The spooky season is here, which means Squid Game costumes, and a lot of sugar and sweets. Unfortunately, for the 460 million people currently living with diabetes, Halloween can often be more scary than fun, especially because they’re trying even harder to keep their blood sugars in check.
Thankfully, people with diabetes can still enjoy the spooky season, as well as protect their health.
Celebrating Halloween with Diabetes
Plan ahead
If they’re interested in sweets and not dressing up, then this can be the perfect time to break down the importance of diabetes management.
Time your treats
If you, or your child, are planning to go trick-or-treating, then it’s best that you only eat the sweets after you’ve had a balanced meal. Doing so will help to prevent large sugar spikes.
Watch your portions
Another important aspect of diabetes management is portion control, which means that neither you or your child can indulge in your entire trick-or-treat loot. As such, it’s important that you set a rule for how many pieces of candy can be eaten on a day.
Photo by Daisy Anderson from Pexels
Read the labels
Dextrose. Fructose. Lactose. Glucose. Fruit juice. These are just a few of the different ways that food manufacturers let you know that they’ve filled their products with sugar.
So before you get lost in that Halloween candy, be sure to read the labels.
Look out for diabetes-friendly candy
Yes, there are some diabetes-friendly candy options, but it’s important to keep a look out because while these candies may be sugar-free, they could also be high in fat and calories so be sure to read the labels.
Extra blood sugar checks
You may follow our guide and conclude that you’ve got your blood sugar levels managed, but you can never be too sure.
As such, don’t shy away from doing extra blood glucose checks so that you can better see how those spooky treats are affecting you.
Spread the sugar
You don’t have to stock up on all that candy. In fact, you can donate the extra candy to a variety of different community groups. This is a great way to encourage your child to give back.
Photo by Daisy Anderson from Pexels
Want to know more?
Sugar is everywhere, and sadly it’s been found to shorten your life expectancy by several years. Maybe, it’s time to take a step back and maybe re-evaluate our feelings on sugar and enjoy the anti-aging benefits of quitting sugar?
