After three months of roasting triple digit temperatures, we are finally in the early stages of fall here in Arizona or wherever you might live (except for those people who reside south of the equator.) Now is the time of year when we can go outdoors without wearing oven mitts to touch the interiors of our automobiles and can really utilize all that the great outdoors has to offer. HOWEVER, now is the time of year we allow ourselves to partake in the consumption of unhealthy treats while simultaneously decreasing the amount of time we usually spend exercising.
What I am going to discuss with you today is how we can make smarter food choices during a time where that task seems daunting. This will become more evident especially with Halloween coming up at the end of the month. In addition to giving you nutritional guidance, I will also be giving you tips on how to stay active throughout the remaining months of this year.
During Halloween night, in a matter of a few hours, kids can accumulate more candy for themselves than they know what to do with. In that same time span, some children can eat enough candy to fulfill their caloric intake for several days (Americans consumed nearly 8 billion pounds of sugar last year with the youth demographic being responsible for that number being so high). Whatever they can’t eat that night is then distributed in high quantities for days and weeks.
With that said, I am not going to tell you not to go out trick or treating this Halloween. However, I can tell you which types of candy are not so bad, which ones are bad and which should be avoided at all cost. So parents, this will require you to be proactive when it comes to going through all the candy your kids accumulate while trick or treating. Even though they may be unhappy with you when you confiscate half of their loot, I promise you they will get over it shortly. Also, knowing what candy to avoid will hopefully inspire you to purchase healthier items to hand out to the kids in your neighborhood.
Here are some of the candy items that make it onto the “Not So Bad” list. One small box of Wonka Nerds, Jolly Rancher candies, Sweet Tarts, Smarties, Dum Dum Suckers, Now and Laters, Tootsie Pops, Neccos, Blow Pops, Candy Canes, Peeps, Salt Water Taffy, 3 Musketeer Bars, Candy Corns and Welch’s Fruit Snacks.
I was really shocked to see which candies made it onto the “Bad List.” Here they are in no particular order; Tootsie Rolls, Dots, Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, Jawbreakers, Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut Chocolates, Milky Way Bars, Snickers, Starbursts, Skittles and Butterfingers. By no means are these the worst kinds of candy out there. If you must consume something on this list, then do so in moderation. Don’t buy the King Sized Snickers Bar anymore. Buy either a regular size Snickers or purchase a small bag of the Snickers Miniatures.
Nothing is totally off limits unless you happen to be one of the candies on the “Worst List.” Brach’s Milk Maid Caramels, Peanut Brittle, Airheads, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey Bars, Cadbury Milk Chocolate Mini Eggs, Cadbury Cream Eggs, Hershey Kisses, Twizzlers, Twix and Russel Stover Chocolate Bunnies are some of the items nutritionists have deemed as the worst kids of candy we all have access to. These items were higher in sugar, calories and fat than their competitors, which is why they are on this particular list.
Now that you have a basic idea of what is acceptable in moderation and should be avoided almost completely, you can make healthier choices for the kids in your area without them knowing the difference. That’s the good news. The bad news is, the majority of Halloween candy has one or more of the “Bad” or “Worst” items in variety packs sold almost everywhere. For example, Tootsie Pops aren’t too bad for you, but Tootsie Rolls are. Chances are they will be sold in the same bag together making it nearly impossible to get one without the other. I recommend going to your neighborhood .99 cent or discount store and looking for the bags of candy that aren’t variety packs. If you just want to hand out Blow Pops, you can buy bags and bags that contain only Blow Pops. Variety packs are often times more convenient and more affordable than buying individual bags of each kind of candy. If that is the case, still avoid buying the variety packs and instead buy fewer bags of the individual items. This will help you be more mindful of the amount of candy you are giving to each child. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors, let them know what you are trying to accomplish. They may want to do the same thing.
Another way to reduce the amount of candy your child gets trick or treating is to reduce the size of the bag they are carrying. The bigger the bag, the more candy is needed to make it look full. Get your child smaller trick or treating pails, and don’t allow your kid to use a pillowcase as a goody bag. Grab novelty gift bags in the party planning section of your local party supply store or discount retailers. The bags will seem more full giving your child the impression they made out like bandits when in actuality they have less candy than previous years. The excitement of getting to trick or treat will deflect attention away from the smaller bag and put it back on enjoying being outside with friends and family.
That brings me to my next tip. Make trick or treating and Halloween festivities about the experience and not about the candy. Get the entire family involved in the trick or treating process. Not only does it give you all quality time to bond, it gets you moving and will help keep your kids safer having you around. Don’t underestimate your child’s ability to look past the candy benefit that Halloween provides them once a year. Kids are more excited about strutting around in costumes that show off how much they admire their favorite childhood icons. If you look at it that way and help emphasize that with your child, you will find their attention to the candy has waned allowing them to focus on how cool they look all dressed up and how much fun they are having with you.
People underestimate how much walking you do in one night of trick or treating. If you want to know approximately how far you will walk, plan out the route you intend to take when trick or treating. Drive the route in your vehicle and you can get a better estimate of how much ground you will actually cover. Try to make the route a least a mile long and a minimum of 30 minutes. Feel free to go farther or longer if you feel up to it. Sometimes it helps to go to a new part of your neighborhood so you have to walk a bit farther. It helps you become more familiar with the area your child is growing up in and increases the number of calories you burn throughout the night.
I hope you find these tips both informative and easy to follow. In reality, I am not asking you to make monumental changes to your Halloween plans. The small, seemingly insignificant changes are the ones that add up over time and help create healthier, more lasting habits. Next month we will talk more in depth about how to have a healthier Thanksgiving so you avoid gaining those unwanted holiday pounds. As always I would love to hear your feedback or answer any of your questions.
Christopher Hillery has been a Certified Personal Trainer for 9 years and is the owner of Transformer Fitness in Phoenix, Arizona. He was once an overweight child and knows first- hand how the effects of being overweight can be damaging. It is his goal to help overweight children and adults develop lasting healthy habits and a positive body image. Chris can design a full workout program for parents and children which can include a nutrition program, along with equipment to use at home. He can be reached via email at: christopher_hillery@yahoo.com
