Trick-or-Treating Sugar Content & Halloween Candy Alternatives

Y'all....Sugar consumption is Out. Of. Control. in America.

We are all (yes, I include myself) are addicted to sugar, and it's killing us. We have rotting teeth, diabetes, heart disease, inflammatory diseases, and addiction problems. If you don't believe me, read this article by Kristin Kirkpatrick from the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. Or this one from from the New York Times arguing that sugar is a toxin.  Or this one by Mother Earth Living discussing all forms of sugar. 

Or, just trust me that sugar isn't healthy and read on.

(Photo by: Moyan Brenn, Creative Commons 2.0)

As Halloween encroaches upon us, I thought it relevant to share this article I read in Popular Science. Basically, it summarizes that candy has a lot of sugar AND that "The average U.S. trick-or-treater takes home 600 grams of sugar on Halloween - equivalent to 3 CUPS OF PURE SUGAR."

Can you imagine ever giving your kid 3 cups of pure sugar?

There are a few things you can do this Halloween to impact the sugar consumption by kiddos:
1. In our area of the nation, many dentists and orthodontists pay the kids for their candy. Ours gives a dollar a pound for candy. My daughter made 3 dollars last year.

2. Hand out goods instead of food: We hand out pencils, stickers, erasers, rings, fake teeth, fake eyeballs, small decks of cards, etc. instead of candy each year.

3. Hand out food instead of candy: You can give out snack bags of popcorn, pretzels, or cheddar crackers, trail mix, mini boxes of raisins, or bags of dried fruits. (Don't make the baggies yourself; buy the prepackaged servings.)

4. Hand out coins instead of goods or food: get a roll of nickels, dimes, or quarters from the bank and drop coins in halloween bags instead of sugar. Really, if you calculate how much you spend on a bag of candy, this might make a lot of sense (no pun intended)!