You preach healthy eating to your family all the time. Why shouldn’t that apply to Halloween, too? You don’t have to give into the temptations of eating unhealthy treats until your stomach aches. Here are some healthier Halloween treat alternatives that you’ll actually feel good about feeding to your kids.
Dark Chocolate
I know, it’s hard to resist chocolate. For you and your kids! But, choosing dark chocolate treats over milk chocolate has a ton of health benefits. Dark chocolate usually contains less butter fat and is packed with antioxidants. Organic dark chocolate, sold at specialty stores like Trader Joe’s, are much less processed and contain healthy flavonoids.
Caramel Apples
You can buy these or make your own as a fun Halloween activity with the kids. They’re dipped in sugar and taste so irresistible that you kids won’t even realize they’re eating a fruit! And, you can even coat the outside with nuts to make it not just more flavorful, but healthier!
Chocolate Covered Raisings and Nuts
While still containing the classic Halloween ingredient, choosing these less indulgent chocolate options may fair better for your kids’ health. Chocolate covered raisins and nuts are at least packed with fiber and other healthy nutrients.
Dried Fruit
While it may be hard to get your kids to eat fresh fruit, kids oftentimes love snacking on dried fruit. If you kid scoffs at dried fruit, choose a more unusual fruit. Try Crispy Green Crispy Fruit, which is freeze-dried fruit with no additives or preservatives. They’ve got dried bananas, pears, apples, mangos and pineapple.
Set Limits
While you can control what you supply in your own home, you can’t control what your kids get in their trick-or-treat baskets. And, don’t be fooled, they will be filled to the brim with fun-size chocolate bars, candy corn and other tooth-decaying varieties of sweets and treats. Let your kids eat SOME of it and put the rest away, parceling it out through the next few days. And, make sure you stay out of that extras pile, too!
