Maybe it’s just me but it appears that in the past years, most of our holidays have turned into candy holidays. It used to be that Halloween, Easter and a Valentine’s Day box of chocolates were the holidays that we often celebrated by relishing in a chocolate candy heart or a caramel-filled egg. Not only have these three traditional candy holidays turned full throttle in their assortment of every kind of candy on the market wrapped up in festive packaging, but Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Fourth of July have also joined the bandwagon. I don’t remember eating red, white and blue Blow-Pops growing up, but come mid-June, they are a ubiquitous item in candy aisles with kids (and even adults) sucking on them as they fire up the barbecue.
Don’t get me wrong, I am about as happy as a kid in a candy store when I’m in a candy store, but I think our preoccupation with and overindulgence in sugar is something to look at as we read the daily health headlines that provide ongoing evidence of the increasing waistline in this country’s childhood and adult populations.
