Halloween is just around the corner!
Wherever you are on Halloween and allowing toxins or not allowing toxins, that's okay, this is your journey. Even just choosing a little bit better is good for you. It's good for the environment, it's good for your health, all the things. I just wanted to share some tips that we’re trying this year to have a happy and healthy Halloween.
First, let's talk about candy. Honestly, I let my kids have regular candy on Halloween. Now I do feel a little bit guilty. But then I remind myself that this is just one day. And although they eat it for multiple days, honestly, they've done a pretty good job of self regulating and getting to that stage where they understand that they may not feel good because they're putting bad stuff into their bodies. There are some really pretty crummy ingredients in candy in general
Sugar (obviously)
MSG
Partially hydrogenated oils
Gluten
Dairy
Preservatives
Artificial colors and flavors
There's a few that you should really pay attention to when choosing what candy you’re going to fill your trick or treat bowl with.
Titanium dioxide- You're gonna find that in Skittles, Starburst, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, gummies, those sorts of things. The reason why titanium dioxide is not good is because it can accumulate in the body and lead to DNA damage and hormone disruption. Not good. And while it hasn't yet been outlawed in the European Union, the European Food Safety Authority did recently say that it's unsafe for consumption. I know my family really loves gummy candy, me included, but now that I know more about titanium dioxide, I’m going to really limit it or maybe even avoid those favorite candies completely.
TBHQ- You will find this in Reese's, Pop Tarts, Cheez Its, and a lot of other processed foods. The reason it's not so great is because it can harm the immune system. It also raises the risk for food allergies.
BHT- Rice Krispies Treats, Blow Pops and many other processed foods contain BHT. Studies have shown that it can cause cancer in animals, and that it also may act as an endocrine disruptor.
If you want to stock some healthier options for trick or treaters, try brands like Unreal, Smart Sweets by Wholesome Provisions, Justin's, Ocho Candy, and Yum Earth. I've seen these brands popping up in more popular places including Target which is great. I love that we're seeing more healthier options, even in everyday stores.
Now let's talk about makeup. Regular everyday makeup ingredients you should avoid Of course are:
Phthalates
Fragrance
Talc
Parabens
Artificial colors like lake dyes.
I talk about those all the time on this podcast and why I have found my favorite toxin- free skincare and makeup line.
Now all of those are listed on an ingredient label and we know to avoid them. But with Halloween makeup especially, there are some other ingredients that might be lurking in the products that actually aren't on the ingredient label and that's because they are contaminants. They contaminate the ingredients that are in the product. I talked a lot about this in Episode 51. What we have to worry about here is that the ingredients used in the makeup are contaminated with lead, cadmium, arsenic, all pretty awful things.
The best thing to do with Halloween makeup is that you just don't buy it! Take your toxin free makeup and you make it work for your Halloween purpose. You just have to get creative and isn’t that part of the fun of Halloween?
You can use an eyeshadow and mix some primer with it to make it more of a cream
Use an eyeliner or a brow liner to add wrinkles to make someone look older.
There are so many tricks to using every day, toxin-free makeup, instead of buying Halloween makeup at the Halloween store. Who knows what's in that. Not to mention, it's super wasteful, because it's just a one time use.
So much waste is scary!
Halloween can be a really big source of waste just for one day in our calendar year.
I've been seeing on Instagram and Tik Tok, people are making Halloween decorations. I saw one where they were adding ping pong balls, that they had made to look like eyeballs, to a Styrofoam wreath. All the materials were bought new and it's just a lot of waste. There's so many ways to decorate where you don't have to buy Styrofoam, or buy some sort of plastic baggie thingy that turns into a ghost or a cat, or a pumpkin.
For example, I did a craft night with my girlfriend the other night. This is my minimalistic, very eco-friendly friend. She organized it and she had all these sheets that she wasn't using anymore. We took her old sheets, and we cut them up and we created ghosts with them. They turned out really cute! Some friends of mine have them hanging in their trees outside of their house. Everything that we used that day was completely reused. We didn't have to buy anything.
Costumes can be another source of waste. Shop used for costumes, ask friends to borrow them or look for Halloween costume exchanges in Facebook groups. You also can just take regular clothes you have in your closet and create a costume from them. There's tons of ideas on the internet for that. Let's be honest, repurposing is just so much better. It's also less frustrating than going to the Halloween store in my opinion. So I have a costume. I'm not going to share what it is because I keep it a secret until Halloween. But I'm pretty sure I have a dress in my closet that I can add a few things to to make it look like this character that I'm going to be for Halloween.
The last thing to think about with being eco-friendly for Halloween is all the packaging. Of course Halloween candy has to be packaged for trick or treaters, but maybe you can choose a candy that's wrapped in foil or wrapped in paper. Another great idea is to buy it in the bulk section of the grocery store so that it doesn't have that outer plastic bag around it as well. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but imagine if every household in the US eliminated that one outer plastic packaging, how much waste that would save.
I would love to see your decorations, costumes or any ways you took steps to be healthier and eco-friendly this Halloween. Tag me in your post on Instagram @themeganmikkelsen or join our Facebook community Toxin-Free Talk.
Have a Happy Halloween!
