Don't let halloween be scary for your paleo lifestyle
Getting kids to eat Paleo can be a little tricky at first, but eventually they come around to the goodness of real food. Getting kids to jump on the Paleo bandwagon at Halloween, well that is a whole challenge in and of itself.
This is our first Paleo Halloween and the battle over Halloween candy is about to begin.
We have been doing the Paleo lifestyle for long enough now that my kids understand candy and things that are made of sugar or high fructose corn syrup are harmful to them and make them feel sick after they eat it. Their attitudes about Halloween right now range from, “I don’t want to go” to “I want to go, but know all that candy is bad for me.” So we have worked out a compromise.
Yes, we are going to allow our kids to go trick or treating on Halloween. And yes we are going to allow them to fill their buckets to the brim with Halloween candy, but no they will not be allowed to keep it all.
The deal we have with out kids this Halloween is they get to pick ten pieces of candy they can keep and the rest is going away. We have done a good job I believe in teaching our kids that junk food made of high fructose corn syrup and other artificial ingredients is very harmful. But I would also like to teach them that things in very limited moderation on special occasions are okay.
When we first told our kids about this plan of course the first reaction from our 6 and 8-year olds were tears and lots of “that’s not fair!” They wanted their Halloween candy and this damn eating real food thing was getting in their way. But over the last couple of weeks they have grown to accept the changes with the Paleo lifestyle and now they look forward to going trick or treating and giving away their candy.
So what to do with all the excess candy we gather?
There are many options you have, and to tell you the truth, I am a little torn on what is the best option.
One option is to donate it to the troops overseas. Many dentists will buy the excess candy from kids and then donate the candy to our overseas troops.
Another option is to donate the candy to local charities or children’s homes.
A third option is to just throw the candy away. And while this may seem like a waste, throwing away all that perfectly fine “food,” I find it much better than the second option. If I believe that candy is extremely harmful for my kids, why would I encourage other kids to eat the junk?
What will my kids be doing with their excess Halloween candy this year? We will probably find one of the local dentists who pay $1 per pound and then they donate it to the troops overseas. At least the troops understand the dangers of candy and they can make up their own mind if they want to partake or not.
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