The school year has barely started, and some stores are already starting to promote Halloween! For a health-conscious parent, this feels already overwhelming.
It is time for us to reconsider our habits and cultural rituals around our celebrations, which overtime had increasingly being molded mostly by marketing interests than for the sake of what the event is about. Have you asked yourself what actually is Halloween and how it originated?
"Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2019 occurs on Thursday, October 31. It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints; soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes, and eating sweet treats." read more on history.com or wikipedia
Besides the historical background and some of the fun, in our days, Halloween has become a real health and environmental concern. As a mom, I have witnessed and shared hours of conversations over the years with my friends about the fact that our kids would bring home those bags of candies that we would automatically take to the trash can or progressively make them disappear. That also meant long talks with my kids, usually with them in tears or angry, trying to show them that a one time costume at the price of uniforms for the whole year, unhealthy candies loaded with colorants and other chemicals, artificial sweeteners and infinite amounts of unnecessary packaging were totally unsustainable for our health and the health of our planet.
This year, as in each cycle in life, we are given another opportunity to review our traditions and actions and eventually make better choices.
Halloween can come with three substantial nightmares:
Unhealthy refined sugars
Unhealthy synergies of ingredients and chemicals
Impressive amounts of pollution
For more information and to guide you towards a positive cultural evolution, we invite you to read the articles from Dr. Amy Meyer "7 Candy Ingredients to Avoid this Halloween and 7 Safe Alternatives" and also "The Real Horror of Halloween? It's Totally Sugar! (Tips on How to Save Your Kids)" with great information on the detrimental effects of sugar on children by nutritionist Sara Peternell.
Written by Carol Jamault, Certified Health & Life Coach, Licensed Massage Therapist, and Yoga Nidra Instructor specialized in Ayurvedic bodywork and cooking. Carol has a background in graphic design with master in packaging/labels design. For questions or consultations contact here.