A Healthier Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner. It’s the beginning of candy season and it can be a frustrating period for parents to encourage kids to consume nutritious foods and make sweets a limited part of a balanced and healthy diet. On one hand, you want to let kids indulge and be taken with the holiday but on the other, you don’t want to confuse kids with mixed nutrition messages.

One of my favorite celebrated holidays is Halloween and it should certainly be about having fun, but there are lots of enjoyable, healthy snacks parents can give away instead of candy. Festive pretzels, fruit chews, crispy rice treats, diet candies and sugarless gums in the Halloween aisle are better options than the traditional candies. Other kid-approved favorites include cocoa mix, air-popped popcorn, string cheese and my favorite: clementine decorated as Jack-o’-lanterns!

Going door-to-door can work up a real thirst. Offer trick-or-treaters water or low-fat chocolate milk or even homemade lemonade or orange juice instead of sugary beverages that contain empty calories. Remember to always offer fun-size or snack-size versions of goodies and treats in order to decrease the calories, fat and sugar content. Kids get a sugar fix without over-doing it.

As a child, I remember the joyous experience of getting non-candy giveaways! Items like crayons, pencils, stickers, glow-in-the-dark bracelets and even small amounts of money are constantly kid favorites. 

This year make sure to enjoy your boo-tiful holiday with a guilt-free ambiance; a healthier Halloween is achievable as long as we keep on choosing healthier spooktacular candy-free alternatives.