{"id":51045,"date":"2019-10-27T09:02:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T13:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=51045"},"modified":"2019-10-27T09:02:56","modified_gmt":"2019-10-27T13:02:56","slug":"halloween-is-a-sugary-nightmare-the-switch-witch-can-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=51045","title":{"rendered":"Halloween is a Sugary Nightmare, The Switch Witch Can Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you concerned with how much sugar your kids take home on Halloween? Lara Riley was, even before<\/em> her daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.<\/p>\n

The average trick or treater on Halloween eats about 3 cups of sugar \u2013 equivalent to 220 sugar packets<\/a>, an outrageously unhealthy amount by any standard. Lara told me, \u201cIt\u2019s like poison, that much, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

But how do you limit your kids\u2019 candy intake without causing a battle or making them feel left out? Consider Lara\u2019s product, the \u201cOriginal Switch Witch.\u201d<\/a> The Switch Witch is a doll that perches in the home every October, much in the style of the \u201cElf on the Shelf.\u201d It\u2019s up to parents to set the rules and to develop the family mythology around her appearance. On Halloween night, children leave some or all of their candy as an offering to the witch, who will disappear with the sweets, switching them out for a toy or some other gift. The kiddos get a present, and the parents get to secret away all that sugar.<\/p>\n

The idea of a Switch Witch has been around for years, long before it was associated with any one product. Lara first heard about it from another parent, her brother-in-law and eventual business partner Rob Bouley. What does Rob do for a living? He sells ice cream. When even the ice cream man is concerned about excess sugar, you know there\u2019s a real problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband\u2019s brother-in-law called me about five years ago, a couple of days after Halloween, and asked me if I knew what a Switch Witch was. Because he owns an ice cream stand, I was thinking about Chipwiches<\/a>. That was the funny way that this whole thing started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob\u2019s teenage sons were the first in the family to come across the idea. They were too old to believe in a magical witch, of course. For them it was pure bribery or quid pro quo<\/em>: we\u2019ll give up our candy if dad gives us the gifts that we want.<\/p>\n

Rob heartily agreed, and loved the deal so much that he stayed up all night thinking about how to bring it to other parents. Soon he brought Lara on board to flesh out the creative elements of the new business. The two collaborated on the adorable plush witch and her black cauldron, and an illustrated storybook introducing the new holiday tradition to families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was six months later that my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Really kinda bizarre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly the project had special resonance for Lara and her family. Three cups of pure white sugar in the belly of a healthy child is one thing. For a child with Type 1 diabetes it\u2019s quite another, a glucose management nightmare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been pushback from the diabetes community, which I get, the idea that \u2018my kid can eat anything that any other kid can eat if I give him insulin for it.\u2019 Anybody who is living with a Type 1 child knows that yes, you can cover the sugar with insulin. But Halloween does not work the same as covering an apple. The huge spike that you\u2019re gonna get from 100 grams of just straight sugar, it takes forever to bring back down, and the high does not feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s putting it mildly, and doesn\u2019t even begin to address the long-term damage caused by extreme high blood sugar excursions, or the very real danger of hypoglycemia that necessarily attends the use of so much rapid insulin. Halloween has to be recognized as a very real hazard for the child with diabetes, and a potential source of immense family stress.<\/p>\n

Lara is no low-carb evangelist. Her daughter eats a fairly regular diet. For her, limiting Halloween\u2019s sugary gluttony<\/a> is just common sense.<\/p>\n

The Original Switch Witch has been embraced by more than just those concerned with excessive sugar intake. There are many other reasons that parents may want to restrict certain candies on Halloween: celiac disease, peanut and other allergies, dairy intolerance, vegan philosophies, and so on.<\/p>\n

Lara hopes that the Switch Witch gives these children a way to feel less deprived: \u201cEspecially for really young children, it\u2019s just one less thing to feel sad about. They can feel like, \u2018Well it\u2019s OK that I can\u2019t eat all of those, because those are the ones I\u2019ll give my Switch Witch, and she\u2019ll turn them into something that I can enjoy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Original Switch Witch partners with JDRF: this year, a special Amazon promo code will knock a few bucks off your order and donate it to JDRF<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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