How to Have a Healthier Halloween

Recipe: How to Have a Healthier Halloween

If you are like many parents I know, you anxiously await the influx of sugary candy – and subsequent sugar highs — that come with an afternoon of trick or treating. The good news? Halloween doesn’t have to wreak havoc in your house. Below are some tips to help you navigate this “tricky” and challenging holiday.

Seven strategies for a healthier Halloween:

1. Make healthy, haunted treats at home. My favorites include “ghosts” made from cottage cheese and raisins; pumpkin, bat, and candy corn-shaped sandwiches (made with cookie cutters), peeled Clementine “pumpkins”, and “monster mouths” (made with apple slices, peanut butter, pumpkin seeds for teeth, and a sliced strawberry for the tongue).

2. Discuss expectations ahead of time. Whether you will allow your child 2, 3, or 4 pieces of candy, set your limits in advance and discuss it with your child before trick or treating begins – not “in the moment.”

3. Give out candy alternatives, like toys, pencils, crayons, or stickers. You can ask your children for their picks, which can be fun and empowering.

4. Fuel up before trick or treating. A small healthy dinner or protein-rich snack like yogurt is important, as it will help your child avoid candy cravings.

5. Fit in fitness while trick or treating. Walk with your child instead of driving and take the stairs instead of the elevator if you are trick or treating in buildings.

6. Limit trick or treat time. Have a plan, and stick to it. In addition to candy collecting, you can add a fun activity as part of the festivities, like decorating pumpkins or attending a local Halloween party.

7. Don’t forget to brush and floss. It’s especially important on Halloween, as sticky, sugary candy nourishes bacteria and bathes teeth with acids that cause cavities.

And lastly, be creative with the leftover Halloween candy. In our house, we set up a candy store. Anyone who stops by can “purchase” candy for small change, which my girls can then collect and use to buy something they desire. (In addition to limiting sugar, it’s a good way to reinforce math skills!) Or you can always invite the candy fairy for a visit – that is, as long as she brings a toy during the night.

Lisa Drayer, M.A., R.D.,
is the author of THE BEAUTY DIET and STRONG, SLIM, and 30! For more of Lisa’s Beauty Bites, visit www.lisadrayer.com.

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