Make Halloween Optimal Wellness Time, Not Sugar Time

By Terry Carter

I love food like everyone else, but we seem to have lost the focus of Halloween. It’s not about bringing home pounds of sugar, and our kids getting sick from inhaling sweets.

Most kids in American consume 60+ pounds of sugar each year, and that crazy candy-devouring season begins this weekend with Halloween. About 40 pounds of sugar will be ingested by the average child in the next 60 days as the celebrations and holidays arrive. And children are trained to demand and eat as many sweet foods as possible.

Americans are so far off the chart of “healthy” food and nutrition recommendations that it doesn’t begin to approach the true meaning of healthy. As a diabetic, I have decades of first-hand exposure to The Three Life-Shortening Taste Tools overused by virtually every food manufacturer to lure millions into eating

Those three lethal taste weapons are: Sugar, Salt and Fat (oils). Sugar is very addictive and provides little or no nutrition to consumers. Parents use sugar treats, etc. only to win the favor or behavior desired with their children. Sugar and salt are included in about 70 percent of all food items.

Salt, a huge selling taste additive, is included in most sweet items and overused by many on even the most wholesome foods you can consume — organic fruits and vegetables. Finally fats/oils have become a major player in the food manufacturing game. All contribute to health issues that plague Americans and the world.

For example, one 12-ounce can of soda exceeds the daily limit of sugar for women, as recommended by national organizations quoted in this article.

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First Sugar is 1-of-the-dangerous-3 ingredients researched, proven to drive the human palate wild to consume. Manufacturers like its best-selling appeal so much that someone invented high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as a way to overdose human senses for sweetness in a cheap, non-healthy manner. This lab-created sugar is one of many that linger in the body and boosts blood sugars.

It’s horribly bad for your body, teeth, digestion, energy levels, focus and more. It’s the selling point that inspired companies to included “Added Sugars” (not natural fruit sugar) in more than 85,000 food products. That’s about 74 percent of all food products in the U.S. according to The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The selling point? So cheap that manufacturer profits are tremendous.

Also be aware that “added sugars” — HFCS is just one of many detrimental sweeteners — is one of the most abundant ingredients in virtually every candy that will be sold and consumed for Halloween.

It is worth noting that the average adult in American consumers about 150 pounds of sugar annually. Children consume between 60-75 pounds of sugar each year with no health benefits if the sugars not whole fruit sugars. This point leads into the next, which is the real hidden dragon in this crouching tiger wellness tale.

Second zero “added sugars” to your daily diet is the healthiest and most overlook route if you care about the health of yourself, your family and your children. All recommendations for eating “added sugars” (HFCS and others) are lobbyist-inspired, political statements. In other words, they are someone’s opinion, and they are not what your body really needs to grow, health, exercise and stay healthy. These progressive opinions that lab-created sugars like HFCS are OK or useful are simply lies. An apple, banana or blueberry is the truth when you search for a healthy, sweet, natural taste. It is nature’s answer when humans crave sweetness. The sugar added to applesauce, a can of pineapples, pears, peaches is just a pathetic attempt to grow your addiction to sugar.

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The Three Taste Weapons mentioned above contribute to a host of chronic health issues that overload The Top 10 List for Causes of Death in the U.S. That is likely to include heart disease, strokes, cancer, kidney disease, obesity and obesity-related conditions, immunity-related issues and perhaps Alzheimers/Dementia. Only murder, suicide and unintentional injuries are excluded from that mortality list.

Thousands, if not millions, of diabetics pay the price with blindness, amputations, and early death in this battle of Hefty Profits-versus-Health. Don’t invest in this game of sugary convenience, even though bags of candy are likely in your kitchen already, waiting for Oct. 31. This Halloween, do something optimally healthy: Distribute healthy items that are safe, healthy and nutritious. Avoid giving out high-sugar, high-salt candies that certainly wreak havoc on everyone’s health.

As difficult as that sounds, it’s better for the children coming to your door to receive a greeting card with hope and dreams than a mountain of sugar, red dye #40 and processed preservatives, etc. that reveal candy wars, late-night hyperactivity and eventual health conditions that cannot addressed, let alone mitigated, without many doctors, procedures, prescriptions.

Obesity doesn’t diminish until sugar use does. Type II diabetes doesn’t diminish until sugar use does. And more than 25 million diabetics don’t stay healthy and thrive until they take total control of their card, sugar and exercise routines.

We set the example for our families, our children. Set aside the bags and bags you’ve already bought. Please try to provide something helpful, healthy, safe and handy this Halloween like a toy, rule, pen/pencil or card.

Your smile is really what kids are looking for when you applaud their costumes.

Happy Halloween, friends.

: Halloween is traditionally a time of costumes, fun and sharing. Now children celebrate the night to kickoff a 60-day hunt for any and all candy to consume. The average child in America consumes about 60-65 pounds of sugar each year, and nearly 40 pounds of sweet drinks, candy, cakes, ice cream will be eaten in the next two months. (Photo by Terry Carter/UDPhotos)