And for what? To help the visiting ghosts and goblins (and ourselves and our own kids) experience more of sugar's spooky fallout: obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, accelerated aging, and a host of other health concerns.

It's not your fault. Marketing of sugary products is very intentional and very slick. In fact, the food industry spends millions upon millions of dollars each year to advertise products loaded with sugar to a population that just can't seem to get enough.

In a perfect world, I would advise you to forget about eating sugar and just stick with healthy foods. That's still the best policy to follow most of the time. But it's not always practical ? or realistic. Especially on holidays such as Halloween, when you don't want to disappoint those trick-or-treaters? or your own children.

So, maybe it's time to start a new tradition.

I have a simple solution for your neighborhood candy seekers. And for your own family? Perhaps it's a good time ? right now ? to make a positive change in your family's life.

A 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association showed that children get 20% of their daily calories from sugar. Kids consume an average 29 teaspoons of added refined sugar ? each day. Every year, teenagers eat 93 pounds of refined sugar on average. And I'm afraid this amount has only continued to grow since these figures were researched.

So, please, for your family's sake: don't make every day Halloween. Don't make every day a sugar-filled day.

But consider starting a new tradition. Instead of overindulging your children (and yourself), and creating negative habits and patterns that could lead to health and emotional issues, start limiting their sugar consumption.

And please don't do it by switching to treats artificially sweetened with Splenda? or Nutrasweet?. They're even worse than eating sugar! I feel so strongly about their hazards that I've written an entire book about them.

Instead of allowing your kids and even yourself to load up on candy bars, hard candy or other sweets, encourage healthier food choices, such asa piece of fruit (unless you have blood sugar concerns). Exercise more ? and get your children active, too.

And when you want to snack, snack smart!

You don't need candy bars any longer, because I've developed a bar that is filling, nutritious and delicious!

Since their introduction, our new CocoaCassava? Bars have become one of the most popular products offered on Mercola.com ? and for many good reasons. For starters, CocoaCassava? Bars are loaded with a smart balance of healthy protein, fats and fiber that truly promotes optimal health.

My team and I researched the ?bar? market for quite a few years, but I was never totally satisfied with any of the bars out there. So I decided to take the road less traveled ? and formulate my own bar.

I brought in one of the world's top biochemists. We wisely invested many dollars on research in developing a product that is a nutritional powerhouse!

To learn more about our new CocoaCassava? Bars, check out:

Have a Happy and Healthy Halloween!