As the shelves of drug stores and supermarkets are being stocked with bright orange-colored bags of sugary treats, I'm starting to think that Halloween has us all tricked. Despite the preponderonce of junk food that kids have available to them on a daily basis, this innocent-sounding holiday has everyone rushing out to buy even more junk with which to fill trick-or-treaters' ever-expanding bellies.
Obesity rates in children have tripled in the last three decades, and now over 30% of children and adolescents are overweight (also called "at risk" for overweight, but I don't accept this term. A child who is "at risk" for overweight at age 17 would be considered overweight at 18, with the same BMI). Kids are surrounded by opportunities to eat large portions of high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie foods of low nutritional value all.the.time. Do they really need another excuse to eat candy??? Let alone superfluous quantities of candy that will undoubtedly keep their sweet tooths satisfied and rotting for months to come.
Maybe giving out candy on Halloween was defensible when candy was a special treat that kids only got to have once in a while. But these days, kids can get candy at the movie theater, at the corner store after school, at the vending machine IN school, at birthday parties, at home, at the checkout line in the grocery store, and virtually any other place where kids are found. And when they're not eating candy, they may as well be. Pop tarts, donuts, or Count Chocula are breakfast staples and Hostess cupcakes are commonly found in lunchboxes. Sorry, but I don't see a good reason for doling out even more sweets to this generation of children, tradition or not.
Now I'm not a complete Halloween humbug. I think it's a fun holiday, but candy need not be an integral part of the celebration. This year, I'll be giving out toys from the party store's goodie-bag aisle. You might be thinking, Kids don't want toys! You may as well be giving out toothbrushes! Well, here's the evidence:
"Halloween: Trick, treat, or toy. This study investigated whether children would choose toys over candy when offered both on Halloween. Seven households gave 284 trick-or-treaters, ages 3 to 14, a choice between comparably sized toys and candies. Both boys and girls in the group were just as likely to choose toys as candy. The implication of this study is that nutrition professionals should encourage adults to create holiday traditions that do not rely on unhealthy foods. Schwartz, M.B., Chen, E.Y., & Brownell, K.D. (2003). Trick, treat, or toy: Children as likely to choose toys as candy on Halloween. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 35, 207-209." - From the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
No comments:
Post a Comment