5 Healthy Halloween Tips
Don’t let spooky high blood sugars and a hypoglycemic hangover ruin your healthy Halloween this year! Try these 5 tips to avoid sugar overload.
1. Load Your Candy Bowl With Toys
You say the candy is for the kids, but before you know it, you’re dipping into the bowl yourself! That gooey chocolate, the fun colors, and the tricky triggers from your childhood sneak up on you. Even if you intend to refrain, pretty soon urge overcomes willpower. Your next thought is, “Just one won’t hurt.” Then you can’t stop because you’ve awakened your brain’s pleasure center.
So, why not give stickers, bracelets, glow sticks, super balls, spider rings, glow-in-the-dark fangs, and other well-loved trinkets instead? You will help others have a healthy Halloween as well, and I’m sure many moms will thank you!
2. Host a Harvest Party
You can shift the focus of the evening from treats to whole foods by staging a potluck. Roast a turkey and invite friends to bring seasonal garden side dishes. Or stir up a delicious soup which you can serve in a pumpkin. Games such as hunting for mini-pumpkins and tossing rings around pumpkins will keep the kiddos entertained. End the evening by telling stories around a campfire with steaming buttered apple cider.
Make it a healthy Halloween by including loved ones, time outdoors, laughter, and nourishment.
3. Choose Healthy Halloween Snacks
Plan ahead so you don’t end up in a hunger crisis that will have you diving for the treats. Fueling throughout the day with a combination of complex carbohydrates, natural fats, and high quality proteins will keep your blood sugars level. Then, you won’t have an emergency to eat just as you are donning costumes to go trick-or-treating. Here are just a few ideas:
- guacamole and spicy chicken wings
- cottage cheese and vegetable dippers
- fruit and cheese
- nuts, pumpkin seeds and dried fruit
- hard-boiled eggs and grape tomatoes
- olives, hummus, and whole grain pita bread
- crackers and smoked fish
4. Indulge Deliberately
If you choose to eat sweets, why not select something like an 85% cacao dark chocolate bar? One study suggests that individuals will consume less junk food after eating dark chocolate than after eating milk chocolate. You’ll feel you are eating something decadent, and getting the antioxidant health benefits all at the same time!
5. Learn From Your Mistakes
Don’t use a slip-up as an excuse to dig a deeper hole! Human nature says, “You’ve failed; there’s not use even trying now!” Instead, you can use your experience to plan how to do better next time. Remember, we’re all on a diet continuum, not a diet plan! Your healthy Halloween last year likely will look much different from your healthy Halloween next year if you keep applying what you have learned and keep making the effort.