|
It's just about that time again -- the official start
of the "holiday season". It used to be that Thanksgiving
was the beginning, the clue that Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza
and New
Year's were only a month away. But now it is Halloween that ushers
it all in, and according to the store managers in our hometown,
the pre-Halloween season starts as soon as the back-to-school
stuff comes off the shelves.
Halloween is an interesting holiday and most of us don't really
know what it is all about. Witches? Goblins? Haunted houses?
Pagan rituals? No! It's about children roaming the streets
begging for candy -- the very same children who we force to eat
fruits and vegetables and brush their teeth and tell never to
accept candy from strangers. But on Halloween, not only do we
send them out there with our blessings, we dress them up in outrageous
costumes to do it.
To make matters worse, every year we hear about the crazy
people, the ones who put razor blades in apples and think up
a hundred new ways to injure innocent children. Hospitals will
routinely
agree to X-ray everything your kids collect, for free, using
the same machines they charge us hundreds of dollars for when
we twist an ankle.
So, what's a parent to do? Keep the kids home? Good luck!
Kids really seem to enjoy this holiday, and a lot of parents
really get into it as well. They love to dress up and act scary.
They especially enjoy the candy, more or less in direct proportion
to how much they are normally allowed to have.
Nutritionists are tempted to do some serious candy-bashing
around this time of year, telling you that homemade bran muffins
covered in plastic wrap and tied with a pretty ribbon would be
so much better to hand out than Snickers bars -- but let's get
real. First of all, parents are continually warned not to let
their children eat anything that isn't commercially sealed. That
bran muffin, which you worked so hard to make, will probably
just get tossed in the garbage. The same is true of popcorn balls,
apples, oranges, homemade cookies and anything else
resembling a good, nutritious treat. Boxes of raisins were in
vogue for a while, but now dentists tell us that because they
are so high in sugar and so sticky, they may be as bad for the
teeth as candy.
So, here's the dilemma. On the one hand we don't want kids
to eat too much candy, and on the other we are afraid to let
them have anything else that might be given out for treats.
But fear not. If you want to keep Halloween intact as a fun
holiday, here are some hints that might make it safer and a little
less traumatic from a nutritional point of view. (You can add
these to the list that covers tripping over costumes, crossing
the street at night and setting things on fire.)
-- Dispense with the trick-or-treating completely. Get together
with some other parents and organize a party for the kids.
Maybe it would be fun to have it move from house to house,
taking advantage of spooky decorations, weird music and even
videotapes of scary movies. The menu can certainly include
some sweets, but this type of a celebration will allow you
to also serve juice, cookies, fruit and other foods. Be sure
to include goody bags to take home.
-- Organize your neighborhood. Start well in advance and suggest
that anyone who wants to pass out special, homemade treats or
fruit, put a note on it saying where it came from. For instance,
it could say, "Happy Halloween from the Addams Family".
Be sure
that your kids go only to places where you know the people.
Doing this kind of preparation may also help you get to know
your neighbors better. This is especially good if you are
relatively new to the area.
-- Look around for prepackaged snack foods that have more
going
for them than candy. Nuts, cheese, sugarless gum, peanut butter
and crackers, trail mix, pretzels, popcorn and many others are
now available in small, vending machine sized packages. The big
discount stores often sell these small sizes in large quantities.
Make the same suggestions to your neighbors so that wherever
your kids go, they will get healthier snacks.
-- Don't worry about a little bit of candy. Candy is not poisonous.
It does not cause cancer. Eaten in moderation it is usually just
a concentrated source of fat and calories. Eating a lot of candy
over a long period of time may become a problem, but a little
bit
around Halloween is probably not going to permanently damage
anyone.
If your kids get a lot more goodies than they can or should
eat
within a few days, think about taking some of the excess to a
homeless shelter where the children may not have any at all.
Let your children participate in this process.
-- Don't put a candle inside of your jack-o'-lantern. Pumpkin
is
actually a healthful, edible squash and if you cook and puree
it, it is just like the stuff in the can (only better). It is
entirely possible to make pumpkin soup, pumpkin pies, pumpkin
bread and yes, even pumpkin cheesecake out of fresh, real
pumpkin -- unless of course it is full of melted wax and
carbon residues.
So, happy haunting one and all.
(c) 2000, Sheldon Margen, M.D., and Dale A. Ogar.
Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate
|
