The Calm Before The Storm (Halloween Edition)

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There’s a big holiday coming up in a couple of weeks…

That’s an actual x-ray of me on Halloween….

Just kidding, silly! But really, that used to be my face as we walked around the neighborhood collecting pounds and pounds of candy.

I really struggled with it; still do if I’m being truly honest.

The thought of giving kids unlimited access to sugar, chemicals, toxins, and carcinogenic compounds is enough to scare me into a tizzy.

We have a massive obesity epidemic on our hands, and it is unfairly putting an unbelievable amount of toxicity into our children.

When an adult gains weight, our fat cells expand.

When a child gains weight, they grow more fat cells, and then as an adult, those continue to expand. This is why if you are an overweight child, it becomes so difficult to lose weight as an adult. It’s not so much genetics. You have significantly more fat cells in your body than your skinny peers.

Per the CDC:

“For children and adolescents aged 2-19 years in 2017-2021:

• The prevalence of obesity was 19.7% and affected about 14.7 million children and adolescents.

• Obesity prevalence was 12.7% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.7% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 22.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds.

• Obesity-related conditions include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, breathing problems such as asthma and sleep apnea, and joint problems.”

Did you read that thoroughly? Almost 13% of 2 to 5 year-olds are OBESE. That’s not just a little bit overweight. That’s not baby fat. That significant weight on their little bodies that will be with them for a lifetime.

It’s hard to not blame sugar, but there are many other issues including access to fresh foods, poverty, education, etc.

And toxins and addictive chemicals in “foods.”

Recently, Skittles came under fire for knowingly putting titanium dioxide, a known carcinogen, into their fruity-flavored candy.

And don’t even get me started on the food dyes.

It is ingredients like those that cause me to struggle with the whole idea of moderation when it comes to junk food.

We don’t actually know what is in there-there are a host of ingredients in processed food that aren’t actually food. And yet millions of people consume them every day.

So perhaps I’m not totally crazy in wanting my kids to avoid sugar and ultra-processed foods.

I also know firsthand just how addictive it is-as I’ve struggled with my own binge-eating habits over the years. Sugar was always my downfall.

I want so badly to protect my children from fighting with food as they get older.

What I wasn’t prepared for as a parent, was how integrated candy and sugar are into the day-to-day of school, school parties, playdates, and holidays. I never really noticed because I always just stayed away from it.

And I figured because I knew all of the issues surrounding sugar and toxins, other mom’s did too?

That was a hard no.

What was I missing?

It wasn’t so much what I was missing, as what I wasn’t paying attention to, and that was the powerful marketing of the food companies (that’s another topic for another day).

Now that I’m older and oh so much wiser (I’m over 40 now, remember?) I have realized it was easier to adjust my position on sugar than to try and keep fighting.

I know, I’m as shocked as you.

There are two reasons why I did this. One, I wanted to take away the power that sugar was having over my children. Two, I was tired of being on high alert at every school event and birthday party. It was exhausting.

So when the school year started this year, I committed to making some changes with how I handled sweet foods in our home.

First, I have done what I used to only do on Fridays-each school lunch gets a sweet treat: ranging from mini cookies, to dye-free chocolate candies, to homemade cookies. (One thing you won’t find in my lunches are highly processed snacks, soda, and dyes. I just can’t go there. I know too much. BUT I’m all for a little something to look forward to in the lunchbox).

Next, I made a pact to not restrict sweets for my kids, within reason.

So when ask for dessert after dinner, I don’t hold dinner hostage over them: “did you eat your broccoli tonight? No dessert until you eat it.” I say yes and let them serve themselves (this has been hard). If they are hungry after dessert, which honestly these days, they are hungry most of the minutes they are awake, then I ask them to make a choice of fruit, vegetables, or yogurt, etc.

And most nights, I have some sort of after-dinner snack prepared, from homemade cookies to blueberries with whipped cream. There have been nights where one of them didn’t eat anything sweet after dinner and I soak it up as a small win because in those moments, the child is listening to his body. It’s magical. And the whole point in all of this.

I’ve also seen a dramatic decrease in the asking for sugar.

Not to say that my 12-year-old doesn’t ask for soda or donuts from Haggens (which are barely even real food).

It is stunning to me how many kids drink soda and the social pressure is real. I have on social occasions let him have a small root beer, but dang it pains me.

I have to remind myself I am working to take away the power that restricted foods have over kids (and adults).

All of this to share what I’ll be doing this Halloween.

In the past, we’ve done the Switch Witch, and it was great! Kids picked out the candy they wanted to keep and got rid of the rest in exchange for a toy.

But this year you’ll see a new strategy at the Larson home.

Lord Help Me.

1. We will start with a high protein, nutrient rich dinner. Especially since Halloween is on a Monday and the school parties will be taking place (i.e. lots of sugar). When we plan to consume a lot of sugar, especially for kids, we want to make sure it’s not replacing nutrients. It is in addition to it. Sugar should rarely if ever replace real nutrients. This isn’t new for us, but highly important on this day in particular.

2. I plan on allowing unrestricted access on Halloween. They will usually sort through what they want to keep and ditch the candy they don’t like.

3. They’ll get a mini size in their lunch each day. And a piece or two after dinner if they want it.

4. Anything that’s left after a month goes in the garbage.

My kiddos are older and will understand the new routine. If you have younger kiddos, I encourage you to find a strategy that you are comfortable with. I also encourage you to allow excess on Halloween, because this in itself teaches kiddos important lessons. We can celebrate with foods and sweets on special days, but it’s important to learn how to return to regular eating patterns afterwards (isn’t this where us adult usually struggle? Let’s teach our kids young!)

On following nights, it is absolutely fine to say “candy is not on the menu tonight” or “we can pick 3 pieces tonight after dinner” to put health limits on foods, not restrictions.

Ok, what you’ve been waiting for. Top tips from a holistic nutritionist:

1. High protein foods leading up to the sugar rush; make sure their bellies are full the best you can so that fiber, fat, and protein can help slow down the rise in blood sugar. If you have a kiddo who is sensitive to sugar, this is a great way to help support his or her reaction that may spurn undesirable behaviors. Side note: if your school does a Halloween party, pack a protein-rich foods in their lunch that day if you don’t already. And pack favorite foods you know they will eat. If you have a picky eater, foods like pizza, even yogurt that you can add some collagen powder to, a cheese sandwich, all actually have a decent amount of protein.

2. Talk about the candy, ask questions about which ones they like best and why. Engage in conversation around the sweet foods-this will not only help children slow down in their consumption, but it creates an opportunity for relationship building between you and your child. You can sort, do math, have fun! Have a dump pile for the candy they don’t like that you can throw out.

3. This one is hard: try NOT to delay bedtime. I know, I know, Buzz Kill! But it is often the staying up late that creates the behaviors we associate with the sugar rush and crash. Lack of sleep spikes blood sugar which will basically mean your kiddo has a hangover the next day. Try to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

4. Start Trick-or-Treating on the earlier side (you’ll be better candy selection anyway, lol). This is a strategy we’ve used with our kids since they were babies. Once the sun set, we were ready to go! This will also help with #3.

5. Avoid demonizing the candy. Try to create neutrality. I generally see this happening where parents are trying to teach their kids the difference between “good/healthy” foods and “bad/unhealthy” foods. As hard as it is, we need to break free from his mindset. This is what creates disordered eating patterns and guilt around food. It’s just a choice. Not a bad or a good one. Just a choice. Here’s an example: instead of saying “oh we need to eat this healthy dinner so that we can eat all that unhealthy/bad candy,” we can say: “Let’s make sure our bodies are filled up with food that gives us energy so we can make it around the neighborhood without getting tired!” Or “our muscles need this yummy dinner so that we have the energy to walk around the big neighborhood with all of our friends!”

You get the idea.

If you slip up, that’s ok. Goodness knows I’m the last one to preach out perfection in this arena.

Did this resonate for you? Was it helpful? Let me know.

And if you have a friend or a sister who might benefit from reading this, will you share it with them? I appreciate getting this message out so all of us can have a fun and stress-free Halloween with our kiddos.

Happy Halloween! From my family to yours,