heroin in terms of addictive nature – nice, huh?), I beg to differ. Here’s why:

• Because of the processing, HFCS is more rapidly absorbed into the blood stream than cane sugar, which spikes insulin and that leads to a host of other problems. Diabetes, anyone?
• HFCS contains contaminants like mercury – this is not good.
• Corn is among the top four most genetically modified crops (or GMOs). What is HFCS made out of? Corn. Why are GMOs bad? Read this.

2. Artificial Colors

Smarties and Skittles certainly don’t get their rainbow hues from natural beet juice. Instead, it comes from petroleum-based food coloring (such as Blues 1 and 2, Red 3, Green 3, and Yellow 5), which have been linked to a handful of cancers, in addition to behavior problems and tantrums in children, asthma, allergies, and hives. Don’t believe me? Read this. Halloween candy is sooooo pretty, isn’t it?

3. Trans Fats

Trans fats raise our “bad” cholesterol level, which leads to heart disease and stroke. Trans fats also cause inflammation in the body, which is the precursor for just about every chronic disease (heart disease, HBP, diabetes, arthritis, and Alzheimers).

Labeling is misleading because the FDA allows companies to label as “no trans fats” if there is less than 0.5 g trans fat per serving labeled as such. This means if you eat more than one serving (more likely 2 or 3), you’re getting way more than you should. Zero is optimal, as even small amounts have detrimental effects on our health (long and short term).  Look for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils {soybean, corn oil}. These are super cheap and hence a staple in processed foods and candy.

4. GMOs

At the risk of beating a dead horse here, in addition to corn being a top GMO, so is soy, which is a staple in candy in the form of partially-hydrogenated soybean oil and the additive soy lecithin, which is added to processed foods to improve texture. GMOs are bad? Yes. Read this (in case you missed the first hint above).

5. Carnauba Wax

As in the stuff you use to wax your car. This is another key ingredient in many Halloween candy, and while it’s not been shown to be toxic, trust no one and assume that if it shines your car, shoes, or surfboard, it has no place inside your body.

It’s TIME to Take Action! Here are three ideas to have a candy-free Halloween! 

Now that you’re informed, you can take action! Here are three ideas to make Halloween candy-free, while preserving your rep with the neighborhood youth and (more importantly) your house egg and toilet-paper free.

1. Healthy Eats

Stock your basket with individually-packaged non-candy “treats” like raisins, nuts, trail mixes, or real fruit juice boxes (not Capri Sun, people). Last year we gave out these and these (which are BIG TIME special occasion treats in our house) and our trees remained toilet paper free. And while they are, indeed, technically “packaged” and “processed”, they’re waaay better than these (read the reviews – HILARIOUS!).

2. Money

My neighbor growing up, a diabetic woman, used to give out dimes at Halloween, simply because she didn’t want to have the temptation of candy around. Smart lady. What kid doesn’t like a little dinero to add to their piggy bank? Toss a quarter 9adjusting for inflation) in each kid’s bag, or more if you’ve got money to burn.

3. Toys

Head to the dollar store and stock up on stickers, funny noses, vampire teeth, fake scars, kazoos, balloons, crayons, or bubbles. These little toys might actually be a welcome respite for some kids.

Next Step: Divide & Conquer

When it’s all said and done, your children will no doubt come home with a bag filled with unmentionables from their epic trick or treating voyage. Your mission now is to create compromise and balance, not win and take away all of their “treats” (although I’d much prefer the latter, but whatever). If there is constant defeat or deprivation in these situations, rebellion is inevitable when you’re not around. It will happen. Oh yes, it will.

Here are three strategies to minimize the nutritional damage and not create a literal monster:

1. Toss & Choose

Upon their return, inspect the goods and have them toss the things they know they won’t eat. If you’re really feeling ballsy, take it a step further and toss anything that is an absolute “no” in your book. For me, these tend to be the things that have multiple colors, flavors, and textures. Then, have them pick (insert YOUR magic # here) treats that they can have ONE of per day. Once they are gone, they’re gone. Toss or hide the rest so the temptation is out of everyone’s sight. A bit too Sophie’s Choice? It builds character – they’ll get over it.  

Hate to toss? Set the nasties aside for #3 below. 

2. Buy it Back

If they’re smart, they’ll take you up on this offer. Give them a dime or quarter for each piece of candy they surrender.

3. Use it for your gingerbread house bling

This is my personal favorite and by far, the most fun. Once your littles have played eenie meenie miney mo with their stash (#1 above), set aside (and hide) the crap that would make ah-MAZING bling for your winter gingerbread house project. Get pumped when going through the candy in step #1 and talk up your g-bread house so they get equally fired up and, more importantly, on board with the idea.

We did this last year and it was a smashing success. Here is the step-by-step tutorial to do this for pennies on the dollar. 

4. Talk to Them

Let them know your reasoning behind setting these limits (in age- appropriate language, of course). More than likely, a lengthy conversation with a 3-year old about GMOs will fall on deaf ears. Simple statements like “candy doesn’t help you grow big and strong” or “candy makes it hard for you to concentrate in school or get along with your sister”. Contrary to popular belief, kids aren’t (totally) unreasonable. Chances are they’ll understand and perhaps even agree with you that it’s a good idea to limit consumption.

This is how we’re raising our 3-year old and while she’s still young, and much of the temptation lies ahead, I’m on the offensive big time. To date, she’s never had a piece of candy (besides organic dark chocolate), but I’m sure that will change this year. You can bet I’ll be employing these strategies. Sigh…

How do you roll with the temptations of Halloween with your kids? What other strategies can you share? I’d LOVE to hear! Please leave a comment below.