Oct 18, 201204:18 PM

Improving health and well-being through physical and emotional healing.

Healthy Halloween

In just thirteen days candles will be flickering inside pumpkins, doorbells ringing, and action heroes and zombies roaming neighborhoods all over America.

But party-goers and trick-or-treaters won’t be the only ones dressing up this year. Unofficially known as FrankenFoods, there’s a whole new crop of GMOs in those candy baskets. Are you still getting tricked by those treats?

What makes Halloween 2012 especially interesting is California’s Prop 37. If passed on November 6th the law would require my secret stash of sweets to wear a very revealing costume, exposing their genetically modified contents (eg. GM corn syrup, GM soy emulsifier, GM beet sugar, GM cottonseed oil, etc.) beneath their “natural” veneer.

Plenty of spooktacular studies show just how much GMOs we unsuspectingly consume and the tumorfying long term health effects of GMOs, but besides choosing a healthy fruit alternative or simply (gasp) foregoing the sweets altogether, what are our best options?

I shopped around the Southbay for individually wrapped candies suitable for trick-or-treaters and only came up with a few products.

Whole Foods carries:
Organic Lollipops in a bag of 50 for $5, about 11 cents a piece including tax (pretty yummy),
Organic Graham Crackers in a box of 24 for $6, about 28 cents a pack (didn’t get to try these),
Organic Chocolate Crispy Rice Bars in a bag of 21 for $6, about 31 cents a piece (not bad),
and Organic Gummy Bears but at over 40 cents a pack they’re too rich for my blood-y Halloween treats.

CVS carries UnReal Candies which are great alternatives to full candy bars, but they don't have Halloween size options...

Trader Joe’s also carries Organic Lollipops, but that’s it.. All the other booty lining our Southbay shelves is too scary for me and my precious heart-eries.

After letting the kids eat a few favorite candies, this parent is usually left holding a tempting bag of bite sized GMO bombshells. Instead of Halloween kicking off a season of secret snacking, this year I will be more deliberate and informed about which cookie jars I stick my mitts into. You can donate your extra treats to the troops overseas at a local dentist through HalloweenCandyBuyback.com. For more information on helping Prop 37 pass visit CARightToKnow.org and definitely vote YES on Prop 37 to label GMOs on November 6th...

But first, take two minutes to clear out your pantry of these unhealthy sweets and commit to better choices.

What do you think about FrankenFoods? And what are your favorite ways to minimize sweets while enjoying the holidays?

To a healthy and happy Halloween!

Daniel