Halloween treats trick kids into sugar overload

The Star Ledger ^ | October 30, 2009 | Connie Bennett and Stephen T. Sinatra

[Eric Blair 2084]

Halloween is a spooky holiday. Without realizing it, three out of four American adults become inadvertent "sugar pushers" tempting some 36 million young trick-or-treaters into gorging on sugar-filled candies.

Indeed, every Halloween, just about everyone "forgets" that our nation’s kids are experiencing never-before-seen rates of obesity, which can be triggered by consuming too many sweets. And this year, despite the fact that many are facing economic challenges, Americans will spend $1.89 billion on candies, 6.8 percent more than last year, according to IBISWorld, a market research firm. That’s about $45 per household.

But you’re tricking, not treating kids, every time you pass out sweets on Halloween. First of all, the average kid may wolf down some 15 to 40 teaspoons of sugar and 300 to 600 or more calories on Halloween night alone. Then, unless parents set limits, many children pig out on leftover candies for weeks afterwards. All that sugar can give kids belly aches, cause weight gain and even make them moody, wired or tired, depressed or unfocused.

Let’s look at candy corn, a Halloween favorite. As one label reveals, 44 pieces have 280 calories, 15.5 tsp. of sugar, 0 fiber, 0 protein, 150 grams of sodium, several sweeteners and dyes and titanium dioxide, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization, considers "possibly" carcinogenic.

Of course, parents who just want kids to have fun on Halloween may argue that we’re talking about only one night of the year. But conventional trick-or-treating paves the way for kids to develop unhealthy eating habits year-round. What’s more, Halloween — with its misguided emphasis on candies — invites children to equate sugar with fun, frolic and comfort.

[Eric Blair 2084]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking ..

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

We drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and looked for and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any eyes.

We rode our bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or we just yelled for them!

Local sports teams had "tryouts" and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

...and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were

[HiTech RedNeck]

Then, unless parents set limits, many children pig out on leftover candies for weeks afterwards

If they spread it out over "weeks" the impact is next to nil. As a kid I ate my stash in one or two days. And still was hungry enough to eat supper too. Ah, to get that youthful metabolism back.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junkie, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Egalitarian, Central Planning, Sheeple Control, Food Cop, Smoke Nazi, Socialism, Collectivism

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[Tublecane]

“three out of four American adults become inadvertent ‘sugar pushers’ tempting some 36 million young trick-or-treaters into gorging on sugar-filled candies.”

Children don’t need to be tempted, tricked, nor coerced. Neither do drug addicts. Pushers give them what they already want. Kids want candy. All the time. Halloween lets loose the flood, as it were. Parents temporarily ease their control over the kids’ diet. So what? It’s one day a year, you pathetic Food Nazis!

[Infidel Heather]

You think the same way I do, my friend.

I read the above and said “SO WHAT? That’s what they’re supposed to do!”

Let the nanny statists take care of their kids, and we’ll take care of ours.

MYOB.

[Dilbert San Diego]

And when it comes to baby care, how many of us slept on our tummies as infants and toddlers, or placed our own infants on their tummies to go to sleep. I understand that nowadays infants are supposed to lie on their backs to go to sleep. I don’t know if a study was done or why this is now conventional wisdom. But times sure change don’t they? Not always for the better.

[wastedyears]

I was born in 1985 and should have broken a few bones, and have been rushed to a hospital one or two times for an asthma attack. Should’ve gone a few more for various other things. Should also have been in a coma.

Not all of us 20-something year olds are bad.

[goldi]

Dear Connie Bennett and Stephen T. Sinatra:

SHUT THE HELL UP!

[SampleMan]

I hope these reporters get egged this year.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Tonight, the night before Halloween, is “Devil’s Night” in Detroit. There, the youth gangs and other assorted criminals set buildings on fire for fun.

I’m more scared of events like Devil’s Night than I am of kids getting too much candy.

[Arthur McGowan]

It used to be annual finger-wagging about tooth decay; now it’s obesity.

It’s ONCE A YEAR, people!

[BunnySlippers]

Personal Responsibility, folks!

No one is “tricking” anyone. Do your own homework ... or the nanny state will do it for you.

[wombtotomb]

LOL. Don’t forget the butt kicking you would get if your neighbor or teacher saw you doing something and called your folks. Pulled home by the ear by a neighbor just to get to deal with a dad you just embarrassed was no picnic. Good thing most of us were smart enough to do this only once (and all the kids after you got told or saw how he dealt with you so they learned by your example not to mess with the old man.)

In my house, the six scariest words you ever heard was “wait til your father gets home”. *I still get the chills from that and I am 42 years old!

[wastedyears]

Tonight, the night before Halloween, is “Devil’s Night” in Detroit. There, the youth gangs and other assorted criminals set buildings on fire for fun.

I’m more scared of events like Devil’s Night than I am of kids getting too much candy.

Pellet rifle at 1100fps - problem solved.

[La Lydia]

What a couple of mean-spirited killjoys those writers are, and how in the world did so many of us live to adulthood having suffered through the rigors of Halloween? Hey, leave those kids alone!

[colinhester]

PREACH IT!!!!!

[ThomasThomas]

Some other things have happen to scare parents. The mental hospitals have been emptied of all the the worst nuts. Child molesters can be found living in many neighborhoods.

I have done many of these things and lived but I never did like sharing a bottle or can of soda. I was required to tell my parents where it was going and come home and tell them if plans changed. I did have a friend in a comma for nine months because a car crash and he never was quite the same.

A few of these changes are good but not many.

[goodnesswins]

SIDS is the reason they advise parents to have their babies sleep on their backs (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)....we had friends who lost a baby to that.

[Fiddlstix]

........had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

Amen to that!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Usually the nastiest pranks known were to write with soap on someone’s windows or cover somebody’s tree with toilet paper.

[Eric Blair 2084]

That was an e-mail that my mom sent me a few years ago that was circulating.

[benewton]

Ain’t it the truth!

(Yes, they told me that ain’t isn’t a word, but I didn’t
always obey then, and still don’t now.)

[ml/nj]

I thought about this too. I mean somehow I survived Halloween, and even my kids did too. I also survived being a Boy Scout, shooting and untethered .22 ("killing" metal ducks) as a child at Coney Island, and sang Christmas Carols during December at a school that was 70% Jewish.

ML/NJ

[wombtotomb]

yup. and here is the kicker for us. ANYONE we soaped up, our parents made us go back the next day and WASH THE WINDOWS! And we where honest (or crazy) enough to tell them who we got LOL.

[tuffydoodle]

My kids are not going to get to eat all of their halloween candy. They have to go to school on Monday and those candy bags are going to be all alone with me, all day....and I love chocolate and candy corn and reeces peanut butter cups and caramels....

[TigersEye]

As a baby my chew toy was a paint stick dipped in bridge paint and dried in the heat of bus exhaust.

[Kirkwood]

“We rode our bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or we just yelled for them! “

You just walked in because you were considered part of the family and doors were always unlocked for friends who wanted to drop by.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Without realizing it, three out of four American adults become inadvertent "sugar pushers" tempting some 36 million young trick-or-treaters into gorging on sugar-filled candies.

[webstersII]

Have these two brain-dead reporters looked at the official Food Pyramid from the FDA lately?

It’s based on mostly eating carbohydrates, low-fat milk, meat, and snacks, and very little meat. The diet is composed of about 60-70% calories from carbs.

It’s vegetarian-Lite, basically. That diet works great for the average Asian, whose ancestors have eaten like that for thousands of years but it’s a disaster for most (but not all) Westerners.

The reason for obesity in this country, as well as diabetes, is primarily based on people getting most of their nutrition from carbs.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The Food Nazies won’t be showing up here. I* ate all the Hallowwen Candy, myself. :)

*I did it ‘For the Chillun...’

[pandoraou812]

No candy for Sassy, she has chicken pox. I didn't know you had a chew toy. None of my children had one.

[mysterio]

It’s not one night a year that’s causing obesity. It’s the other 364. Let kids have their Halloween fun.

[Freee-dame]

Playing outside until the streetlights came on really brought the memories. All of us still here to remember are really fortunate.

[Chode]

yup, but it was surenuff touch and go a couple times...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Well, I recently cut back on sugars, starches, and breads, just like my doctor has been nagging me to do all this time, because I read that SUGAR...IS...POISON!

I've cut down on fruit juices, non-diet sodas, potatoes, pasta, rice, and cereal. Next time I go to Denny's, I'll make sure to just have meat, eggs, and fruit (yes, you can actually eat semi-healthy at Denny's).

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

As I understand it, GRAPES, of all things, are loaded with sugar, albeit the fructose kind, so I have cut back on those, too. I read a comment on Amy Alkon’s blog (see “Sugar Is Poison” link in my last reply) that oranges are apparently a no-no as well, but since that’s the only place I heard about it, I’m not worried about that one.

[elkfersupper]

The major annoyance I have about life in America today is that we will not let kids be kids for some reason.

I could blame it on the nanny state, but I blame the nanny state on the soccer moms.

Attention soccer / hockey / football / gymnastics, etc. moms:

Your kid needs to eat a pound of dirt (and a few Snickers).

[elkfersupper]

As a baby my chew toy was a paint stick dipped in bridge paint and dried in the heat of bus exhaust.

You are truly fortunate.

[azishot]

Wow! I actually lived through all that. How’d that happen?

[Eric Blair 2084]

I’m married to one of those soccer moms. I played soccer and baseball in the rain and cold and I’m not dead.

Maybe you can explain it to her. She won’t listen to me.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Wow! I actually lived through all that. How’d that happen?

No, you are not here. You are dead. The second hand smoke in Arizona bars killed you years ago before they banned it. You just forgot to fall down.

I don't talk to dead people. Now move on, you're freaking me out on Halloween Eve.

[azishot]

To quote Achmed, The Terrorist, “I’m not dead. It’s just a flesh wound.”

[elkfersupper]

Maybe you can explain it to her. She won’t listen to me.

I can do that.

All it takes is a few hours, a few mutually-acceptable adult beverages, some fine tobacco and a comfortable place to sit.

[Eric Blair 2084]

You won’t find any time, fizzy chick drinks, Cuban cigars or a place to sit at my house. Maybe we can try yours.

[TigersEye]

I’ll have to admit my parents spoiled me.

[TigersEye]

I didn't know you had a chew toy. None of my children had one.

See #45 ;^)

[exDemMom]

When my son was little, he had fun going around collecting a big bag of candy from the neighbors.

Then he had just as much fun handing out the candy to the neighborhood kids knocking on our door.

I didn’t have anything against him eating candy. But I had not purchased enough for all the neighborhood kids.

My son is skinny as a pole. I never tried to prevent him from eating any particular class of food.

[21twelve]

We let our kids when they were old enough (4? 5?) to go out for real trick-or-treating (with us) the next day they could eat all they wanted.

Our son thought that was great. Until he threw up a couple of times.

A few years later our daughters had their chance. As I recall the one got sick, the other didn’t (twins).

Seemed to leave a lasting impression. Now I’ll still find a bag of old Halloween candy doing the spring cleaning!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[pandoraou812]

Sassy is being very good about missing Halloween. She never gets all her candy anyway. Joe & the brothers steal most of it. She asked for a pumpkin pie & that we make a cherry pie. So that is what we are doing. I am sure she will get some leftover candy.