Trick-or-Treat with diabetes

Today is Halloween, and many little ghosts and goblins will be out collecting treats from their neighbours. Most of those treats will be candy. Sure, some people give out toothbrushes or raisins or apples, but the vast majority of little Junior's haul will be full of sugar.

What does that mean if Junior has diabetes?

These days most diabetics and parents of diabetics know about carb-counting and carbohydrate-to-insulin ratios. They can calculate how much candy is "safe" to eat and how much insulin to take to compensate for it. This was not the case when I was a young diabetic. Remember, this was the 1970s.

When I was a kid, sugar and candy were big no-nos for diabetics. Diabetic-friendly candy was not nearly as popular as it is today, and even if it had been, none of the people whose houses I went to would have known about my diabetes. We were still on what was called the "food exchange" system (where a slice of bread equalled "one bread exchange") and candy and chocolate didn't fit into that system.

However, I still dressed up in costume, and I still went Trick-or-Treating. I collected my fair share of candy. But I couldn't eat it. My mother would go through my goodie bag and take out the raisins and apples that I could eat, but the rest was stored away in a cupboard.

I did have an older brother and sister. And while I was young enough to go Trick-or-Treating, they -- older than I by seven years and five years -- were not, once I hit about eight years old. This did not, of course, stop them wanting candy.

My parents and I hit on an idea. It was still my candy, even if I couldn't eat it. So I sold it. My brother and sister would give me a quarter for each fun-size chocolate bar or other goodie they wanted, and I used the money to buy myself some sugar-free candy, or even a non-food treat such as a comic book.

Not only did this solve the problem of how to accomodate my diabetes, but it probably also made my dentist happy!