- photo by Spiders
For Halloween fanatics like myself, this time of the year means a plethora of things. It means dressing up, allowing yourself to go out with your friends guilt-free regardless what day of the week it is, indulging in your favorite bad horror movies to build up anticipation, and having an excuse for doing off-color “creepy” things like scaring children with your terrifying Freddy mask (just kidding!) or draping yourself in a 10-foot snake and parading around a damp basement. What?! But for most Americans, Halloween also means consuming lots and lots of sugar.
I will never forget the summer I gave up sugar for an entire 3 months. The first two weeks I craved chocolate all the time, but after that it was breezy. I felt really good! I had more energy and I swear my skin looked healthier. Naturally sweet things, like fruit, tasted even better than before. Then, for my then-boyfriend’s birthday, I indulged in a slice of birthday cake. A big slice. I was completely wired all evening like I had been mainlining espresso, and the next day I woke up with a pounding headache, a queasy stomach and a dry mouth. Basically, it felt like I had spent the previous evening pounding tequila shots instead of licking frosting off my fingers. Because sugar, like alcohol, is dehydrating, messes with our hormones and blood sugar levels, and it is completely addictive.
Sugar can exacerbate stress and anxiety, can lead to diabetes and other diseases, and makes us gain weight due to the way it is metabolized. Of course, the more used to sugar you are, the less you will notice its effects. But when you have a sensitive system, like I did when I avoided it for a whole season, you can really notice what it does to your body. You can especially notice sugar’s effects in children. Don’t believe me? Give a 5-year-old a cupcake and a can of coke and sit back to watch them explode all over the room for the next two hours.
This Halloween, why not indulge in healthier treats, whether you’re celebrating with your kids, your friends, or yourself. One of my favorite sweet treats is the peanut butter cups recipe from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet. I use unsweetened baker’s chocolate and organic, unsweetened peanut butter. They’re pretty bangin’, very satisfying, and not loaded with artificial junk or sugar. Plus, they are fun to make with kids. Other options are melting dark chocolate and dipping fruit in it. Roll your dipped pieces in coconut, chopped nuts or orange and black sprinkles for festive fun.
Instead of giving out candy at the door, go to your local dollar store and see what fun things you can find. Yeah, no kid wants a box of raisins in their treat bag, but they might be down with stickers, glow sticks, small toys or even cold hard cash—empty out that change jar on top of your washing machine.
Okay so, you gave out stickers to your trick-or-treaters but your kids still came home with pillowcases full of crack, er, I mean candy. What to do now? My mother used to let us eat a few pieces of candy each night for the first week after Halloween. After that, she collected our candy, chopped all of the good-stuff (the chocolate bars) up and made them into cookies! She simply amended a chocolate chunk cookie recipe using candy bar pieces instead. After the cookies were gone—she often froze some dough for later in the year—our candy supply was gone, too.
And of course, another great way to turn Halloween into a healthier holiday for your family is to focus on non-candy related activities. Make a big deal about pumpkin picking and carving, creating your own costumes, turning your basement into a haunted house and having Halloween-themed movie nights leading up to the date. Make your own traditions, get your kids excited about other aspects of the holiday, and candy will come in second.
