Last night, like every year, we witnessed the annual tradition of moms, dads and friends, parading their kids house to house, all dressed up in costume, in an effort to see who could collect the most candy. Trick or Treat…. It’s a contest really, to see how can get the most in that one given night. When I was a kid, we didn’t have plastic pumpkins used as small buckets filled with Halloween loot. We had big pillow cases, and what we collected was much more than today’s offerings of candy bars from a few major chocolate companies. In my day, everything was homemade. Items like popcorn balls, cupcakes, candied apples and various fruits, small bags of nuts were the norm.
Having just lived through the excitement of another Halloween night in Malibu was the cutest. And most precious, was the 3 to 8 year old range, of which two were my grandkids. I must comment on “the loot of the evening”. Wielding buckets of assorted candies, each child proudly carried their stash into the house and immediately pouring out their treasures on the living room floor. You should have seen their eyes. As they poured out their stash onto the floor, you couldn’t help but to laugh as they glanced at each other’s collect of sweet, to see who got more.
But my two grandkids know that the candy collection is to look at, but not eaten. They’re not resentful. They’re not angry, and they’re not trying to hide any of their loot. You see, they were taught that this was a game of collecting – not to see how much sugar they each can stuff away before they go to bed, and continue when they wake after a night of being wide awake from an excess of sugar. They were taught – and taught right from birth – what’s good for you, and what’s not so good for you.A 3 year old understanding ? Yes. I saw it first hand, and its due to their parents teaching them them that this is a game of “No sugar” fun.
Sugar, while tasty, is a food that has major drawbacks that can, if over used, can be deadly. Its ugliness is usually hidden in beauty and temptation. Decorated cakes, delicious pies, chocolate covered cupcakes, mouthwatering cinnamon rolls, Hersey candy bars and, of course, Milky Ways. They’re all loaded with sugar – more than you can imagine. Little does this future generation know how deadly sugar really is. Right from the get go, there is a steady stream of “taste this”, and schools with soft drink dispensers. They never had all of this when I was a kid – so what’s changed.
Sugar causes diabetes, cancer, heart disease and hypertension, to name a few, not to mention obesity. All the bad stuff !!!
In the centuries of BC & AD, sugar was used as a means of torture .. Bet you didn’t know that. Sure it could be years before you begin to see the negative effects of all those those candy bars – but mark my words, it will happen. That’s a guarantee.
So please – “eat like you give a damn“.
In closing – eat healthy and teach the young how to eat right.
The Godmother of Malibu.
Owner of Godmother of Malibu Catering.
Where Fresh, Good Tasting Food Is Paramount