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Spooked By Halloween?

October 31 is fast approaching, but you don’t need to barricade yourself indoors with the lights off, nor do you have to stop your children from celebrating!

Adults can have fun too

Don't pretend that Halloween is only for children: have fun!

  • Opt for dark chocolate. The higher its cocoa percentage, the lower its glycemic index.
  • Buy lots of candy… that you don’t care for. That way, you can hand out sweets free of temptation.
  • Celebrate differently. Invite your friends to a costume ball, watch horror movies or cook up a themed dinner with delicious pumpkin soup as the star of the show.

Party with your little monsters

Emphasize other aspects of the event: carve funny pumpkins, make costumes, tell each other scary (but not TOO scary) stories…

Fill up on other surprises. Did you know sweets have only been considered a Halloween staple since the 1970s? Instead, hand out pencils, erasers, balls or other small toys. The kids will be just as happy, and you can probably bet that other grown-ups in the neighbourhood will follow suit next year.

Do not completely forbid sweets! That only makes them more appealing to children.

Trick-or-treating

Low blood sugar is a common occurrence among children trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Prepare accordingly:

  • Give them something to eat before going out.
  • Test their blood glucose frequently.
  • Keep the Skittles on hand. They’re good allies when low blood sugar strikes.

Sharing the loot

  • Once you’re back home, pick out candy that can be used to treat future low blood sugars (avoids treats that contain protein or fat—such as chocolate, candy bars, cookies, and crackers, as they don't raise blood sugar quickly enough).
  • Divide them into servings of 15g carbohydrate and make up individual bags. Keep them where you typically store items to treat low blood sugar.
  • With the rest, tell the children to choose a number of sweets—20, 40 or 50. Make small bags of four or five sweets each. Your children will get one bag a day.
  • Note the number of carbs for each bag of sweets. That way, whether they eat the whole bag at once or spread it out over the day, you can easily keep track.

To make the rest of their harvest disappear, you can invoke the “Halloween Fairy,” who, like her cousin the Tooth Fairy, will trade the gathered loot for a toy.

Happy Halloween!

References:

American Diabetes Association, “Enjoying Halloween When You Have Diabetes”: https://www.diabetes.org/healthy-living. Accessed January 27, 2015.
Association Française des Diabétiques, “Tableaux comparatifs des valeurs nutritionnelles du chocolat”: http://www.afd.asso.fr/sites/default/files/valeurs_nutritionnelles_et_index_glycemiques_differents_chocolats_0.pdf. Accessed January 27, 2015.
Jessica Apple, Halloween Tips From Parents of Children With Diabetes”, A Sweet Life: “Halloween Tips From Parents of Children With Diabetes”, A Sweet Life: http://asweetlife.org/feature/halloween-tips-from-parents-of-children-with-diabetes/. Accessed January 27, 2015.
Samira Kawash, “Halloween Wasn’t Always About Candy”, A Sweet Life: https://asweetlife.org/halloween-wasnt-always-about-candy/. Accessed January 27, 2015.
Wifemompancreas, “Halloween for Children with Diabetes”, Diabetes Daily: https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/2012/10/halloween-for-children-with-diabetes/. Accessed January 27, 2015.
Canadian Diabetes Association, “Halloween tricks and treats for children with diabetes”: https://www.diabetes.ca/newsroom/search-news/halloween-tricks-and-treats-for-kids-with-diabetes. Accessed August 17, 2015.

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