Trick or Toxic Treat? Parents: Here’s What You Need to Know.

J. Harvey Lewis
Nov 1 · 5 min read

-You’re kid just got back from a night of trick or treating and you’re freaked out by what they’re about to eat. If this is you, keep reading.

Many parents can’t resist the fun of dressing the kids up in ridiculous costumes and taking them around the neighborhood for oodles of delicious treats. Other parents simply partake in the tradition to avoid conflict. But as a health conscious parent who is legitimately concerned for your kid’s safety, where do you draw the line with Halloween candy?

1. Know Which Ingredients Are Actually Bad.

Often products contain long lists of ingredients which are difficult to understand. As a rule of thumb, if you can’t pronounce it, or it is a series of numbers or capital letters, you should just avoid it, but sometimes a hard to pronounce word is actually just the scientific name for something perfectly healthy.

Here are a few examples of some of the most common ingredients to avoid.

Caramel Color. Shown to increase lung cancer rates in rats at any dose, and considered a carcinogen by California above 29 micrograms per day.

Vanillin: often made from petrochemicals. MMMmmmm

TBHQ: derived from petroleum, and linked to allergies, dermatitis, ADHD, asthma in humans, and stomach cancer in rats.

BHT: Banned in many countries (not the US) and linked to cancer.

Growth Hormone: Any product that contains milk that isn’t certified organic is likely to contain growth hormone, which is banned in many countries (not the US) and linked to breast cancer in humans.

Artificial Colors: Derived from petrol, many of them are linked to ADHD, cancer, and can cause allergic reactions.

Artificial Flavors: The FDA (in the US) doesn’t require specific labeling if these are in low doses, so it’s impossible to know exactly what chemicals they are or how toxic they may be. Better off to just avoid.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: Recently an independent study determined that up to 33% of HFCs contained mercury, a known neurotoxin, due to the processing methods.

Sugar & Artificial Sweeteners: Avoiding sugar and processed foods can reduce the risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Many people make the mistake of replacing sugar with processed artificial sugars which are often just as detrimental.

Photo by Pete Wright on Unsplash

2. Be Honest With Your Kids.

Educating yourself on which ingredients to avoid is a great place to start, but empowering your family with this information is even more important. The earlier you start with this process the better. If your attitude is to positively empower your child as a health warrior, instead of controlling them with rules, it is very likely that their response will be also be positive. You are likely to even hear them educating their friends about the nasty ingredients unethical companies are putting in their products.

Many preventable dietary-driven diseases are on the rise in children, so it’s important that you help your child make decisions to avoid them- same as you teach them to avoid stepping out into traffic or smoking cigarettes. If you can manage to calmly and lovingly explain to your kids what could happen from certain choices like eating the ingredients described above, they might not like hearing it in the short term, but in the long run, as they see these results unfold in real people- in real life- they are likely to embrace health consciousness as their own priority.

3. Give them alternatives

If you’ve been living unhealthy for awhile and trying to make changes, or if your child is resistant to eating healthy for any reason, it’s important to avoid a power struggle over it. The best way to do this is to give them alternatives.

Examples:

If your kid just came home excitedly with a trick or treat bag full of toxic ingredients, try to find something they like even more than candy and trade them for some or all of it. This could be a food, activity, or something else. You could even empower them to share their candies with kids who weren’t able to have the experience. Be creative, but make sure to have fun, and for them to feel empowered

Depending on where you’re shopping you may find brands which only use organic or simple ingredients yet taste the same or even better than typical candy. If your child insists on eating all their Halloween candy, one alternative is to let them try the higher quality candies and let them trade in what they got trick or treating after they realize they taste better. A few places you can get great candy minus the toxic yuck are here: yumearth.com and naturalcandystore.com

If that doesn’t work, you can compromise by letting them eat their candy, but limiting their daily amount- try selling the idea by explaining how much longer the candy will last.

Stay Calm and Don’t Give Up

If unhealthy eating has been part of your normal routine for a long time, and breaking away seems impossible, start where you can! While there are exceptions, as a rule the body is capable of filtering and getting rid of lots of toxic ingredients, and can heal from the results of unhealthy choices if given the right environment.

Stress often amplifies health problems, so whatever you do- don’t panic!

For more ideas and tips on how to live healthier, more sustainable lives, be sure to check out our blog and sign up for the NatureHub newsletter by going to NatureHub.com (scroll to near the bottom of the page).


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J. Harvey Lewis

Written by

Advocate for Eco-Friendly Alternatives, Wholistic Healing, & Local Initiatives. Founder at NatureHub.

NatureHub

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