Hooray for the start to another wonderful week!

As you know, this week is going to be full of Halloween parties, costumes, face painting, pumpkin carving, and LOTS of candy. Today’s spotlight is the choice we have this Halloween when it comes to sweet “tricky treats”.

Everyone knows candy is not by any means healthy…I don’t think I’ll have one person legitimately argue me on that point. Instead, the most common responses are…”It’s just this one day”, “Everything in moderation”, “As long as my kids are happy”, ” I don’t want my kids to miss out on the fun all their friends are having!”. All of these are understandable statements, but they all have an undertone of overlooking the serious problem in hopes that it will go away if we close our eyes to it. I want to show you that you nor your kids have to miss out on the fun! If anything, it can be even MORE fun with better alternatives to the traditional Halloween candy.

Candy isn’t the same today as it used to be…

When I was a kid, sure, candy wasn’t good for us, but it wasn’t quite as toxic as the tricky treats that are handed out these days. The ingredients in the majority of store-bought sweets are filled with ingredients that cause the following side effects:

Infertility
Tumors
Cancer
Diabetes
Obesity
Damage to DNA
PCOS & endometriosis
Chronic Digestive disease: Crohn’s, Diverticulitis, etc…
Food Allergies
Celiac’s Disease
Eczema
Candida yeast overgrowth
Fungal infections
Hormonal dysfunction
Asthma
…And the list goes on…

Pretty frightening, huh? I bet there is a part of you that doesn’t believe me…am I right? I understand. Those are some pretty big claims that I just made. I don’t take these things lightly, as you can tell. I am not going to lie to you to make you more comfortable. This is the reality of the situation we are in. I wish it wasn’t this way, but it is.

Let me explain a little bit more about WHY your average piece of candy is having such serious effects on you and your kids.

THE TOP 10 MOST DANGEROUS CANDY INGREDIENTS

1. GMO Ingredients:

GMO= Genetically Modified Organism. Just thinking about GMO foods makes my skin crawl. It makes me SO angry at what has been allowed in our food supply for the sake of money… The human race is one big guinea pig in a science experiment. GMO foods are SO incredibly toxic that one piece of it can do damage to your DNA. Seriously…there is NO MODERATION for these foods. Unfortunately, they are all over the place now. Check out the GMO ingredients in these common tricky treats…

IT IS MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAN EVER THAT YOU BECOME AWARE OF GMO FOODS, HOW TO AVOID THEM, AND VOTE YES ON PROP 37 TO REQUIRE LABELING FOR ANY PRODUCT THAT CONTAINS GMO INGREDIENTS!

The risk involved with eating GMO foods is very serious. Read this shocking study proving GMO foods cause tumors, where 70% of female test subjects died early! This study is what encouraged France to make all GMO foods illegal in their country. Too bad America didn’t follow their example.

To learn more about GMO’s and their effects on the human body, please sit down with your family and watch this movie- Genetic Roulette

2. Hydrogenated/ Partially Hydrogenated Oils

Ewwwww…these are so gross and so horribly bad for us! They are also a big filler for many candy bar choices. These hydrogenated oils also known as “Trans Fats” are a major killer. These are the fats that give fats a bad rap. These oils clog arteries, create chronic inflammation & illness, and are literally indigestible by the body. Check out this crazy video with a great visual of how high of a temperature is needed to breakdown hydrogenated oils…

3. Lead:

Studies have shown that various candies contain 6,7,8, even 10 times the legal amount of lead! The heavy metal lead is very damaging to our bodies for various reasons. More info here…

4. Artificial Colorings:

Artificial colorings have been scientifically linked to a myriad of health conditions including behavioral disorders, hyperactivity, asthma, cancer, and allergies. A 2007 Lancet Study found, “Artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet resulted in increased hyperactivity in 3-year olds and 8/9 year-old children in the general population.” Artificial colors are found in candies and chips such as M&M’s, Skittles, Gummy candies, Smarties, Cheetoh’s, Doritos, Blow Pops, Candy Corn- basically ANYTHING COLORED that isn’t specifically labeled to have no artificial dyes or colors has them. Look for FD&C Yellow, blue, red, green…any of those are extremely toxic. Read: Healthy Child, Healthy World, “Just Say No to Blue, Green, Red and Yellow”.

5. Artificial Sweeteners

Over the years, there has been a growing awareness of how toxic sugar is. Mostly, it is related to weight gain in the press, so many people have chosen to avoid it. Unfortunately, when people avoid sugar, they usually reach for sugar-free alternatives that contain DANGEROUS chemical sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, splenda, and acesulfame k. These are all neurotoxins (kills your brain cells) and actually promotes obesity through the hormonal changes it produces, and damages your pancreas, which is the organ that is responsible for regulating your blood sugar levels (think of all the diabetics with an inefficient pancreas unknowingly damaging it even more with these sugar-free products!). The FDA receives more complaints about aspartame than any other food additive and has approximately 167 possible side-effects. But it has never been banned. Artifical sweeteners are often found in products that say, “no-sugar added, ” “sugar free,” including juices, juice boxes, “low-carb” chewing gum, candies, protein powders, protein bars.

6. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS):

Have you seen the commercials on TV about HFCS and how perfect the people are as they run along the corn fields enjoying their ice cream with HFCS because it comes from corn, so it should be a healthy product?? That commercial makes me laugh every time and simultaneously angry with the intentional deceit that is going out to people around the globe.

HFCS is poisonous to the body and the leading ingredient behind obesity & diabetes. HFCS is cheap to make, sweeter to taste, and mixes easily in baked goods and liquid based drinks, which makes it a very profitable product. This cheap money-making chemical is also a driving factor behind non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. HFCS is especially dangerous for the liver due to it’s extremely high fructose content which is very difficult on the liver. READ YOUR LABELS! This sneaky ingredient is found even in “health foods”.

7. BHA & BHT

These chemicals are preservatives used to preserve color, taste, and texture. Unfortunately they have also been proven to potentially be cancer-causing, especially in people who cannot metabolize these two chemicals efficiently. Interestingly enough, BHT is actually band in England. Shows you how dangerous these things are!

8. Carnauba Wax

This has not yet been proven to be toxic to humans. However, it is a common ingredient found in shoe polish, car wax, cosmetics, floor polish, surfboard wax and…oh ya!… Halloween candy! Yuck! No thank you, I do not need to be eating car wax thank you very much.

9. MSG/ Sodium Glutamate

MSG, sometimes labeled as Sodium Glutamate is another wonder toxin. It is more often found in salty foods such as chips, crackers, and asian foods, but can also be found in candies. MSG is responsible for its own long list of health ailments including allergies, asthma, digestive disease, eczema, and more. Read more here…

10. SUGAR!!

You know what’s surprising? Out of this entire list, refined white sugar is probably the least harmful! That’s how BAD the above supertoxins are for our health. Sugar creates a long list of health issues including being cancer’s #1 food of choice. If you want to feed your cancer cells, then eat lots of sugar and sugar containing foods. Obviously candy has high amounts of sugar in it, that’s a no brainer. Just be aware of the amounts of sugar and the type of sugar. I had to re-emphasize the toxic effects of sugar because it is an obvious danger about candy as well. Especially if you or your little one has a decreased immune system at the time, a load of sugar, could spread infection and will suppress your immune system even more. Look for natural sugars for a treat such as honey, organic evaporated cane juice, or even better stevia or organic xylitol.

But, What Can I Have Then?

Don’t worry! I am all about finding alternatives for EVERYTHING! I agree that it probably wouldn’t give you the best parent of the year award to force your kids to stay home while all their friends get to have fun together. We can’t protect kids from everything by locking them in a basement their whole lives. We have to TEACH them to choose the right things. These are the changes that last. So, make it fun for them this year! There are great candy alternatives! Here are a few….

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In addition to these healthy candy alternatives, you can make healthy treats at home for your family to enjoy! Offer a trade if your kids go trick or treating; sit down with them before and make them a pact. If they trade in their candy at the end of the night, they get a homemade treat- their favorite. There are tons of ideas online to make it a fun and healthy night. Here are 10 healthy treat ideas to get you started!

Have a marvelous Monday!

xoxo,