Trick or treating is every child’s favorite part about Halloween. They get to show off their scary costumes as well as get free candy while they are trick or treating. AFC Urgent Care Bound Brook encourages parents to make sure their kids go out trick or treating! Unfourtunalty Halloween is not the most healthy holiday of the year. On average, Halloween night a child can eat up to 7,000 calories, now that is scary! We will be discussing the dangers of too many sweets & a child’s diet.

How much it too much?

If your child wants to go trick or treating we don’t want you to not let them go because of the number of calories they may eat. Instead, we want to give an insight into how much candy your child should be having on a daily basis. One night every once in a while is okay for a child to binge on candy. If your child has the estimated 7,000 calories then they have eaten about 600 grams of sugar. To put this into perspective a healthy growing child needs about 2,000 or a little fewer calories a DAY & about 32 grams of sugar. This can be extremely detrimental to a child’s health if they continue to eat this way consistently.

What are the risks?

If a child eats too much candy they can become pre-diabetic. We know this from adults today that have eaten way too many sweets when they were children. Pre-diabetic means you are at a precious risk of getting diabetes. When you have diabetes your body no longer produces its own sugar basically & has no control over it. Being a pre-diabetic means you have to be careful with everything you eat every day. The slightest bing in sugars & sweets can put you over to a diabetic.

How can I prevent my child from this?

When you are teaching your child about healthy diet make sure to express moderation. When your child comes back from trick or treating just try to get hem to break up the candy to last a couple of says instead of eating it all in one sitting. After Halloween just try to always incorporate healthier foods into their diet & you should see them start to eat healthier in their own as a result! We hope these tips help & your child has a very happy & healthy Halloween!