Sugar and Halloween
At the beginning of the school year I made some adjustments to our family diet with the primary aim of reducing Gleek’s sugar intake. The core of plan was effective, we all eat less sugar now. The structure of the plan has taken a beating, so we’ve adjusted. Instead of having sugar free days we’ve shifted to limiting sweet treats to afternoon hours. This week I made another adjustment, I’ve started requiring Gleek to eat protein at breakfast and first thing after school. The idea is to help her have a steady supply of energy rather than a spike and crash. A side benefit of the plan is that my attention to food has us all eating healthier.
A huge stumbling block in my sugar-reduction plan looms on the horizon. Halloween is the most massive sugar-fest of the year. My kids love Halloween. I love Halloween. We will not be abstaining, but I believe that there are many things I can do to alleviate the net sugar impact. We’ll be giving out small prizes instead of candy this year. This will prevent us from having a bowl full of temptation in the front room. I’ll also be instituting the candy buy back where I trade money for sugar. Beyond that, we’ll just weather whatever cranky storms come our way. The holiday is worth the ride I think.