Have a healthy Halloween

A healthier Halloween

Halloween is fast approaching, and your little devils, witches and goblins are looking forward to bags full of candy. Here are some ways to avoid the Halloween sugar rush, and minimize the damage to little teeth.

• Eat a big dinner before you go – something they like that will fill them up – let them choose. Hopefully they’ll be too stuffed to eat lots of candy! 
• Before you leave the house, discuss how much and how often children may eat their candy along the way, and save the rest to divide up at home. 
• Encourage other parents (or whoever you’re visiting for trick or treating) to give money, stickers, or pencils.... anything without sugar! 
• Incorporate some physical activity into Halloween – a walk around the neighborhood will help children use up some of their extra energy! 
• When you divide the candy at home, make sure it is all well wrapped and sealed, and that there are no chewy or hard ones that younger kids might choke on. 
• Encourage children to spread the candy out over the next week or so. A good idea is to create a ‘candy bank’ in a sealed container. You can agree on times when the bank will be open for ‘withdrawals’ over the following weeks. 
• After Halloween, offer trick or treat candy as a substitute for dessert after dinner, or give a few pieces with a healthy snack. 
• Encourage children to drink water throughout the day, particularly after eating candy. Water will help to rinse the sugar from their teeth. 
• If they’re on a real sugar high, give them enough space to bounce it off, but don’t be tempted to delay bedtime too long – it will only make them ratty! Try a hot milky drink, a game together or a story and see if you can raise a few yawns. 
• Make sure they brush their teeth well that night!

Finally, don’t worry too much. One night of candy isn’t going to ruin a healthy child’s entire diet. Overly-restrictive rules on candy can actually make it more appealing to kids, so try to relax - just don’t allow your children to eat too many of those foods too often!

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