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Is Giving Out Candy on Halloween Adding to the Obesity Problem?
NovusDies
Posts: 8,940 Member
in Debate Club
I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
11
Replies
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Someone wants their house toilet-papered.61
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give the kids some candy18
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The alternative to candy is toys, not soup or seaweed. Or turn off your light and don't participate.32
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I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
1) I wouldn't let my kid consume anything not in the original packaging until after I looked at it (unless I knew the people they got it from). Soup, given what could easily be put in it by a nutjob and be undetectable would probably be one of the first things dumped out.
2) Kids have been trick or treating for years before childhood obesity became a thing. If the child has a weight problem (and even if they don't), the parents need to be parents and tell the child beforehand they can keep x number of candy items. Give the rest away or pitch.
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I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
Ask and you shall receive
https://www.candystore.com/blog/facts-trivia/10-insane-japanese-snacks-will-haunt-nightmares/2 -
Fiber bars? Squid? Please. I vote for giving out kids apple cider vinegar on Halloween. It'll rot their teeth like candy, but at least it will reboot their metabolisms. Um, right?
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
1) I wouldn't let my kid consume anything not in the original packaging until after I looked at it (unless I knew the people they got it from). Soup, given what could easily be put in it by a nutjob and be undetectable would probably be one of the first things dumped out.
2) Kids have been trick or treating for years before childhood obesity became a thing. If the child has a weight problem (and even if they don't), the parents need to be parents and tell the child beforehand they can keep x number of candy items. Give the rest away or pitch.
So, cans of soup?8 -
My partner wanted to hand out miniature Crest toothpastes a few years back... I said "no!" We ended up handing out little packs of trail mix with M & M's (nuts/dried fruit/ M & Ms in each pack) as a way of encouraging a bit of "health" with the chocolate... I think we got them from Costco... we also hand out little toys.5
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I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
Honestly, it's really none of your business. It's the parent's job to police what their kids eat and teach them healthy eating habits. If the parent is doing his/er job, then (1) s/he'll ration the candy, and (2) keep the stash in a "special" place so the kids understand that they are not to binge candy (and monitor.
If you really feel uncomfortable with passing out "unhealthy" treats, you can try to hand out compromise treats: pretzels, trail mix, etc. (I once handed out Sun Chips). They'll be more expensive, but you have to decide if your conscious is worth the extra expense. Definitely do not hand out anything homemade. There are a bunch of psychos who will put all sorts of nefarious things in their homemade treats (razors, pins, DNA samples, etc.).
You can also choose not to participate. You can watch a movie in your bedroom that night. Just don't answer your door. Most neighborhoods have unwritten procedures for trick or treating. So you'll know how to avoid the trick or treaters without getting your house egged or TP'd.18 -
So when adults ask questions along the lines of, "Will my vacation/X holiday gathering with a lot of food make me gain Y amount of weight?" the general responses include allowing yourself a break, allowing yourself the meal, and recognizing whatever weight gain there may be will be a blip. Why not extend that to children as well?
Never mind the parents having the ability to police the how much candy their children have, how much Halloween candy a kid gets to eat not being your business, and Halloween candy predating widespread obesity concerns as mentioned above. If you want to make soup go ahead (I'd be curious to know what sort of water tight containers you'll be packaging it in), but don't expect that parents will let their kids consume it, or potentially allow their children to stop by your door next year.12 -
People have been celebrating Halloween for hundreds of years. Obesity is a newer problem.
I think you aren't contributing to the decay of society if you let kids have some fun for one night.7 -
No. What’s contributing to childhood obesity is the after Halloween candy, the thanksgiving candy, Christmas candy, valentine candy, Easter candy, Pick your day of the week candy, breakfast candy, after school candy, I ate one carrot so now I get candy candy. Or whatever junk you want to replace candy with. Catch my drift here?17
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I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
Totally ignoring the issue of how kids would respond to receiving something other than candy:
If parents won't let their kids eat unwrapped treats, home-wrapped bags of loose candy, or homemade treats like caramel apples, I sincerely doubt they'd let them consume cups of soup or home-smoked squid.
It also seems very inconvenient if everybody were to start handing out food that had to be eaten on the spot. How many houses would kids go to if everything they received needed to be consumed immediately? I imagine it would turn into alternating stops for food with tricks that could be dangerous or illegal.
All that said, I recall receiving the small snack size boxes of raisins, small coins, and (from the dentist in the neighborhood) toothbrushes, dental floss, and sugarless gum.2 -
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I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
Ask and you shall receive
https://www.candystore.com/blog/facts-trivia/10-insane-japanese-snacks-will-haunt-nightmares/
Those roasted baby craps are something I would have really wanted as a kid. Instead I just got candy.2 -
PS: Pretty sure the OP was being more than a bit tongue-in-cheek when he started this thread. It's called humour. Some of y'all need to find a sense of it. Maybe put it on your Christmas list this year?
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nutmegoreo wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
1) I wouldn't let my kid consume anything not in the original packaging until after I looked at it (unless I knew the people they got it from). Soup, given what could easily be put in it by a nutjob and be undetectable would probably be one of the first things dumped out.
2) Kids have been trick or treating for years before childhood obesity became a thing. If the child has a weight problem (and even if they don't), the parents need to be parents and tell the child beforehand they can keep x number of candy items. Give the rest away or pitch.
So, cans of soup?
Those are scary and pretty nasty overall.
3 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »I was just sitting here thinking about the probably 10k calories of candy the average kid might be taking home.
It is generally pretty cold does anyone make a pot of soup and give it out in cups?
What are other good alternatives? Seaweed snacks? They are green. Maybe fiber one bars? Or should a person focus on protein? I have a bunch of squid that I could smoke. That seems Halloween-ish.
Discuss.
1) I wouldn't let my kid consume anything not in the original packaging until after I looked at it (unless I knew the people they got it from). Soup, given what could easily be put in it by a nutjob and be undetectable would probably be one of the first things dumped out.
2) Kids have been trick or treating for years before childhood obesity became a thing. If the child has a weight problem (and even if they don't), the parents need to be parents and tell the child beforehand they can keep x number of candy items. Give the rest away or pitch.
Do you check all the food they get from a restaurant too? Maybe the scary nutjob poisoner works there and is not the person giving out delicious and comforting soup on Halloween. Why would you give a pass for people you know? Aren't the dangers always statistically higher from people you know?5 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »
No doubt. Where is the dressing?5 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »
No doubt. Where is the dressing?
No dressing, dude. Dressing has calories. <nods>6 -
My friends' kids all have severe food allergies, so I tend to give out colored pencil sets, Play-Doh, silly putty, full sized coloring books, crayons, rubber stamps, keen hole punches (stars, foot prints, snow flakes, etc) and sketch books.
Weirdly, the Play Doh is very popular with the teenagers. I totally didn't see that one coming.
- Oh, and the fidget spinners the one year were incredibly popular. *eye roll*5 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »
No doubt. Where is the dressing?
No dressing, dude. Dressing has calories. <nods>
A light vinegar dressing would add practically nothing. Plus the kid might want relief from all the sweetness they have to endure.2 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »
No doubt. Where is the dressing?
No dressing, dude. Dressing has calories. <nods>
A light vinegar dressing would add practically nothing. Plus the kid might want relief from all the sweetness they have to endure.
Make it apple cider vinegar and you have the virtue-signalling bingo.5 -
ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »My friends' kids all have severe food allergies, so I tend to give out colored pencil sets, Play-Doh, silly putty, full sized coloring books, crayons, rubber stamps, keen hole punches (stars, foot prints, snow flakes, etc) and sketch books.
Weirdly, the Play Doh is very popular with the teenagers. I totally didn't see that one coming.
Interesting. Last year we gave out glow sticks and other assorted cheap crap. I looked at the playdoh as an option but figured the older kids would scoff at it.
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snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »
No doubt. Where is the dressing?
No dressing, dude. Dressing has calories. <nods>
A light vinegar dressing would add practically nothing. Plus the kid might want relief from all the sweetness they have to endure.
Make it apple cider vinegar and you have the virtue-signalling bingo.
That would keep the costs down. Thanks.2 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »
No doubt. Where is the dressing?
No dressing, dude. Dressing has calories. <nods>
A light vinegar dressing would add practically nothing. Plus the kid might want relief from all the sweetness they have to endure.
Make it apple cider vinegar and you have the virtue-signalling bingo.
That would keep the costs down. Thanks.
The one with "the mother" is a bit more pricey, but likely still doable. And the payback in self-righteousness would be so worth it. 5 -
I grew up in the 70s and early 80s...and rarely was there a fat kid. We played outside every chance we got. We ate at the dinner table with family and had home cooked meals. Seeing a fat kid now is sadly not rare at all. I used to eat all my candy from halloween...got sick to stomach a few times but never got fat.8
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When I was a kid, we used to get tons of fruit, especially apples and oranges.
Hated it because a) it was fruit, not candy and b) it took up waaaaay too much room in the bag and make it heavy as hell. Thankfully, the pins and razor blades thing put an end to that nonsense by the time my daughter was trick-or-treating.
There was one house that gave out full sized-chocolate bars every year. They were the best house on the block. Until they moved. I think the new owners got their house egged that first year.
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@NovusDies Yeah... I had the $.56 full sized cans and ran out early on. It was completely unexpected.
This year, I have a case of glue and tiny packs of borax/glitter.
SLIME KITS.
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ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »My friends' kids all have severe food allergies, so I tend to give out colored pencil sets, Play-Doh, silly putty, full sized coloring books, crayons, rubber stamps, keen hole punches (stars, foot prints, snow flakes, etc) and sketch books.
Weirdly, the Play Doh is very popular with the teenagers. I totally didn't see that one coming.
- Oh, and the fidget spinners the one year were incredibly popular. *eye roll*
I just had late 90s kid nostalgia. I would’ve been so happy seeing that in my bag.
3
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