First of all, I need to say that I don't go all out for Halloween. I don't decorate my house for Halloween. I'd rather put the time and effort into Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. But, we let the kids go trick-or-treating. They enjoy dressing up and collecting candy. I prefer to not spend money on costumes. $30 minimum per costume is just too much for me to spend when the money could go to regular clothing that they need or other needs that are a higher priority. So this year I told them that I wasn't spending any money on costumes. They were going to have to be creative and use what we already had. They liked the freedom I gave them to use their imagination and use what we had and get creative with it or use what they've worn before.
Then the candy to hand out? That gets expensive too! And that's just the junky conventional candy!
Now, I need to say that I am not in the medical profession - conventional or naturopathic. I have just taken time to learn as much as I can in the time that I have available to do so. I have learned a lot from my IRL friend Sarah over at Real Food Outlaws. The rest I've learned from my own researching and thinking and processing what I've read and heard.
We have spent the last two years (maybe three) changing the way we eat. I had started noticing the news about TBHQ and other additives in our "food supply." I watched documentaries about our food supply. I stopped buying heavily processed foods and starting moving more towards whole foods. I bought more Non-GMO and started adding some organic foods. We can't afford to go completely organic right now, so I focus on the Dirty Dozen and try to buy them organic as much as possible. The rest I try to get Non-GMO if I can. I buy fresh as much as possible. The only canned food I buy is tomatoes. And coffee. But not regular coffee, because caffeine is bad. I now buy Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee, which is decaffeinated without using chemicals. It's actually really good! And it doesn't always come canned.
We eat far less sugar than we did three years ago. We've all been on a nutrition program with my friend Sarah who is not only a whole foods blogger, but an NRT and a Master Herbalist. Our health has greatly improved! I've lost weight. Our kids who were diagnosed with asthma have not been on steroids for over two years now and have not had issues. Our kids who have had severe food allergies are getting healthier and the allergies are decreasing!
So with all this progress, I dreaded going shopping for Halloween candy and put it off. Until the day of Halloween. Because our kids with the food allergies can't even eat most of the candies out there anyway. I usually get them Enjoy Life chocolate bars or PASCHA due to their allergies. With just conventional candy being so expensive, there is no way that I can afford to hand out non-GMO and organic candy right now, because that's even more expensive. My son said, "Mom, get Reese's and Twix, because last time, all the kids were looking for Reese's and Twix and nobody had them." Off I went, to read labels and make a decision of what we were going to hand out this year.
I walked in the door of Wal-Mart and right there to greet the procrastinating shopper was a row of Halloween candy. I picked up a bag that had Reese's and read "Shea" in the ingredient list. I didn't remember seeing shea butter on any of the Reese's products before except for the white chocolate products. Shea is a tree nut and therefore I can't buy products with shea. Then I saw TBHQ. NO! Yes. Yes. It was on the label. Then I saw a new one I hadn't seen before. PGPR. I didn't know what this new ingredient was, so grabbed some candy that didn't have TBHQ, but had PGPR. Just about all of the chocolate candy had PGPR. As soon as I got home, I started searching for what PGPR is. This was the first thing I read about it. For now, I'd almost say that PGPR is the lesser of the evil preservatives, but like I said above, I am not in the medical field and I am not in the science field. I'm just a concerned wife, mother and consumer. As I looked for more information on PGPR, I saw this article and this short and sweet article. They seem to have the same thoughts that I do about changing our chocolate and adding synthetic preservatives. This very informative post explains the chocolate making process in a nutshell and then goes on to talk about child labor and the issues caused by using synthetic additives. The articles I've read say that TBHQ affects the immune system and can trigger allergies and contribute to ADHD and behavioral issues and excessive amounts of PGPR causes liver enlargement.
One of the things I've learned over the past year is that when the liver is affected, allergies become a problem and the immune system is compromised. Now I'm going to try to explain this by using logic. When the liver or any other organ in our body is affected, it becomes a weak link. The other organs have to work harder to compensate for the weak link. When an organ is under stress, it can't do its job effectively. No other organ can replace the organ that is under stress and therefore cannot do the job of the organ under stress. Think about when you hurt an arm or a leg. Your other appendages have to compensate for the weak limb. The good appendages cannot really do the job of the weak limb. Your mobility is compromised and your body doesn't function at it's prime.
Think about our bodies and what they are designed to eat. Think back decades, maybe even centuries ago, long before industrialization. What did our ancestors eat? Meats, plants, nuts, seeds, unprocessed grains and some fruits. Some cultures ate chocolate, but it was certainly not the chocolate that is available in the majority of stores today. Sweets were made with pure sugar and other real ingredients. Today, most companies are using additives and preservatives to save a buck and add to their profit. The argument that the preservatives and additives keeps the food from spoiling is fallible in my opinion. It may keep the food from spoiling, but at what cost? It changes the food from its natural state. It depletes any nutrition the food may have had in its natural state. I think some of the additives create an addictive stimulus that make you crave that "food." Our bodies are designed to breakdown and use the fuel from real food. Processed food doesn't fuel our bodies like real food does.
After the trick-or-treating was done I started looking through their candy. I pulled out a fun size Butterfinger, another former favorite, and saw that the label said, "No Artifical Flavors or Colors, Colors from Natural Sources." At first I thought, "Great! This is what we can hand out next year!" But I wanted to make sure, so I checked the website for the ingredients list. I'm sad to say that Butterfinger also has TBHQ. Kit Kat, Mounds, Almond Joy and Twix have PGPR. Snickers and 100 Grand bars do not have TBHQ or PGPR on the label. I'm leaning towards handing out Snickers and 100 Grand bars next year along with Dum Dums and Nerds. Plus, I try to have non-food items to hand out for those with food allergies. When going through the candy the kids have collected, I swap out the candy that the kids with allergies can't have with something they can have.
I don't shop for these candies on a regular basis anymore. After the changes we've made to our diet we've noticed that our palates have changed and we can taste the difference. The foods that have chemicals, taste off to us now.
What about you? Have you been paying attention to the way you eat? Have you made any changes to improve your health? Have you noticed all the chemicals in our foods today? Has this post inspired you to make changes or do your own research? With all of these additives and preservatives I'm leaning towards Halloween candy or conventional candy in general, being more of a trick than a treat. It is my hope that you have found this informative and that it inspires you to pay more attention to the food you purchase for your family.
