Binging on candy and other sweets during the holidays seems almost as inevitable as death and taxes. Pick your poison. Do you prefer the chocolate Easter bunny? The heart-shaped box on Valentine’s Day? The red, white, and blue cupcakes of Independence Day? The green and red sugar coma that comes with Christmas? Or Halloween smorgasbord?

Perhaps Halloween is the worst of the bunch since the primary tradition is to send costumed children out to scam candy from the neighbors, while the other holidays do provide some ability to say, “No.”

Halloween originated as a pagan holiday. It was both a harvest festival and a day to remember the spirit world that lurked just outside your door if you were dumb enough to walk at night. The healthy, communal meal of whole fruits, vegetables, grains, beer, and animal protein, if not hoarded by the local lord, was made from the best produce in the village.

The villagers’ practice of dressing up as whatever most scared them was viewed either as a cathartic release of fear or as a sound way to be passed over by the spooks. This practice led to “trick or treat” when dressed up kids hit up the neighbors for bribes to keep evil from the door. This was all well and good when the treat was an apple or a pear.

Somewhere along the line, sugar entered our diet. For years no one knew sugar kills. But now that we do know, how can we protect our children’s health and still participate in the biggest candy holiday of them all?

The first decision you have to make is, “What do we give out from our house?”  Knowing sugar is bad, don’t get caught in the ultimate hypocrisy: withholding sugar from your kids while you poison the neighbors’ offspring. Your first thought might be to revert back to the traditional Halloween fare of apples or some such whole fruit, but we’ve all heard variations of the urban myth about razor blades or injected drugs in apples. These days kids are taught to throw away anything that doesn’t come in a package, so fresh apples will get tossed. Fear not! There are plenty of inedible gifts that are almost as cool as candy and most can be found at the 99-cent store.

Balloons are a great gift. A child given a pack of balloons will be almost as happy as the child coked up on Snickers bars. They might even like it more since you’ll be arming them for the water balloon wars that rage every Halloween.

Kids like lots of things: pencils, pads of paper, and small toys. Glow bracelets and glow sticks are favorites. Kids love them, especially if they get a cool color other than that standard DayGlo green.

Glow sticks are cheap. You can find them and other novelties online.

Checkout flashingblinkylights.com.

So what do you do with your own kids to keep them from experiencing a sugar coma?  You could host a Halloween party or have the coolest haunted house in the neighborhood and have your kids be part of the act. But if your kids want to go door to door, it seems a bit cruel and wasteful for them to collect a big bag of candy for you to throw away. At the very least, make an agreement about how much candy they can eat. But a better alternative might be Trick or Treat for UNICEF.

If they Trick or Treat for UNICEF they’ll collect change, mostly pennies, instead of candy. The money goes to needy children around the world. If you aren’t familiar with Trick or Treat for UNICEF, ask your parents. Chances are, they did it when they were kids. Back then many schools handed out little orange UNICEF boxes right before Halloween and the kids would bring their filled boxes back to school. Those pennies added up.

You could ask the PTA if they want to participate, but if they don’t your kids don’t need to be part of a group to help UNICEF. You can go online to order boxes or to download and print a wrapper to tape on a can. Your children can have the fun of trick or treat and take pride in helping others at the same time. Trick or Treat for UNICEF also gives older children an excuse to go trick or treat without being teased about being too old. Check out UNICEF online.

If the fact that sugar is poison is still new to you, it’s time to educate yourself. Please read the August issue of Organic Lifestyle Magazine, then educate your children. If they don’t understand what sugar and sugar addiction will do to their bodies, they won’t make good choices when they are out of your sight. Talk about nutrition and tell them how sugar helps cause very serious illnesses. Be sure to include these high points:

• Sugar is empty calories with no vitamins, minerals, protein or anything else healthy.
• Sugar is addictive, requiring that you come back for more.
• If you eat more than you can work off, you will gain weight.
• Sugar suppresses the immune system, which makes you sick more often.
• Sugar contributes to acne.
• Sugar can contribute to falling asleep in class or after meals.
• Have your child read labels with you in the grocery store. When given a choice between products, choose the one with less sugar. Better yet, teach them why you aren’t buying that canned or boxed processed food.
• Consistently remind your children that they will feel better when they don’t eat sugar.

Don’t be afraid to make changes in your family’s diet. Start by telling your children you love them too much to feed them foods that make them sick. Maintaining good health is

Are you using non-stick cookware? Are you aware that non-stick coating is made with chemicals that the EPA has found to be cancer causing or likely to cause cancer? 

Overheating non-stick coatings releases dangerous toxic gases that cause flu-like symptoms in humans and kill birds. However, DuPont is quick to assure us that this poses no health threat to us. In addition their website tells us, “DuPont non-stick coatings on cookware are formulated and quality tested to resist peeling or chipping which will occur if cookware is misused. However, in the event that particles from DuPont non-stick coatings are accidentally eaten, there is no danger. These particles are harmless. They are nontoxic and inert. If eaten, they pass directly through the body and are not absorbed. The FDA has stated that eating particles of non-stick coating poses no health threat.” 

So why does the EPA say one thing and the FDA another?    

And if these particles “pass directly through the body” why does a new study of 45 nursing mothers (research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst) reveal that the breast milk from every woman tested was found to contain perflourinated compounds (PFCs) used in non-stick cookware and stain resistant fabrics?    

Do you really want to breathe and ingest these chemicals? 

If low-fat cooking is your goal, try vegetable or animal broth instead of fats or steam your food. If a non-stick cooking surface is essential, properly season a cast iron pan. You’ll be surprised how well it works!

1. Stock Up On Alternative Healthier Choices For Sweets

Refined sugar wreaks havoc on your immune system and acidifies your body. The less refined the sugar is, the less damage you will do to your body. See our sugar alternative page at www.greenmagazines.com/organic/alternative-sugars.php for some ideas. There are lots of sweets that are made with better sugars than the white refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup most candy manufacturers use.

2. Educate Your Kids

Remind them what it felt like the last time they got sick. Prepare them ahead of time. Prime them to be ready to make better decisions with you.

3.   Limit Your Sweets Consumption

Even Agave nectar and raw honey should be limited. Stevia is not a sweetener you need worry about, but any others, even unrefined sugars, should be eaten in moderation.

4.   Do a Trade—Negotiate

When they get back from their trick or treating expedition, offer them a trade. Make it a game. Teach them how to negotiate. It can be fun! You may also want to keep healthier alternatives with you while trick-or-treating in case you or your kids get the munchies during your adventure.

5.   Cook With Them

Bake healthier choices (organic cookies—stevia, raw honey, or fruit juice sweetened treats).

6.   Offer Your Kids Money For Their Hard Earned Candy

You can always bribe them. Hey, it’s better than making them sick! Just make sure they don’t go and buy more candy.

7.   Offer Your Kids Toys Instead of Candy

Try squirt guns, games, movies, anything they would rather have than candy. And you can give them toys that will last, as opposed to candy that will be gone quickly.

8.   Offer Trick-Or-Treaters Toys Instead of Candy

They get enough candy from everyone else. Try squirt guns, glow bracelets, or jacks. There are a lot of inexpensive small toys you can give away.

9.   Make Your Own Costumes

You can make your own costumes out of items you don’t need, and you can do it with your kids and make it fun. Reusing is even better than recycling.

10.   If All Else Fails, Set a Time Limit

If healthier sweets are not an option, you can give them a time limit. Let them know they have one day or x-amount of hours to consume as much junk as they want. Throw the rest away.

Both of my sons were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and severe learning disabilities. No, they weren’t victims of the current tendency to diagnose the majority of active or misbehaving children with ADHD; my boys truly met the criteria and then some. But much to the dismay of the physician who diagnosed my eldest, I was unwilling to put a preschooler on Ritalin. Instead, though the doctor said I was wasting my time, I experimented with dietary management. 

Two weeks later I visited the doctor and reported an amazing change in behavior. I also brought pictures my child had drawn—pictures so advanced from the ones he had been able to draw during testing, they were irrefutable proof that the diet was working. But the doctor had no interest in being proven wrong. He had decided diet management didn’t work, and he wasn’t about to consider changing his mind. 

Artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, and MSG had a dramatic effect on my child’s attention and behavior. I became one of those militant mommies who cleaned out her pantry and stopped buying packaged, processed food. I began cooking from scratch. I packed healthy lunches, and from preschool years through grammar school told all of the teachers not to feed my kids candy or junk. I never questioned the diet. My sons’ behavior validated the diet every time they ate anything forbidden!    

I’ll never forget the day my husband took the boys to the movies and fed them “plain popcorn.” Soon after their return I heard a rhythmic thumping. I found my eldest bouncing on his bed, flying three feet into the air. But he wasn’t jumping. Like a scene fromThe Exorcist, he was lying flat on his back and somehow propelling himself into the air! I called the theatre to find their plain popcorn was dusted with a powdered flavor enhancer—a seasoning full of additives including yellow dye number 5, my son’s worst nemesis. 

A few teachers who liked to reward kids with food were supportive, buying special treats for my boys or asking me to bring in acceptable handouts. A few didn’t believe in diet management. One teacher, in an attempt to prove to us wrong, bought our son school cafeteria lunches every day for more than a month. Not only did his behavior immediately deteriorate and continue to worsen, he learned how to lie. He became so unmanageable, I considered medication. And then the teacher began complaining about his behavior, through she was still feeding him cafeteria food! 

Even knowing how important their diet restrictions were, I felt guilty when Halloween, Easter, or Christmas rolled around. Having been raised on Kool-Aid, Pixie Sticks, and Twinkies, I was filled with an unreasonable fear that I was denying my children a “normal” life. Initially all bets were off for those holidays and we all suffered the consequences: atrocious behavior for a week or more and often a cold or flu as well. Over time I realized if I filled Christmas stockings and Easter baskets with their favorite healthy foods, acceptable treats, and toys, the children were happy. Halloween remained the big stumbling block.    

I made a deal with my kids. I told them they could stuff themselves with all the candy they could eat for that one day. Anything left over, we trashed. One day of eating all the food coloring, sugar, and artificial crap they wanted was still followed by at least 3-4 days of out of control behavior, but at least they experienced Halloween. 

Looking back I wish I had handled it differently. I wish I had taken my eldest son’s later approach. He raised my granddaughter on organic foods. Though she had no symptoms of ADHD, he packed her lunches for preschool and limited her exposure to anything artificial or made with refined sugar. She preferred the taste of healthy wholesome foods and could taste the difference—even in treats. 

When Halloween came around, her father left nothing to chance. She was allowed to trick or treat, but she was never allowed to eat the candy. Instead Daddy traded the “bad stuff” for the “good stuff.” He didn’t just trade one bag for another, they negotiated. One piece of organic chocolate candy made with raw sugar was worth at least five pieces from her bag. She so wholeheartedly agreed organic candy was better tasting and better for her, she threw away the “bad stuff.” When asked if she wanted to give the candy to her friends at school, she said, “No,” with a scowl. She knew it was bad and she didn’t want anyone else to eat it either.

I wish I had been half as ingenious. I wish I’d never felt conflicted about denying my boys the foods other children ate. If I had it to do over, my sons would have known they deserved the best possible diet for the sake of their health and well-being, regardless of the challenge of ADHD. They would have understood the damage refined sugar and additives do to their bodies. And maybe, just maybe, they would have skipped Halloween altogether… Nah, maybe not.

I’m watching TV and I see a commercial where a couple is in the park and the girl offers the guy a taste of her Popsicle. It’s a red Popsicle—a nutrient free snack of frozen artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup. He is hesitant. “It’s got high fructose corn syrup in it,” he says. She looks at him like he’s stupid. “So?” she says. He responds with, “So you know what they say about it.” “What?” she asks. He stutters, not knowing what to say. She then tells him “That’s it’s made from corn, has the same calories as sugar and honey, and is fine in moderation?” still looking at him like he’s an idiot. And then the commercial tells you to “Get the Facts at www.sweetsurprise.com.” 

So it turns out that high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you then table sugar! That’s great news! High fructose corn syrup is relatively low on the glycemic index, and it’s made from corn, a vegetable! They don’t mention the fact that excess fructose processed in the liver gets turned into fats-triglycerides, or that fructose is linked to significant increases of both cholesterol and triglycerides, or that high fructose corn syrup is a highly refined processed sugar devoid of any nutrition. So they took out all of the nutrients and refined corn down to an acidic, toxic, fattening, cholesterol raising, triglyceride increasing sweetener. Who cares? It’s made from a vegetable! Ok, so maybe the vegetable is genetically modified too, but still, it’s gotta be good for you, right? I mean the website www.sweetsurprise.com says it’s good for you! Well, okay, they don’t say it’s good for you, but they sure do their best to make you believe it.

Well, I for one am relieved to know that I can go drink a soda and know that it’s no worse than ingesting table sugar, because the high fructose corn syrup association says so. They say it’s fine in moderation. And if you can’t trust an association, who can you trust? Does this sound familiar? Didn’t the tobacco association tell us smoking was fine in moderation?

Well, anyway, since that Popsicle is obviously good for me, I guess I can eat all the Halloween candy I want. This is great!

Is it just me, or did that girl holding the Popsicle look evil? Kinda like one of Satan’s minions?

Oh well, I’m not concerned. We can all trust the high fructose corn syrup association and the sugar association, the Food and Drug Administration, oh, and any other association that has our best interests at heart.

And since you now know that high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you than white table sugar, go read about how good white table sugar is
for you in our August issue.

In this issue check out High Fructose Corn Syrup – A Not So Sweet Surprise, and get the rest of the facts!

Halloween has been totally hijacked by ecologically damaging consumerism. From the expensive shop-bought costumes made from petroleum based materials and the plastic pumpkins to the chemical-laden sweets and the toxic face paints, we spend our money on things that damage our children’s health and our planet. I know, so far I sound like a party pooper. But with a little thought, you can have a Halloween that doesn’t cost the earth, your health, or your pocket. And you’ll have a lot more fun.

Fabulously freaky costumes can be created from clothing found at thrift stores or the back of your wardrobe. Is there an old sheet dying to be a ghost? A dark shawl? A black paper hat and a branch saved from the bonfire would make a fine witch. With a few ribbons, some feathers, safety pins, or even recycled tin foil, you and your children are all set for a creative afternoon’s work! You will feed their imaginations, and their sense of achievement will far exceed any “perfect” off-the-peg creation.

Use cardboard from old boxes, paint, and decorations to make masks. If you choose to use face paint, there are some lovely natural, plant-based versions on the market. Try Lyra face paints, which come in pencil, crayon, or paint.

Next comes the Halloween centre piece: the pumpkin. Think of how many fields were devoted to growing pumpkins this year, most of them sprayed with pesticides. An organic pumpkin, especially at this time of year, will barely cost you more. Not only will your choice make a statement to the growers, you’ll have all the scrapings from inside your pumpkin for a yummy meal after trick-or -treating.

For a quick delicious soup, just add water, milk, and nutmeg to the pulp. Heat and blend. Even the seeds are great roasted with some Eco-friendly Costume soy sauce or salt. Younger children love to rinse the slimy seeds in a colander. You could even create a longer-term project with the kids by saving a handful of seeds, drying them in paper bag in a warm dry place, and planting them in the spring for next year.

Conventional pumpkins will probably be hybrids, with seeds that won’t reproduce properly if they grow at all.

Halloween was originally a festival to mark the end of the growing season and the beginning of the dark, ‘dead’ months ahead. So surround yourself with the last of the year’s bright outdoor colours! To decorate your house, take a walk in the woods. Fallen tree boughs, moss, bright fall leaves, and apples will look wonderful. So will paper garlands cut in ghoulish shapes, made from paper scraps you have saved.

You can even cut your electric costs for the night by turning off the lights and filling the room with candles. Choose deliciously scented beeswax candles rather than petroleum-based ones. Just keep them safe from the children and all those lovingly-made paper garlands!

Last but certainly not least, come the candies and treats. Most of today’s Halloween candy comes heavily packaged. Some of it is made with genetically modified foods, and most of it is full of artificial colours, flavorings, and preservatives. But there are plenty of great alternatives nowadays, available in natural food supermarkets or online. My favorite is Yummy Earth’s organic candies, which come in so many fantastic, natural flavors. You could also try your hand at homemade candy apples for some sticky fun. Roasted nuts are a great

First blend to a cream:

• ½ cup   macadamia nuts
• ½ cup  walnuts
• ¼ cup  water
• 2  tbsp  fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp  chili powder
• 2 tsp  sea salt

Transfer to a mixing bowl and add:

• ½ cup  chopped watercress
• ¼ cup chopped fresh chives
• 4  chopped cherry tomatoes
• 2  wedges yellow tomato chopped into cubes

Mix well and refrigerate.

To serve, cut the top off of a medium size tomato. Scoop out inside to make a “tomato cup”. Chop up the insides and add to the macadamia walnut cream. Place 2 endive leaves, a pinch of watercress, and blades of chive in the tomato cup. Fill  with the Macadamia Walnut Cream. Top with a sprinkle of black pepper, chopped walnuts, and a cherry tomato. Serve on a bed of water cress drizzled with lemon and olive oil.