Everyone wants to keep their kids healthy this Halloween, but with all the candy that available it can definitely be hard.   Halloween tends to be the biggest and most exciting holiday for kids (and adults), especially since they get to dress up in a crazy costume and get an extra helping of sweet treats.  As a parent, you want to instill good habits into your children, and although it is a holiday, you definitely do not want to make it an exception to the rule.  It can be frustrating to encourage kids to eat healthy and limit the amount of sweets they have day to day, only to have Halloween ruin all the hard work.

Finding a balance between letting your kids have fun, and overindulgence is crucial.  Treating the holiday as a fun time to enjoy something special, extra candy included, is good as long as there are limits.  You don’t want to let them run wild when it comes to eating candy, as it might confuse them as to what should and should not be eaten.  You also want to help them avoid a sugar rush, crash and burn on Halloween and the week following it.

You can help make Halloween healthier by having kids eat a good meal before they go trick-or-treating.  This can help curve cravings, and limit the amount of candy they will want as they are out.   Setting limits to how much candy kids are allowed to have is also a great idea.  We all remember the days of filling your pillow case to the brim with treats.  Even if that tradition still stands, allowing a minimum indulgence and saving the rest of the candy for a later time is probably best.  Parents can hide the candy, keeping an eye on how much candy is getting consumed.

Healthy alternatives to candy:

Eating healthy, especially on Halloween can be tough.  It’s easy to get sucked into a candy binge, especially with so many intriguing options.  Even though it can be difficult, we came up with some good alternatives to help parents and kids stay healthy this Halloween holiday:

• Give sugar-free candy a try
• Mini cereal boxes can be tasty, and light on the sugar but still feel like a treat
• Try non-candy snacks like pretzels, trail mix, or popcorn.  These can be great as they come in mini individual serving bags
• Dried fruit like raisins, craisins, or freeze dried strawberries can be both sweet and healthy
• Sugar-free gum, although not candy can still be a sweet treat without the guilt
• Non-food treats can be just as fun, if not more fun than candy, as they last a lot longer.  Give small toys, gags and games a try.  These could be stickers, tattoos, bubbles or fake teeth!