A year without Halloween candy

The FDA is banning all Halloween candy this year because of the growing sugar addiction crisis among children. Instead of handing out candy, parents are being told to give out fruits and vegetables. Halloween will be all tricks and no treats this year. Stores will be prohibited from selling bulk bags of Halloween candy. There will also be a limit put on the amount of sugar per piece of candy sold. Candy companies everywhere will have to change recipes and rethink their marketing strategies. Any household caught handing out candy will be fined $100. The only acceptable handouts will be non-food items such as toys and accessories, or healthy options such as fruits, vegetables, trail mix and granola bars. In order to combat the backfire of this type of ruling, grade schools everywhere will be required to teach the importance of a healthy lifestyle that includes balance in diet, exercise and more.

Halloween will still be celebrated in every other aspect of the long-standing tradition, but from now on it will be less about the candy and more about long-standing health. Ghosts and vampires are scary, but so are the long-term effects of too much sugar in one’s diet. Having kids dress up on Halloween is harmless. The problem comes in when we promote loading up on as much candy as possible one night out of the year. It becomes worse when parents don’t allow candy for a majority of the year and then allow one large splurge. It would be better to promote small treats within a healthy, balanced diet than complete restriction that leads to an excessive fascination with candy.

The tradition could even be seen as a healthy activity if we took out the candy. Walking around a child’s neighborhood on a fall evening from door to door is a great way to promote activity. Switch the candy to a healthy snack or a fun toy, and the holiday becomes one in which kids learn to associate fun activities with healthy habits. It is a genius idea when you think about it. Scientific studies have shown that Halloween promotes sugar addictions in children. When they receive huge bags of candy once a year, this either encourages them to eat way too much in one night or have candy for the next few weeks. Elevating their blood sugar levels, kids will only want more and more sugar as their bodies adapt to the new high. Sugar is known to be addictive and encouraging a sudden surplus during Halloween can be detrimental to the lifestyle and health of kids today. Some might say Halloween won’t even be happening this year without the candy.

But there are still ways to dress up and allow kids to have fun, and the sweet treats don’t have to come to a complete halt. Making fun homemade recipes with wholesome ingredients or buying treats like dark chocolate are still delicious ways to add some sweetness to the “holiday”. For those who are against this outrageous movement, there is a black market developing for Halloween candy. Many people will begin storing what they have or can still find in convenience stores’ candy suplies. The prices may even become steep. Candy will become a delicacy, which is in a way how it really should be. Easy access to copious amounts of sugar is not ideal for those unaware of how to create a wellbalanced diet. Take this as you will. It is a time to either embrace the healthy lifestyle that is being promoted or start figuring out ways to find and save candy of your own. For those in need of ideas for ways to make sure they have some form of candy come Halloween, remember that you can always make your own! This makes the process of receiving candy more rewarding and unique. It also helps you to control what goes into your candy. Get creative!

And more importantly, find ways to sneak some healthy ingredients into your creations. Although some may be appalled by this new law, the hope is that it will at least raise awareness of the excess sugar in many American diets. Education is the best way to promote a healthy well-rounded diet. Without this knowledge, many kids and even adults are unaware of how to best navigate a healthy lifestyle. It starts with the little things. This big nudge to stop the candy binges on Halloween is an attempt to start little improvements in many peoples’ lives.