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

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