This Friday is All Hallows Eve, where our children dress up in scary (more like trendy) costumes in a door-to-door saga for sugary treats. Children (and adults) just adore their Halloween candy. But these holiday treats might play tricks on your careful nutrition plan.So what can you do to keep yourself from eating the Halloween stash? What about your children and all that tooth-rotting candy? Can you offer healthier alternatives to the neighborhood children?
First of all, I’ll address the last question. If you decide to give out healthier alternatives to your neighborhood children, prepare to spend Saturday pulling toilet paper out of your trees and cleaning egg off your car windows. It’s really not the best way to win over the neighborhood kids by giving them fruit (which their parents will immediately throw away for safety reasons—or the kids may throw straight at your house on the way out), or giving them the unmentioned… spare change.
As a kid I hated nothing more than a house that gave me a bunch of pennies. Our motto here at FitDaily is moderation, right? So live the holiday a little, and go ahead and deal out some decent candy. If you really want to go all-out toward health you can look for organic dark chocolate treats. Those might be the only safe medium, but they’re going to cost you.
When you do distribute the candy, be sure to be very generous with the last kids that come by so you don’t end up with a huge stash. When you buy your candy, you might also pick up varieties that won’t tempt you into snacking on them yourself. Don’t buy several bags of your favorite candy unless you intend on eating at least one of the bags yourself.
Watch out for people at work who put candy at as well. Keep it well out of your reach, so you don’t end up snacking on it throughout the day.
As for your kids… well, that one is totally up to you as the parent. I think that a little bit of candy won’t hurt them, but as with everything moderation is the key. Let them go plea for their stash door to door, but do it during reasonable hours and cut it off after a certain time. Then let them have a reasonable amount that night and take the remainder for rewards on other occasions. It is important that your kids brush their teeth, especially after eating candy.
Remember, it’s a special time for your kids, so don’t be too strict. On the other hand, don’t let them devour a huge bag of Halloween candy in a night or two for the sake of that holiday spirit. And perhaps just as importantly, don’t leave it around where you will finish it off piece-by-piece.
