Halloween Candy Trade in to Manage Diabetes

At the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore kids traded in their Halloween candy for toys.

HEALTH - Bronx trick or treaters donned their capes, cowls and costumes once again the day after Halloween to trade in their candy for toys in an effort to stay healthy and fight off diabetes. 

The trick or treaters went to Montefiore Children’s Hospital to celebrate the annual candy trade in designed to prevent children from developing diabetes and to draw attention to the deadly affects of the disease which is prevalent in the Bronx.

Halloween is a time for costumes and candy consumption. In fact, on average, trick or treaters eat three cups of sugar during the festivities. This is not healthy for anyone, but especially not for children with diabetes, who want to enjoy the fun but not the sugar overload. 

To help with this, providers in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore coordinated a special Halloween Candy Exchange where children with diabetes put their costumes back on and brought the candy they collected with their friends to the hospital and exchanged it for a toy or gift card. The children also gathered educational materials, enjoyed arts and crafts, a photo booth and healthy snacks.

 

The specialists at CHAM want children with diabetes to enjoy Halloween with their peers, so they created this event to allow kids to go trick-or-treating and then hand over the sugary, sticky stash in exchange for a healthier treat. The educational aspects of the event teach the children how to be healthy and manage their condition year-round.