22 Oct 2014

How To Have A Healthier Halloween

James Elliot

With everything we are hearing about sugar, artificial colourings, preservatives, and other junk in foods, I thought I would write a blog on how to have a healthier Halloween.There are many ways to make it healthier - and to keep it tasty, so you and your kids (even big kids like me!) can have fun! No one wants to get tooth brushes for Halloween!  However, people will need them after a lot of "regular" Halloween candy unfortunately. There are a lot of healthy snacks and treats availalble; less sugar/no sugar or more nutritious- want to know what and where? 

If you are doing your own baking/cooking, I'd strongly recommend using Stevia (Truvia brand is my favorite as I find it has the best taste), Xylitol, or Monk Fruit. The previous two can be found at almost any grocery store, whereas monk fruit is a bit newer to the market, so sometimes it is only found at health food grocery stores. None of these options cost a lot either, which is great!

Healthy Treats for Halloween - Option 1 - Purchasing from a Store:

1. Florida’s Natural Brand Halloween fruit snacks
2. Halloween Treats by Endangered Species dark chocolate squares
3. Xyla brand lollipops sweetened with Xylitol - very tasty, and inexpensive!
4. Dehydrated apple chips or Mini versions (there are several great brands)
5. Healthier trail mix bars/mini's
6. Other low cost treats in healthy grocery stores - you will actually find a surprizing amount, and the costs on these are surprizingly reasonable too!!! 

Healthy Treats for Halloween - Option 2 - Making your own (especially if for parties, family, neighbours kids, etc):

1. Home made dehydrated apple chips - easy in a dehydrator or in the oven
2. Home made sugar free chocolates - See my blog post on delicious sugar free chocolates everyone will love!
3. Home made or store-bought kale or collard (better) chips - easy in the oven! Google "kale chips" or "collard chips"
4. Home made sugar-free/low sugar cookies
5. Trail Mix (ie. in a zip-loc bag) or home made trail mix bars - I will have a future blog post on these!

1. Colouring books
2. Crayons
3. Stickers
4. "Growing sponge" animals that grow in water
5. Silly string if you are ok making a bit of a mess outside!

Until next time, have a Happy Halloween, and go have your best week ever!