Halloween is fast approaching and many kids are looking forward to getting all dressed up and going out for treats.  This week and next week, we will take a look at healthy Halloween treats that you can prepare or purchase and give out at your home as well as ideas on managing all of those treats that are brought home.  Halloween is fun and you should enjoy the holiday with your kids.  The important thing to remember is to not overindulge.  Don’t send your children trick-or-treating on an empty stomach.  Make sure they eat a good healthy meal beforehand to reduce the urge to snack. Trick-or-treat bags that children carry should be appropriate to their size.  Older kids can carry larger bags, but not as large as a shopping bag or plastic garbage bag.  Limit the houses your children can visit to a two or three block radius.  That way the treats will most likely come from neighbors and friends, and the moderate amount of treats will be manageable.

Instruct children to wait until they get home to eat any of their goodies so that you can inspect them first.  Let them keep only treats that are wrapped commercially.  Inspect and throw away any commercially wrapped treats with signs of tampering – tears in wrappers, tiny pinholes, unusual appearance or discoloration. You don’t have to pass out high calorie candy to trick-or-treaters at your house this year.  Give them a variety of fun, non-candy alternatives to promote health rather than encourage unhealthy choices.  There are many low fat and low sugar alternatives that also provide vitamins, minerals and fiber.  Here are some examples:

• cereal bars or snack packets of dried fruit, baked pretzels, nuts and seeds
• trail mix or packages of low-fat crackers with cheese or peanut butter filling
• animal crackers, gold fish crackers or graham crackers
• Cracker jacks, 100 calorie packs of various products or beef or turkey jerkey
• single serve boxes of ready-to-eat cereal, raisins or chocolate covered raisins
• fig cookies, sugar-free gum or hard candy
• gummy candies made with real juice, mini boxes of raisins or individual juice drinks
• snack pack pudding, Jell-O with fruit or applesauce
• bean dip, single-serve packets of low-fat microwave popcorn or sugar-free hot chocolate or apple cider packets.

If you choose candy for treats, look for those that are lower in fat and sugar.  Choose bite-size candy bars based on the least amount of fat and calories per serving.  Better choices are : 3 Musketeers; 100 Grand Bar; Butterfinger; Milky Way; Raisinets; Starburst and York Peppermint Patties.  In addition, consider healthier dark chocolate versions.

For more information, please call Kim at the Extension office at 325-646-0386.