Some Approaches to Mindset and Having A Happy Halloween
Oct 31, 2021
Happy Halloween everybody! For those of us with kids Halloween can either be a trick or a treat :-)
To be honest, for Cindy and I this can be a very difficult holiday as we are trying to monitor our kids’ sugar intake. While we want our kids to enjoy themselves here are a few tips to minimize the damage from potentially excessive sugar intake.
Some of you may have heard my “compared to what” philosophy before, but for those who haven’t, here it is. Try and make the best choice that you have available to you at the moment. This applies to restaurants, grocery stores, airports and especially Halloween. So for example, when it comes to things like potato chips we would choose the plain chips over something like Doritos which would have a lot of extra preservatives and also MSG. Maybe you choose a small piece of chocolate over candy that is filled with a whole bunch of extra “stuff.” When it comes to candy, we try and limit the amount of food colouring and preservatives as these have shown to have an influence on how our brain works (especially little ones).
We typically let our kids choose some treats from their loot bag and we put the rest out onto the front step for others to enjoy. The younger they are, the more we help them make the best choice using the “compared to what” philosophy. In the past, we used to have the “Switch Witch” make a visit where she would come and replace excess goodies for a tangible gift.
We also try and teach our kids how to be reasonable with sugar consumption. For example, it’s not a great idea to sit and eat 15 goodies one after another. It’s better to enjoy these treats one by one and if possible with other foods to minimize the impact on the glycemic load and the ensuing insulin response. When you do have a treat, try and have it with (or after) a meal with some proteins and fats. The sugar will be “buffered” to a certain degree and the spike in blood sugar will be reduced compared to just having the treat alone. I would also trade some exercise for treats with my kids as that also lessens the effect on the body.
With the amount of sunshine decreasing our vitamin D levels are also slowly depleting. it’s really important we watch our sugar intake so we can optimize the function of our immune system. Remember that sugar temporary suppresses immune function and it’s one of the things we can control to reduce our chance of illness in the next number of weeks. (Also, this is a good reminder to start taking your Vitamins D if you haven’t already!)
Lastly, one of the things I have noticed for myself is when things are out of sight they are also out of mind. So I really try hard to keep things out of the house to minimize temptation. If you struggle with sugar intake I would highly suggest you pick few treats to enjoy and get rid of the rest!
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