Soundbites: Pre-empting Halloween candy meltdowns

With a little planning, UW Medicine nutritionist Judy Simon says, parents can avoid potential sugar-fueled meltdowns on Halloween.

Conversations with young children can emphasize the fun of dressing up in costume and seeing neighbors rather than the volume of candy collected, she says.  It also helps to set kids’ expectations about how much candy they can consume on Halloween night and in the days thereafter.

“There isn’t one strategy for every family,” Simon said. With her own kids, she let them have their fill of candy and “by the third day, they kind of stopped eating it. You can only eat so much sugar and it doesn’t feel that good.”