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Healthy Halloween Tips from Carlye Waxman RD, CDN

Healthy Halloween Tips from Carlye Waxman RD, CDN

 

Do we really want to teach our kids to eat healthy on Halloween? You can look up healthy recipes for cookies, “candied” apples and pumpkin spice muffins but no matter how good those ingredients are, it’s still sugar, flour and fat!

 

Use my healthy tips to keep your kids off the sugar high!

 

Start with a rule! For instance, while trick or treating you are allowed one fun size snack (why? Because you didn’t have your dinner yet!). Later after the treating is done you can have one-two depending on the size.

 

Indulgence EVERY day. One thing about Halloween candy is it is usually snack size, and multiple varieties of it! Pack your kids with 1 different candy every day. Hide them or put them up high so the kids know they are only allowed their daily Halloween candy at lunchtime.

 

Include them in Halloween fun that doesn’t involve eating candy! Carve a pumpkin (this can be messy, but so much fun). The kids will feel good they participated in the décor of the special day. Take them to a haunted hay ride or haunted mansion. That scary fun will surely burn off some of those chocolate calories!

 

Lastly, make some healthier snacks like roasting the pumpkin seeds with cinnamon and a little sugar, or cooking up pumpkin (buying pumpkin puree is much easier) and mashing it with some cinnamon and brown sugar. Doing something like this before trick or treat time may make them a little less hungry for treats!

 

Carlye Waxman RD, CDN is a Registered Dietitian at The New York Foundling who lives in NYC. She is the owner of SweetNutritionNYC.com, a website with recipes and nutrition tips for the public. Contact her at Carlye@SweetNutritionNYC.com to hear more about her counseling options and rates.

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