Like many families, we took our kids Trick or Treating last night for Halloween.
The rule in our house is that a few pieces can be saved at the end of the evening with the rest going to the dentist who will buy them for a dollar per pound.
This is not the same dentist, by the way, as the one I wrote about who gave me a gift certificate to Dunkin Donuts as a thank you for referral business, in case you were wondering.
To me, Halloween offers parents an opportunity to teach kids balance when it comes to handling the constant onslaught of junk food that surrounds them in our processed food addicted culture.
Allowing them to enjoy a favorite treat but encouraging them not to overindulge and embrace moderation can prove a helpful life lesson once they are away from a home that serves nourishing meals and they are in charge of making decisions about what they will eat each and every day.
Who would have thought that another lesson in the advertising tricks of Big Food would also come our way on Halloween night?
As it turns out, my kids also received bags of chips instead of candy from some of the homes they visited.
As my kids were going through the spoils at the end of the night, one of them inquired as to why one of the bags of chips was labeled “Wise” when the ingredients were most definitely not.
How indeed?
The ingredients on this Wise brand bag of plain potato chips contained the following:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (one or more of: corn, cottonseed, sunflower, soybean, or canola oil), salt.
First of all, Â the oils listed are all polyunsaturated. Â These delicate oils are severely damaged and rendered toxic when you cook them at the high temperatures required to fry potato chips.
In addition, frying of any starch creates acrylamide, a carcinogen that can be very dangerous to health when consumed in the high levels of the typical American diet loaded with refined carbohydrates.
Not a whole lot that is Wise about those chips at all, is there?
I nodded and told my kids that this observation was brilliant and right on. Â Just because a product is labeled natural or wise doesn’t make it so.
Warning to Big Food: Â The next generation is on to you. Â They won’t be as trusting and swallow your misleading marketing lingo hook, line, and sinker like the Baby Boomers. Â Your days of market dominance are numbered.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
We have a homemade pizza party on wheat crust, do an activity like paint pumpkins, have a costume parade and then watch a movie. My kids are use to this tradition and enjoy it now. We also have another family join us since they choose not to have candy as well.
Funny that the potato chips are called, “Wise,” when even THEY don’t know which oil they fried them in…
The fact that the list all those oils tells the consumer that they buy the CHEAPEST one available at any given moment to fry the chips in.
After all the Halloween of parties in the days leading up to the actual holiday, I just knew I could not handle the sugar roller coaster any longer. Last night after my kids were done trick or treating I told them all that they could pick a few pieces of candy and that if they left the rest on the couch there would be a prize when they woke up. They were so thrilled in the morning. No one has missed the candy and I got hours of peace and quiet while they played with their new toys, instead of crying and moaning from the ups and downs of the sugar.
Its great that your teaching the next generation about the lies of Big Food. I remember as a kid that I use to eat up the entire bag of Halloween candy in three days. No wonder I got cavities!
Hi Sarah-
Well, you are the good example and this Halloween, my family is the dire warning. We had a similar plan – eat what you can while trick-or-treating and it’s all gone tomorrow. Unfortunately, they can eat a LOT while trick-or-treating. This morning my eldest spent 30 minutes sobbing about her fears about her cats escaping (they did not escape – she was just afraid that they might). 30 minutes. Remember the previous post about how healthy food changes had banished the fear for my eldest? They’re baaack! It’s the scariest thing about this Halloween!
We’re looking forward to getting back on track this week and to fewer fears.
Life is so sweet without sugar!
Blessings,
Mary
Could this be part of the reason why we have such a gullible population that is afraid of the wrong things … like epidemics that don’t exist anymore yet no fear of shots full of mercury, aluminum and other health robbing substances. Most people find it a challenge to even think clearly about much of anything anymore and brain fog from overindulgence in all things sweet, refined, and grain based is a big reason why.
I think it could be. People panic over bird flu, which never happened, and calmly accept hundreds of thousands of deaths every year from drugs approved by the government without a peep. People are terrified of raw milk, and the same people will calmly allow themselves to be vaccinated with a deadly poison like mercury. We could come up with hundreds of other examples. The lack of common sense in so many people is appalling.
I think you are right about what causes this brain fog, and I suspect the lack of good saturated animal fat is another reason.
Nice post! I’d love to be at this point with my family next year. It’s more difficult when your family considers you radical (including dh). Baby steps… baby steps. We’ll get there.
We have a local dentist who buys back candy, as well. He’s trying to stop the kids from eating the candy, so he’ll pay them for it by buying from them.
Why would a dentist buy candy from you? I am a bit startled and confused by this. Please tell more.
He dumps it. He buys it so the kids won’t eat it.
usually to discourage kids from eating it. then they toss it.
The ending to this post shall go down in Real Food history. Bring on the revolution!
Oh, and just to let you know, Sarah, I Iiterally appluded when I got to the end of this post; it’s so true, and I and my siblings are the proof. I’m 14 and the oldest of 5 real foodie-raised kids! Let me tell ya, Big Food, well-nourished kids are a force to be reconed with! We weild shovels with amazing ease from all the time spent growing our own delicious, nourishing, organic vegetables out in the garden. We’ll fight as long as need be, for our stamina can’t be matched, what with all of the raw butter, cream, and milk we eat and drink every day. And we can’t be outsmarted, no matter what you do. We eat too much egg yolk, coconut oil, cod liver oil, and wild fish. We will question you at your every turn. We will refuse to do things just because someone of authority tells us to, for this authority is false. WE hold the true power, and you know it. You just don’t want us to find it out for ourselves.
Also, another of my FAVORITE blogs is Girl in an Apron. She has a beautiful Real Food Blog at girlinanapron.blogspot.com, and she wrote a fabulous poem that really capures the spirit of what I’m trying to say:
A Note to My Politicians
Hear me now:
Your pursuit for safety is as false as your concern for our health.
While you shake hands and lie in bed with chemical producers
and drug distributors
you cry out in the name of food safety,
to pasteurize, bleach, boil, package and inject
everything which passes our lips.
You can’t serve it raw
because it is too dirty and dead.
You have never worked in real soil.
You have never washed earth off your food before preparing it.
You have never shaken sleepy bees from dewy blooms early in the day.
You are afraid of people who eat from their garden,
because their minds
are still their own.
Subsidize.
Pasteurize.
Sanitize.
Kill the small farmer.
Then sell us drugs
and flu shots.
Give us antidepressants.
Tell us to wear sunscreen and never go out into the sun.
Eat from a bag
or box
that’s sealed and clean.
No I won’t vote for this.
I have cast a different ballot,
and it is waiting at the end of my fork,
seared rare,
and dripping with unpasteurized cream sauce.
My hens will continue to lay warm eggs right into my fry pan
without your permission first.
I will give what little is left of the diminishing American dollar to my neighbor
in exchange for pastured pork
and raw milk.
I will spend time collecting seeds.
I will use butter liberally.
I will go out in the morning to harvest.
I will not drink your corn syrup.
I do not want your sterilized meat.
I don’t want your drive-thrus and chains.
In the name of all that is patriotic,
I will drink milk straight from the happy cow.
Keep your red #40,
your food safety modernization act,
your myths.
Smoke your cigars and drink your scotch.
Sign your papers.
Legislate.
Your “safe” food
is a life lived behind bars.
If this is safety
keep it.
What you need
is some real food
my dear,
fear ridden
politician.
What you need
you will find
in raw milk cheddar
melted over homemade sourdough.
What you need
waits at the bottom
of a tall glass
brimming with handcrafted beer.
You will find peace
in slow roasted root vegetables,
dipping your crisp
thick-cut
pastured bacon
into your poached fresh egg.
Slurp a raw oyster
fresh from the sea.
Pass the butter.
Smell the herbs.
Drizzle the honey.
Break the bread.
I welcome you
to my renegade table,
my hungry politician.
But be prepared
to become
blinded
by the light.
Love this! Thanks so much for sharing it! 😀
Nice letter! It reminds me of the cartoon movie Wall-E I think it is. That’s what I envision happening to the world if Monsanto and like companies have their way.
Ariel, with your spunk, wisdom and way with words, I think you should start a blog of your own! Your intro above is very engaging, and we need young people to set an example for their peers. Maybe you and your siblings could do a real-food-family blog. Let us know if you do!
Beth in Minneapolis
Hi, Beth, thanks so much! If you enjoyed the poem above, I highly reccomend Rachel’s Girl in an Apron blog, from whence the poem came. And as for my introduction to Real Foods, I owe it to my Mom, who was willing to question what was normally just accepted, willing to ask for proof while others would assume, and most of all, willing to do whatever she could to insure the health and happiness of her children. Thanks to her for all the effort she puts in every day!
One of these days I may start a blog; I’d love to do one with my sister, Elli. I’d have to ask her about it. But if we do, I’d absolutely let all of you know! How fun would it be to join in on Monday Mania? 😀
Your post however is very WISE, it’s good to use these experiences as learning opportunities. We have the same situation with birthday parties when they come home with the goodie bags. However, my kids rarely have more than one piece or two, before they start claiming they feel sick. It’s funny how your tastebuds change over time from consistently eating wholesome food. Now we taste this non-food processed stuff and we practically gag. Real food has so much flavor, with processed foods, it’s usually just overpoweringly salty or sweet, with little to no flavor, or you have an after-taste of chemical from the artificial ingredients. It’s good to read ingredient labels together and discuss nutrition so they better understand nutrition. It will serve them well when they’re out on their own making their own decisions about what to eat. Blessings, Kelly