Healthy Halloween Tips That Won’t Scare You

. . . plus, simple alternative non-toxic sweet treats to win kids over every time Halloween can be a special holiday for families. Carving pumpkins…making costumes…going to parties…trick-or-treating—even playing an occasional prank. But like most holidays, it’s an unwelcome opportunity to turn healthy eating on its head. Whether it’s tempting your sugar cravings…eating more than your body needs…or caving in to unreasonable expectations of the season and an undisciplined American mainstream, Halloween will test your resolve for making wise food choices for both you and your kids. But if you want to stay the course on living disease-free, it’s important to take a proactive approach to nutrition during these—or any other—holiday festivities. By failing to plan, you’re planning to fail The old adage applies quite well in this case. To help you increase your family’s chances of thriving—instead of just surviving—through the Halloween treat temptations, we’d like to offer some simple healthy Halloween tips to help you and your kids stay on-track with your healthy-eating goals.

• Host a Halloween party for your kids and their friends. This way, you can control activities and what’s on the menu. Plus, you begin to create greater participation in healthy eating habits.
• Eat a meal right before going out. This will discourage unlimited snacking on unhealthy foods during trick-or-treating or party activities.
• Set limits. After all, that is our role as parents. Our kids—even ourselves—need to know ahead of time what is acceptable, and how much is enough. Knowing these limits will help hold everyone accountable.
• Role-model appropriate food behavior. You know the old saying, “do as I say, not as I do”? Well, it’s garbage. If you want your kids to eat healthy, they need to see you eat healthy. It’s that simple.
• Offer a “trade-in” plan. When your kids get candy or other toxic food treats, let them know they can “trade up” for something better. Like a favorite toy, healthy treat, book, game, or other appropriate reward of their choosing.
• Monitor consumption. If you begrudgingly keep excess candy or other unhealthy snacks around to reward behavior, then store it out of sight. Only allow it to be eaten a little at a time. That will dampen the negative effects it has on the body. However, we stand by our strongest recommendation to find other, healthier ways to treat good behavior or performance.
• Better yet, throw excess treats in the garbage. Whether it’s candy, junk food, or unhealthy snacks, our best recommendation is…it’s better to “waste” them than to eat them.

Alternatives to “sweet” treats Of course, we recommend eating minimal processed foods with high sugar content. Whether it’s candy, soda, fruit drinks, breakfast cereals, baked goods or others, we’ve shown many times how the toxic effects of refined sugar creates disease once it enters the body. Not only does it rob the body of necessary nutrients, sugar provides no nutritional value of its own. What DO you get from sugar? Biological chaos in your body systems, harmful calories…and taste. Nothing good.  Instead, try these alternatives to the typical holiday sweet treats for healthy Halloween eating. Whether at a party or for trick-or-treaters, why not hand out home-made individually wrapped organic-only treats like:

• Dried fruits, or fresh fruits and vegetables
• Crackers—made from gluten-free whole-grains
• Popcorn—made only on the stove or in an air popper using organic popcorn, quality coconut or olive oil, and with a light sprinkle of sea salt (no butter!)
• Vegetable or fruit muffins—made with gluten-free flours or from whole grains or beans.

Additionally, it’s easy to promote alternative healthy Halloween habits. You can take steps to increase awareness about making good food choices by handing out holiday-themed non-food alternatives to candy or other sweet treats. Pencils, trading cards, stickers, temporary tattoos, crafts, books—you name it—moms and dads are becoming “cool” parents as these items evolve and gain popularity year after year. Even better, enlist your kids to help shop for or make at home healthy treats or crafts so they have some skin in the game and eagerly promote them alongside you. As always, when providing treats or snacks, do consider allergy concerns others may have for themselves or their children. And, don’t be afraid to share your recipes and ideas for healthy Halloween eating. Ultimately, the message for your kids and others is the long-term benefit of eating snacks and treats rich in minerals and nutrients, and absent of toxic chemicals or food substances…like sugar. We’re curious. What healthy Halloween tips do you have for our readers? Please share them in the comments section below. Sources:

https://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_center/healthy_eating/halloween_hints.html https://ryannutritionsolutions.blogspot.com/2012/10/halloween-nutrition-tips-simple-tricks.html https://blog.integrativenutrition.com/2010/10/don%E2%80%99t-be-scared-11-tips-for-a-healthy-halloween