If there is any group that could take the fun out of Halloween, it's chiropractors.*
Just when you thought that chiropractors focus on back pain, think again! Didn't you know that their degree makes them experts on everything - even nutrition AND vaccinations?!?!
Just check out the Halloween tips from the "Lakeland Chiropratic" office in Michigan. Then in bullet points are the evidence-based reality.
- Keeping your kids safe from the sugar goblins is no easy task!
- I want to let you in on a little secret - the scare over the amount of sugar in a few pieces of Halloween candy is, like goblins, not real.
- Discuss the dangers of sugar with your children openly and in a light way. Don’t come across as a Halloween “scrooge” but tell the story of sugar and the detriments it has on their body.
- You should sit your kids down right before you go out trick or treating to do this. I'm sure that they will not mind postponing the most fun night of the year and will listen intently, gathered around the fireplace, to hear the story of sugar.
- Discuss chemicals in food such as food dyes and colors and how these have shown in research to have negative affects on brains.
- Before you have that discussion, make sure that you have scientifically sound, peer reviewed articles on this topic. If you do, you will see that there is no data that supports the hypothesis that food dyes and colors have a neurological effect.
- Also, discuss the favorite experiment with plants that involves feeding one plant plain water and the other plant food dyed water. The plant fed the food coloring turns that color! Would our bodies really be any different on the inside??
- Yes - our bodies are very different from plants on the inside and outside.
- Plan a protein/veggie dinner - Dark greens are rich in Vitamin C, while carrots are rich in Vitamin A (A and C are best for warding off the FLU virus and are more effective than a Flu shot!)
- This is ridiculous. Nothing is more effective than a flu shot at preventing an infection with influenza. Vitamins do not produce antibodies to the virus which is what prevents flu infection.
- Eat dinner before trick or treating begins. Enjoy trick or treating. Discuss waiting to eat the treats until after Mom and Dad have checked out all of the candy (inspect for wrapper tampering etc).
- Yes - it would be totally ridiculous to allow your child to eat one out of the dozens of pieces of candy in their bag. Don't worry - your kids will not only totally understand but be willing to wait until you get home with patience. This waiting for hours will also help them "enjoy trick or treating."
- Once home, sort the candy into piles. Discuss how even though it’s fun to receive candy, Halloween is more about the excitement of seek and find and about the generosity of our neighbors than it is about the over indulgence of sugar.
- Ask 100 kids what Halloween is about and 100 will say getting candy. That's it. That is because that is what Halloween is about. And dressing up in costumes. But, certainly NOT 'seek and find' - whatever that is.
- Do a simple muscle test to see which candy “stresses the body” and which seems “ok in moderation”.
- Because I don't know how to do a muscle test, I looked it up and am even further confused. I read that it is for "testing energetic reactions to substances; to test for polarity reversal, which is important in doing Emotional Freedom Techniques." Another idea is to open the candy bar and eat it.
In conclusion - this advice from a chiropractor wants to make sure that you take all of the fun out of what is an otherwise innocent and harmless holiday.
But, even if you listen to your chiropractor about restricting sugar and doing muscle tests (whatever those are) please let it stop there and, please - for God's sake - get a flu shot.
* NOTE:
Let's include naturopaths for good measure.
