Halloween Carbs

 

It's here... the time of year when extra candy and sweet treats find their way into our diabetic homes.

I know that some d-families don't do Trick or Treating, or some do but then trade the candy in for a toy or something else the child enjoys.    Here at the Sugar Shark house, we usually go Trick or Treating several times each year-- at the school festival, in our neighborhood, at my work (nursing home), and sometimes also in my parents' neighborhood.   None of those events lasts long, but that still adds up to a LOT of candy!

So what do we do with all of that candy?  We allow Rosie to have a piece or two for dessert after meals, and we save the pure sugar stuff (Pixy Stix, gummy candies, etc) for treating lows.  All of three of her monitor cases, her school backpack, and our cars will get a fresh stash of sugary treats for on-the-go lows.   Rosie and her brother swap favorites, and we bag up part of their loot to send to the guys at my husband's work-- they'll eat anything, LOL! 


I have a couple of sites bookmarked that make the candy carb counting easier.  We print these lists ahead of time so we're ready for a quick treat when the kids return from a Halloween event.  These lists have the most common candies:

• The American Diabetes Association's Halloween Candy List
• JDRF's Candy Carb Counts list   (this one is short)
• Children With Diabetes Halloween Candy List

Anything that's not on those lists involves some SWAG bolusing or a quick internet search to see if we can come up with the carb count. 

Halloween, d-style... it works for us!