Lil Sweetie
- Oct 24, 2019

How To Have A Gourd Time On Halloween

Halloween is more than just a bunch of Hocus Pocus!

Halloween can be a great time to practice balance and mindfulness when it comes to nutrition. Halloween is the official kick-off to the holiday season and the delicious foods are not going to disappear like a ghost anytime soon.

Have a gourd time on Halloween with these family-friendly tips for keeping you and the entire family extra healthy this year!

Wait To Buy Halloween Candy

Purchase your Halloween candy the day of Halloween to avoid eating it before the trick or treaters stop by. Buy less candy to avoid leftovers, and buy candy that you really don't like so you are less likely to indulge. If you really have a hard time resisting candy, pass out non-candy items like bouncy balls, pencils, stickers, etc...

Eat A Healthy Meal Before You Trick Or Treat

Have a nice healthy meal before all the festivities start. You and the kiddos will be less tempted to eat candy while trick or treating. Make sure you discuss with the family and come to an agreement on how much and when they can start eating candy. Maybe it's a good time to do this for you too!

Stay Active

Walk to each house instead of driving. Take a longer route around the neighborhood to enjoy all of the decorated houses and friends. Have a goal of how many houses or streets you want to hit. Take a bottle of water and wear comfortable shoes (even if they don't match the costume). Compete in teams to go to as many houses as possible.

Keep It In Perspective

Halloween is part of the American culture right? It's only one night so let your family enjoy a few rules and you'll be back to your healthy routine in no time.

Practice Portion Control

Set boundaries on how much candy can be eaten each day/week or month. Try to consume the lower-calorie candy options and choose the fun-size options to reduce sugar and calories per serving. Dark chocolate is a healthier option too! Keep the leftovers out of reach. Out of sight out of mind. Freeze smaller portions of candy or get rid of it altogether. It's okay to throw out your leftover candy, better yet, bring it into work, save some for Christmas or that upcoming birthday party.

Give your kids a smaller trick or treat bag and put all of the leftover candy in a smaller container. Encourage kiddos to take only one piece of candy from each house they can visit more houses! When your kid asks for candy let them pick one piece and pair it with a healthy snack.

Avoid High-Calorie Candy

It only takes 100 calories a day more than what you need to lead to 10 pounds of weight gain at the end of the year. Now that's really SCARY! Opt-out of the really high-calorie candy options and only get the small sizes. The highest calorie candies are Reese Peanut Butter Cups (110 calories per ONE fun-size cup), Peanut M&M's (90 calories per one fun-size bag) and Butterfingers (85 calories per on snack-size bar).

Be That House

Avoid Halloween and go to the movies instead. Pass out 1 piece of candy per kid that comes to your house. Or better yet, don't pass out candy, start a new tradition.

Healthy Treats:

Clementines/Oranges

Juice Boxes

Pretzels/popcorn/graham crackers/dried fruit/trail mix/nuts

Fruit strips/leathers

Mandarin oranges

sugar-free gum

Non-Edible Items:

Glow sticks

Bouncy balls

Wind up toys

Stickers/stamps