HAPPY HALLOWEEN: YOU CANNOT EAT CANDY….YOU HAVE DIABETES!!!!!

I have a good friend of mine.  Let’s call her Marie.  Actually that’s her name.

Marie had this idea for an event to do in her home town in Connecticut.   There is this incredible candy store in Ridgefield called Deborah Ann’s Chocolates.  Many would call it a landmark in the community.  The candy there is some of the finest and best tasting you will ever have in your life.

Marie’s idea was to run a fund-raiser for the Diabetes Research Institute out of the candy store, but more than that, it was an opportunity to teach.  A sweepstakes with the grand prize being an incredible basket of candy……really?  Candy….diabetes?  How in heaven’s name could such an idea ever be possible?

Years ago I was in an office and there was candy in a dish on the receptionist’s desk.  Someone came in from a neighboring office and noticed the candy.  She came into my office and stated she was horrified that we would have candy in a dish.  “How could we?”
I smiled at her and responded, “You do not have anyone in your family with diabetes, do you?”  When she answered that she didn’t, I explained to her just how much candy is needed for hypoglycemic reactions and also that, quite honestly, cardboard just doesn’t taste so good after a while.

Marie’s idea was to utilize the candy store as a teachable moment.  She had flyers by the register explaining exactly what the event was all about and why a person with diabetes eating candy is really not the same as a person with lung cancer smoking a cigarette.  It was a fabulous idea but coming from Marie, these type ideas are not uncommon.  A mom who truly gets it.

So with Halloween just a week away, be ready for the questions about candy.  Be ready to say thank you to the neighbors who will tell you, “I have fun stickers for Kaitlyn, because I did not want to give her candy.”  Bless their hearts for caring so much.

There will be a time to teach others about what candy means to those with diabetes…….and that lesson when done correctly will always be sweet. 

I am a diabetesdad.