Written by Dr. Sandra Miranda, ND

It is Halloween season and everyone is decorating their homes with ghosts and zombies and spider webs. I personally thought of decorating with candies, candy bars and cookies….why, because sugar is scarier than ghosts!

The sugar count on candy bars and spooky treats is frightening too. Did you know that the average amount of sugar consumed during this season is equivalent to 3 cups per day.

But trying to avoid them completely is not the answer either, let’s face it, the more we deprive ourselves of something the more our cravings increase.  Instead, try to keep a check on your portions and also make sure that you are only treating yourself the night of Halloween and not the full week!

It is recommended to keep to 10 g of sugar only that night in order to avoid a major blood sugar spike and then a crash.  But what does 10 g of sugar look like?

Here are some examples (note that all of these examples refer to the small fun size or Halloween size bars:

• 1 fun size Snickers
• 1 fun size package of Peanut M&Ms
• 6 pieces of Candy Corn
• 2 Twizzlers
• 2/3 cup of caramel corn
• 6 gummy bears

Another great option is to just have a fruit like clementines or an apple.  Have you ever tried dehydrating your apples, mangoes or pears – you can make a delicious sweet chewy snack with no processed sugar at all!  I personally don’t have a dehydrator but I use my Air Fryer.  It is a tasty and easy idea.

Do you have any other ideas?