Is Halloween candy actually bad for you?
Every year around Halloween, the barrage of conflicting opinion pieces on candy starts crowding your newsfeeds.
And as a naturopathic doctor, I think we can do better than these simplistic “good” or “bad” or even “neutral” perspectives. Because if you’re anything like me, you want to understand how the food you put in your mouth actually affects your body, so you can make informed choices about to eat, while still living your most enjoyable life.
I believe we can consider the impacts of sugar on the body without oversimplifying it to “evil” or “not a big deal”.
I believe that understanding the good things about Halloween candy can help avoid getting caught up in a food-is-fuel mindset.
And I believe the final decision of whether, how how much, to each Halloween candy is completely up to you. I’m just here to give you the information you need to make that choice easier.
Why I aspire to have the best Halloween house in Toronto
Halloween is my favourite holiday. As a proud ex-theatre-kid, I can’t resist the opportunity to dress up.
And I also love candy.
I love the ritual of trick-or-treating for candy.
I love seeing little kiddos reach into a big bowl of candy as I offer it.
And I love eating candy.
Yes, I’m a naturopathic doctor and I see no shame in admitting that candy is good. It’s delicious, it’s fun, and it’s part of a beautiful, community-centred ritual. Candy can be nostalgic, playful, comforting, and exciting. It can be joyful.
I also firmly believe that restricting foods without a solid, specific reason to do so is unnecessary, unhealthy, and a key element of disordered eating.
Oh, and if I every hear another person say that sugar is unhealthy because it’s “fattening”, I will scream. Body fat is a T E R R I B L E indicator of health. And also….eating a mini Reece’s cup will not make you fat. And ALSO there’s nothing wrong with being fat.
A body-neutral explanation of the effect of sugar on your body
You know what else is not a useful metric of health? Sugar consumption. That’s because the sugar you eat goes through several steps before it has an opportunity to affect your health. First, it’s digested - which includes breaking down more complex sugars into simple ones. The simple sugars then get absorbed into your blood. A system of hormones constantly samples your blood to check the sugar levels - and based on that they tell your cells whether to take in sugar to be used, store sugar for later, or increase the sugar in your blood to maintain the fuel levels required by your cells.
That’s right: you need a steady amount of sugar in your blood at all times to keep you fueled, alert, and happy. And because of that, those hormones I mentioned run a tight ship: regulating blood sugar all day and night. But that doesn’t mean it can’t get out of whack. When those hormones get overwhelmed, blood sugar levels can rise above ideal levels, causing sticky sugar to glom onto all sorts of places it shouldn’t be. This is what happens in diabetes - the 5th most common chronic disease in Canada. And it can cause real damage to your nerves, eyes, and cardiovascular system.
This is why blood sugar control is a much more relevant indicator of health. And as you can see, it’s also more nuanced than “how much sugar did you eat?”.
Blood sugar can be affected by:
The amount of sugar you eat in a sitting
What else you’ve eaten recently
How often you eat
Your hormones’ reactivity to sugar
Your cells’ responsivity to sugar-regulating hormones
Your stress levels
The individual mix of bacteria that live in your digestive system (aka the microbiome)
Everyone’s bodies will react to sugar differently. Not sure how sugar affects you as an individual? Talk to your doctor, a dietician or nutritionist, or a naturopathic doctor about it (I’m currently accepting patients across Ontario - book a discovery call to see if we’re a good fit).
Regardless of your individual reactivity to sugar, here are some rules of thumb for smoothing the effect of sugar consumption on your blood sugar levels:
Embrace dessert
Eat candy with or shortly after a balanced meal that includes plenty of protein and fibre (think veggies and legumes). This slows down the absorption of the sugar, giving your body time to distribute it to the cells that need it.
Enjoy your candy
Choose candy you really like, and savour it - this can mean you end up eating less because you’re really enjoying it. But remember it’s also ok if you want more than one candy - limiting yourself can lead to dissatisfaction, which can paradoxically lead to eating more than you intended.
Stop Restricting
On that note: allow yourself to eat candy - forbidden fruit (or candy) is way easier to binge on when our willpower gets worn down. Plus, you shouldn’t need to rely on willpower all the time - that’s way too energy-intensive. You need your energy to live your life.
Stay Moving
Exercise, in particular muscle activation, is key for blood sugar regulation. You don’t need to exercise to “make up for” the sugar you eat (it doesn’t really work like that), just know that staying active is one way to manage your blood sugar so you can enjoy candy with a reduced risk to your health.
Should YOU eat halloween candy?
At the end of the day (or the night on October 31st), it’s your decision what you eat. I hope I’ve helped you understand the nuance behind your decision. And if you want more personalized advice, I’m happy to chat - just book a discovery appointment here to see how I can help you.