Top 10 Tips for healthy eating at Halloween

Halloween means fun for all ages, fun costumes, lots of candy and parties, however, Halloween can wreak havoc with your weight, blood sugar levels and dental health. Whether you are trick-or-treating with the kids or enjoying a Halloween party, it’s important to be aware of the health concerns.  Decrease the stress this year and make sure your Halloween is off to a healthy start!

Dr. Margaret Lewin provides the Top 10 Tips for healthy eating this Halloween for parents and kids.  For example: buy small Halloween toys instead of candy, don’t buy candy early in the month, buy brands you hate, etc…  She’s an excellent resource for any health care concerns.

Dr. Lewin is Medical Director of Cinergy Health. www.cinergyhealth.com.  

Eating Healthy This Halloween

By: Dr. Margaret Lewin, Medical Director of Cinergy Health (www.cinergyhealth.com)

            Careful as we are all year, we seem to lose our inhibitions against junk food when Halloween rolls around – snacking on the sugar-laden treats we bought for neighbors’ children as well as the ones our own children bring home from their trick-or-treating.  Here are some tips for resisting temptation:

• Buy treats only a day or so before Halloween – so they’re not around long to tempt you
• Keep the treats in an inconvenient, difficult-to-reach place till Halloween arrives
• Buy treats which you don’t particularly like, making it easier to resist

• Buy healthy mini-packs of

• Raisins or other dried fruit
• 100% juice
• Sugar-free hot chocolate mix
• Trail mix
• Cheese and crackers
• Sugar-free gum

• Buy non-edible treats such as

• Stick-on temporary tattoos
• Mini bottles of bubble bath or blow bubbles
• Costume accessories such as wax false teeth or a stick-on mustache
• Sidewalk chalk

• Take your children out after dinner – when you’re not hungry
• Go through the “goodie bag” when you arrive home – discarding any outrageously unhealthy treats or those with questionable packaging
• Put the remaining edible treats in that same difficult-to-reach place – to be dispensed one at a time on a scheduled basis (such as dessert time)
• When you yourself get that urge to indulge, take a look at your watch and wait ten minutes (if you’re lucky, you’ll get distracted and forget about the urge)
• Set a date – maybe two weeks after Halloween – when you’ll dump the leftovers

So… plan ahead and – when it comes to the leftovers – think “waist” instead of “waste”!