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HEALTHY HALLOWEEN FUN
As we settle into autumn and enjoy the changing leaves and cool, crisp air we look forward to the spookiest night of the year: Halloween. As adults, we may not dress up as witches and cowboys anymore, but Halloween remains a time of fun for the whole family as we watch our children toddle from house to house collecting their Halloween treats. But, witches aren't the only scary thing about Halloween: BEWARE THE SUGAR! The Scoop on Sugar The average North American eats almost 20 teaspoons of sugar a day. Over a year, that translates into over 100 pounds! Most of this is added to processed and refined foods, which makes it more difficult to be an effective 'sugar detective' and cut down your dietary intake. So, what's so bad about sugar? Carbohydrates come in 2 basic forms: simple carbs and complex carbs. Simple carbohydrates include the natural sugars in fruit and milk, for example, as well as the refined sugars in sweets and baked goods. Complex carbohydrates are starchy and whole grain foods like potatoes, brown rice and oatmeal. In our digestive tract, ALL carbohydrates are eventually broken down into glucose. So why then, should we avoid processed sugars if a Krispy Kreme and an apple both end up as the same thing inside our body? There are 2 good reasons. First, refined sugar is 'empty' in terms of other nutrients. In other words, a chocolate bar and an apple may have the same calories, but an apple also has fibre, vitamins and minerals that make it the healthier choice. If we fill up on simple, refined sugars, we will be getting the calories we need without getting the other nutrients. Sugar really is an 'empty calorie food'. Second, when we eat too much simple carbohydrate in a short amount of time, it can 'overload' our body and cause a large amount of glucose to enter the bloodstream too quickly. This makes the pancreas panic and over-react, sending excess insulin into the blood to help bring down the sugar levels. Ironically, the scale tips too far the other way and the end result is too little blood sugar- causing dizziness, hunger, sweating, irritability and headache. We can avoid this by eating more complex carbohydrates (that take longer to digest and process and therefore slow glucose entrance into the bloodstream) OR we can eat our simple carbohydrates with other types of food like protein and fibre (which also works to slow down digestion). Healthy Sugar Alternatives Let's face it: we all have a little bit of a sweet tooth (some of us more than others!). So we need to find healthy ways to fulfill that sweet tooth while still cutting back on refined, processed white sugar. There are many more natural, less processed sweeteners available at your local health food or grocery store. Honey, real maple syrup, molasses, barley malt, fruit juice concentrates and rice syrup can all be used in typical baking recipes. Stevia is a sweet plant that can be used in crushed leaf or concentrated forms. Sugar-free Halloween? Is it possible, or even desirable, to create a sugar-free Halloween for our children? The fun of Halloween is not necessarily only about getting bags of candy from neighbours. But, it's also important to use Halloween to teach our children the lesson of moderation. A healthy alternative is to limit the number of pieces of candy that your child can keep, and replace the rest of their 'loot' with other fun things like stickers or small toys. Here are some other Halloween tips to try:
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