Tag Archives: halloween candy

Halloween’s Coming: Where are my Snicker Bars?

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If you are a close friend of mine, you already know I have made an untraditional “New Year’s” resolution, which happened to start sometime during the month of October.  My goal was I was going to be able to fit into last year’s jeans, and not only zip them up…but be able to SIT DOWN IN THE FARBER-SCHNARBERS.  I’m trying to give up swearing too, but that isn’t going well either!

As one can imagine, I am a social type of person who likes a full dance card; and you know since the holidays really start mid October and continue until one can’t move or breathe in their baggy sweat pants on January 2nd, I am facing an uphill battle.

The problem is becoming quite serious though because I am not going to buy another size higher from last year. I AM NOT!!  But I can’t imagine standing until Valentine’s Day.  My feet will be killing me!!  And watching my kids opening their Christmas gifts while laying supine on the chaise lounge is not a pretty picture…no beached Shamu Christmas for me.

So when I started my “food life change” (not a diet, mind you) that is a taboo word for us 40-something women, I decided to increase my vegetable intake and cut out sugar.  So I filled up the veggie drawer and purchased some yummy fat free dip and gave myself permission to dip away when the hunger bugs started chanting my name.

Well, I don’t know when those pesky “bugs” stopped chanting my name and started screaming “Snicker Bars!!” but I panicked.  I moved the Halloween candy up to the top shelf of the kitchen where I would actually have to get a ladder to reach it.  That should work, right?

The chanting continued.  There were other types of candy in that mega bag of trans fat hell (see), but they were keeping their lips sealed – just those pesky Snickers.  I think I even heard them laughing at me (hence the name, I’m sure!)

OK…don’t freak out.  Have one.  Then you can tell them who’s boss and be proud YOU are in control!

So I had four.  Is that such a crime?  They were mini’s and they don’t even count as a whole bar you would buy at the QT.  The next step is to go to the computer to get my mind off of this.  I solve all the world’s problems and my expanding waistband issues at the computer. Unfortunately, I am wearing jeans and I have to type while standing…but I digress.

By this point, my pants are cutting off all circulation to my legs, my back is tightening up and my feet are going numb.

That’s it!!  I’m heading over to the neighbors with my bag of candy.  She’ll hide it for me until the 31st.  Until then, don’t bring me anything sweet or I might bean ya with a handful of broccoli, while donning my parka and shorts!

Halloween Costumes are Terrorizing

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Yes, I realize it is only nearing the end of September, and October 31st is an entire month away, but when you have young children, when is the appropriate time to start asking them what they want to be for Halloween?

For the past several years I have gotten it terribly wrong!  I start too early…and they change their minds three times before the big day.  I wait ‘til the last minute… then I am either up all night Halloween eve sewing until my fingers are bloody stumps (which apparently is only cool to teenagers and not to preschoolers or kindergartners). OR I am S-O-L when it comes to purchasing the “perfect” costume that is sold out everywhere in the bi-state area!

So do other parents just have kids who are easier to please than mine?  Or do you holler at them suggest, “You have to make a decision by October 1st , OR you will wear your father’s bathrobe AGAIN this year and go again as an hobo or a shepherd!”

When those blasted costume magazines junk up the mail, it’s like Christmas at my house.  The girls will turn off their favorite TV show, curl up together in one big chair and peruse the catalog, drooling on the pages and savoring each morsel of fabric and sequins.  They will do this for hours and pretend they are each character and their eyes will light up like the top of the Chrysler building.

The problem comes when I finally insist they make a decision and make a top-three list.  Just getting this list on paper can produce tears, whining and even hysterics.  Really.  They love them some costumes!

So you’re thinking, “Well, you should just take that catalog away from them and YOU choose what they will wear.”  Nice thought.  Tried it one year.  They hid under their beds and cried until the sun went down and their dinner turned cold.

Well, this year I am going to win.  They are in charge and whatever they wear out of the house (that is presentable, of course) is going to be what they are going to wear.  I know there will be tears.  Even with weekly reminders to make their decision.

But I am NOT going to get myself in a frazzle…because I will have the bathrobe and an old sheet on stand-by.  And if they don’t go out trick-or-treating, that means LESS candy for me and my husband to eat after they go to sleep.  (Little jokey!)

Picky Eaters?

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[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDSUscuS9is]

Do you have a toddler who refuses food on a regular basis?  Who has an aversion to vegetables, or meat, or anything healthy?  As a parent of a picky eater and a health educator, it drives me insane to watch a child throw a nightly fit at the dinner table.  It wasn’t until I learned of Ellyn Satter, a well-known nutritionist and developer of the Satter model of eating, that I realized I was doing it ALL wrong!  What a shock to learn that parents don’t know everything!!  (I am not getting anything in return for plugging Ms. Satter…unless she offers to come to my house every night to give me a break at the dinner table.  I would have no problem with that.)

The Satter model can be simplified into this:

Parents responsiblity:

1.  What food is offered to the child.

2.  When it is offered to the child.

3. Where the food will be consumed.  (She recommends meals and all snacks at table with no distractions.)

Child’s responsibility:

1. Which of the “offered” foods is eaten.

2. How much of it is eaten – unlimited portions (I know… calm down, I’ll get to this later!)

How many of you gasped or screamed when you read the child decides how much of something is consumed?  I did!  It still makes me squeeze up my face when I write it.  Especially, at Halloween time or after the most recent Valentine’s Day party at school.  Here is her reasoning.  If you provide nutritious foods (meaning the same food prepared for the entire family, not different meals for each kid), the kids will decide which of the foods sounds good to them and will listen to their hunger cues to know when to stop eating.

She suggests that no labeling of foods “good” and “bad” is key to growing a healthy eater.  They should know that healthy foods are consumed more often, but treats are not taboo, just a special treat.

Here is the screamer…at Halloween she suggests you let the children eat as much as they want that first night.  Don’t comment on it, don’t judge, just trust your child to figure it all out.  The next day they can have at it again, but Day 2 the candy disappears.  I usually have my husband take it to work or you can freeze it for later.  We tried this candy binge-method this year and were surprised our kids didn’t go too crazy each time and didn’t notice the disappearance of it on Day 2.  I think they got tired of their blood sugar spiking and dropping and wanting to “sleep it off.”

Satter also suggests you are the best role model in whether or not your kids will eat certain things.  If they watch you enjoying vegetables, most kids will eventually mimic you.  Offering a variety of foods every day is beneficial nutritionally and aesthetically.  Secrets to Feeding a Healthy Family is one of her books that I highly recommend.  Trying to making meal time a nice time to share and not have a battle of wills is the goal and Ms. Satter will show you how to implement this.

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