Healthier Halloween... tricks to avoid too many treats!

Halloween is great!  You get to dress up, attend festive parties, and can be loads of fun, but it is also a time when we can go overboard on treating ourselves with those cute mini candies that seem innocent and small, but who eats just one?

Halloween doesn't have to = eating loads of candy. There are plenty of other ways to enjoy the holiday without over indulging in sweets - think pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples, haunted houses, and costume parties with healthy fall foods!

Nobody really wants to be the one who ends up sneaking candy from their kids loot, eating 10-20 mini candies at a time for an afternoon pick me up, and left feeling sluggish, overweight, tired and craving more sugar.

This season I have a few suggestions to keep you happy, healthy and feeling good.

Candy, Candy, Candy....

• If you are going to hand out candy, buy something that you don't particularly like. For me, being a chocolate lover, I would be less likely to dig into the candy bowl if it was filled with things like skittles, or smarties (although once upon a time I did love those).

• Even better hand out something besides candy. I personally feel awful about contributing to kids eating mass amounts of junk candy, so I like to pick things as an alternative to hand out, and I am NOT talking boxes of raisins becasue nobody like getting that. I am talking about fun stickers, temporary tattoos, or glow sticks - those are all fun non-food items that kids actually like. For upgraded treats try organic lollipops (made w/o HFCS and artificial colors/ flavors) - Yummy Earth has a selection of "better" candy.

• A little sweet treat can be great, don't deny yourself totally - buy a dark organic chocolate bar for your private stash. When you have a better version to chose from you can enjoy a sweet treat, and it will be easier to pass on the mini snickers bars.

Trick-or-treat...

No one likes to be the parent that says "no"to trick-or-treating fun, but kids don't have to suffer from sugar shock.

• Before going out to knock on doors make sure your whole family fills up on a nutritious balanced dinner. Once bellies are filled with good food there is and less room or desire to eat too much candy while you are out.

• When you come home, allow kiddos to pick a 3-5 pieces to enjoy that night, and then put the rest away. You can then either allow a certain number each day, OR

• Have you heard of the pumpkin fairy who comes and collects candy on Halloween night and in exchange for all the candy leaves  a cool toy behind? Kind of like the tooth fairy and works great with younger kids.  For bigger kids that won't buy the pumpkin fairy... they will probably be happy to trade in candy for some cash, so buy it off them! Here is where you have to make sure you give or throw away the candy... don't take away from the kids to only to eat it all yourself

.

Happy Halloween! Do you have any healthy suggestions to share?

One step at a time

I have been feeling totally overwhelmed with cleaning lately. Have you ever been lacking motivation, feeling overwhelmed, and not knowing where to start? Well, that has been me for the last week and each day I kept getting more frustrated as I looked around and saw everything that needed to be cleaned, organized, or put away. With life feeling a little cluttered and me feeling a bit stressed I observed that my eating habits were not the best, and I was not feeling inspired to make much of anything for dinner.

What can you do when you feel stuck in a rut?

The only way that ends up working for me is to start small, tackle one thing at a time,  and then before you know it I am vacuuming, cleaning the sink, organizing paperwork, clearing off my dining room table (which often ends up being the dumping ground for lots of papers and mail), and inspired to make an easy fall supper that the whole family enjoyed.

I have been reminded of a few things through this process.

1.  When you want to make a big change, remember the steps it takes to get there. For me wanting to have a clean home I needed to start small... organize my junk drawer and shoe rack one day, do laundry another day etc... Each time I felt accomplished and motivated enough to complete a small task, and ready to do a little more the next day.

2. When we feel overwhelmed, and our home environment feels cluttered or not organized then it has a huge impact on the foods that we chose to eat. If our life feels chaotic, chances are we might not be making the healthiest food choices which in return leaves us feeling more run down and unmotivated.

3. It's all connected! When one thing is lacking it can effect other aspects of our lives for sure.

So.... if you are feeling overwhelmed with cleaning, cooking meals, eating healthy or making time to exercise, remember to start small, build your confidence and your motivation and before you know it, things fall right into place and it all becomes easier and more manageable and almost effortless like a waterfall flowing down the mountainside.

Is there something that might be overwhelming you? What small step can you take to start tackling your goal and get things flowing the right way again.

Be Well,
Courtney

Healthy cookies? Is there such a thing?

I don't think I would say cookies are healthy, but it is certainly possible to make them healthier, and I discovered a pretty good version when my 4yr old came running home from playing at the neighbors, pleading with me to make cookies.  His friend next door was making a batch at his house, and of course he wanted to do it too.
I agreed, and decided it would be a fun challenge to see what kind of healthier cookie we could come up with quickly, using only ingredients which we had on hand.
I am not a baker, but knew I needed flour, oil, eggs (or something to hold them together),  some sort of sweetener, and of course something yummy for flavor.
Turns out that we ended up with a great cookie that my son and husband both liked, and I of course felt great because they were packed with whole grains and had no white sugar.

Win, Win!

So here is the recipe:

Whole Grain (Chocolate, Banana, Coconut, Cranberry) Cookies
( I chose banana, coconut and cranberries because those are my favorite, and always have them on hand, however you could certainly add chopped nuts, raisins etc...)

1/2 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup teff flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 banana (sliced)
2 eggs
3/4 -1 cup Sucanat
1/2 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup coconut flakes
12-13 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. In a pan heat the coconut oil over med heat so it melts, add Sucanat, and sliced bananas and stir them all together until melted and melded, and banana slices are soft.
2. In a mixing bowl combine flour, and baking soda. Add oil/sugar/ banana mix, and then mix in eggs. Stir/ fold in chocolate chips, coconut and cranberries. (Our sugar/ oil mix was still so warm that it melted our c.chips giving our cookies a chocolate flavor and darker color, but no chunks - if you wanted your chips whole, try waiting for batter to cool slightly before adding them).
3. Spoon scoops of batter onto a coconut oil greased cookie sheet and cook for about 15 min.
4. Let cool and enjoy!