{Today, please welcome back Andrea Fabry of It-Takes-Time. Andrea’s sharing about Why Her Family Stopped Celebrating Halloween. It’s not what you expect. And it’s for sure worth thinking about. }
My kids trick-or-treated for the last time in 2008. As a mother of nine children ranging in age from 7-23, I had been supervising trick-or-treating for 20+ years. I expected to continue until my last child was too old to dress up.
Of course I never liked the candy component of Halloween (what mother does?) but felt powerless to fight it.
Our First Attempt at Going Sugar-Free
At one point in my parenting career I tried to cut our sugar consumption but failed. I came across as compulsive and mean. My kids felt like outsiders and resented the changes. I put my “health kick” on hold and returned to the fast food/high-sugar culture.
In retrospect I’m glad I let go. I was operating from a place of fear rather than love, and my kids felt it.
Besides, my kids were relatively healthy at the time. Sometimes a balanced approach is better than an extreme one when kids are stable.
What Made Us Finally Go Sugar-Free
However, everything changed in 2007 when serious health issues emerged. 7-year-old Colin was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, 11-year-old Reagan became debilitated with severe balance/vertigo issues, 6-year-old Brandon became unmanageable with behavioral problems, and 9-year-old Kaitlyn was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency.
All of us were suffering in one way or another.
It would take 9 months and 60 doctors to connect the illnesses with a recent mold remediation.
When the pieces of the puzzle came together in the spring of 2008, we tried to fix our house. But our health issues continued, and upon the advice of a toxicologist we vacated the home and everything in it on October 4, 2008. (Read more about the night we left in the post “The Suit on the Leather Chair.”)
Upon leaving the home, we were forced to reevaluate every aspect of our lives including our food choices.
We didn’t implement anything immediately. The kids trick-or-treated as usual that first Halloween.
The next day Colin’s blood sugar spiked, Brandon’s behavior declined, and Reagan’s vertigo returned.
That’s when it hit me.
The year prior, Reagan’s vertigo escalated the day after Halloween! His trick-or-treating catapulted him into multiple emergency rooms, misdiagnoses, and surgeries. (See “Reagan’s Story.”)
A photo of Andrea’s daughter from their last Halloween.
Sugar had to go.
It didn’t happen overnight. We slowly traded processed treats for less processed ones. We bought organic chips and energy bars.
Sugar and the Immune System
I began studying the immune system and the impact of sugar. I learned that:
• American children today are consuming about 10 times the amount of sugar as they were in 1800.
• Metabolizing one molecule of sugar requires more than 50 molecules of magnesium.
• Sugar binds to hormone receptors, jamming them, which over time may lead to insulin resistance.
• Sugar triggers the release of endogenous opiates in the brain, easily setting a child up for addictive behaviors.
By the time trick-or-treating rolled around in 2009, my kids had adjusted to our new lifestyle. We were finding new ways to celebrate holidays – including Halloween. We let them pick out something fun at the store. We made healthier treats using fruit, squash and stevia. We carved pumpkins and even peppers. (See “Healthy Fall Fun: Carved Peppers.”)
We discovered that we can have fun without all the sugar.
What do my kids think about the changes? Here’s what Brandon (now 12 years old) says:
“I can’t say I really miss the candy, because I don’t. I appreciate Halloween because I get something on that day anyway, so it’s all the same to me.”
Colin (now 13 years old) has written his thoughts in a post titled The Last Trick-or-Treat, excerpted below:
“And now, 5 years later, about to celebrate our 6th non-candy Halloween, I don’t even miss it. When I do, I think of how bad and sick I felt afterwards, and then the rest is easy. And yet some may ask, ‘How did you let go of something like that?’ The answer is easy. Because I needed to.
Humans, if you think about it, ALWAYS have let go of things that no other humans thought possible. It is in the most desperate situations, the most dire circumstances, that we humans see most clearly. We see the things we must keep and the things we must get rid of. In our case, we HAD to get rid of the sweet, delicious, gut-killing, sugary but still INCREDIBLY good candies that A LOT of America thrives on.
Halloween Without Sugar
So, in conclusion, though October 31st, 2008 was our last trick-or-treat Halloween, it was not our last Halloween. Now, I look forward to being able to spend $15 at Walmart to purchase a movie and one other thing. And now, I prefer our Halloween over our holidays back then, back when we were nearly dead and what we were eating was killing us. Now we are nothing but nurtured, and cared for by our healthy-living, healthy-eating lifestyle.”
My kids trick-or-treated for the last time in 2008. We gave up sugar to help us become healthier. We haven’t given up on life or enjoying food; we’re embracing both.
Looking for healthier options to hand out to children? Consider these 10 suggestions.
{From Adrienne: We stopped Trick-or-Treating a long time ago as well. Typically we watch a movie and make something to munch on, like:
- Dorito® Popcorn
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles or
- No Bake Coconut Delights
Do YOU celebrate Halloween or go Trick-or-Treating? Why or why not?
Andrea Fabry – A woman dedicated to detoxifying her family for health’s sake.Andrea is a former journalist and the mother of nine children ranging in age from 28 to 12. Following a toxic mold exposure, Andrea and her family discovered the wonders of natural living. Andrea is the founder and president of momsAWARE, an educational organization designed to empower others to live healthy in a toxic world. You can follow her family’s journey at It Takes Time. She is also the owner of Just SoNatural Products.
How and Why We Gave Up Trick-or-Treating – It’s Not What You Expect is a post from: Whole New Mom
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