Halloween Candy: Trick or Treat?
Cassidy Crawford, LN, MS, RDN, Livingston HealthCare
The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, and Halloween is just around the corner. With the costumes and fun comes the inevitable accumulation of a mountain of candy. Parents might find themselves worrying about how these spooky treats fit into a balanced eating pattern.
Rest assured, talking to your kids about the role of candy in their diet doesn’t require tricks and can actually be quite a treat. When exploring candy in the diet of our children, there are two different realms to consider. Those of facts, and those of feelings.
The facts, in the form of the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, tell us that added sugar should be around 10% or less of our daily total calories. That equates to around 50g a day. They also tell us that an average fun size candy bar, a typical Halloween treat, has around 10g of added sugar. So, your kiddo could have up to 5 a day and still be okay.
Feelings are a little more complicated. Our own tell us to worry about nutrition and diet quality. Those of our children tell them to seek out and eat as much candy as possible. Somewhere in the middle is the compromise between the two, food neutrality.
In the last few years, the world of dietetics has made a transition towards the “All Foods Fit” approach. This is a catchy way to say there is no good or bad food. In practice this looks like allowing ourselves and our kids to be nourished by all foods, whether in a physical, mental, emotional, or relational way.
It can feel foreign to suggest to our children that candy is a part of a balanced and healthy dietary pattern. However, when we paint candy as something to restrict, we tend to overeat it when it is available. This scarcity mindset often leads to power struggles or sneaking around.
Instead, we can talk about it practically as a source of calories, energy, and even joy. We can offer children the chance to eat candy and pay specific attention to the whole process. Encourage them to take time tasting it and notice things about flavor and texture. Also ask them to focus on how they feel afterwards and if they reach a point when they’ve had too much of a good thing.
Going one step further, when candy is offered, allow it to be part of the meal or snack, and not something to be earned by cleaning a plate or doing a behavior. Teach the next generation that food is not something to be earned.
If you are still not convinced and are shaking your head at the dietitian giving you and your children permission to enjoy your Halloween treats, I encourage you to try the process too. Allow room for joyful and mindful post-Trick or Treat indulgence. Then, in the weeks that follow, notice how the whole family’s behavior changes when that candy is still available and allowed instead of stigmatized and restricted.
On your list of Halloween prep, next to “find costume” and “decorate house”, add “make a food neutral plan for candy”. Talk to kids about it before you go out with a plastic Jack-O-Lantern in hand. Discuss it again when they sort it into piles and make trades. Then, keep bringing it up throughout the year as treats both seasonal and commonplace make an appearance. If at any point you feel that nag of hesitation, or an impulse to call candy bad, remember, the whole messy, new and uncomfortable process is dietitian approved.