What comes to mind when you hear the word Halloween? Probably pumpkins, costumes and of course, candy. Can Halloween be a treat for your family's hearts? Here are 5 tips from The Heart Health Centre to help you make Halloween a healthier celebration.
If you have children they are probably excited about trick or treating - walking to trick or treat is a great way for the family to get moving, which is good for your heart. Find a safe neighborhood or shopping center and walk from place to place to collect your treats. Make sure that you're being safe: watching for cars, walking on side walks or facing traffic and following all road safety rules. Here in the tropics mosquitoes can be a big nuisance so remember your insect repellant. Make your trick or treat stroll even healthier by varying your movement and your pace - swoop and glide like a ghost, make huge, lumbering steps like Frankenstein, tip toe stealthily like the witch's black cat ... those are just a few ideas, I'm sure your children can come up with many more. Varying your movement is a fun way to engage more muscles groups.
Candy and treats are a big part of Halloween, but they're usually loaded with sugar and lots of other processed ingredients. Don't have a battle on your hands - decide with your children before hand on a 'reasonable' amount of candy to be consumed on Halloween night and in the week following Halloween. Once that agreed upon candy limit is reached - then the rest of the candy can be donated or tossed. Using a smaller trick or treat container can help you manage the volume, but if you still end up with too much candy you'll have to know whether you can be firm and stick to the agreed limit, or whether you need a back up plan. You can trade pieces of candy for small trinkets or healthier treats or even 'buy back' the candy from your kids. You could even offer up a toy, book, movie ticket, or gift card for the excess haul. If you have a candy weakness yourself be sure not to sabotage your own health by hiding the candy from your children, only to eat it all yourself.
Feature non-candy treats in your Halloween give-away - Depending on your budget and the age of of most of your trick or treaters consider removable tattoos, halloween themed accessories, sugar free gum, erasers, coloring pages or even quarters.
If you're attending a Halloween Party - have a healthy meal or snack before hand so you're not tempted into overindulgence on the high fat, high sugar fare that is standard. If you're hosting a gathering, you can include healthier fare for your guests - be creative with your fruits and veggies (shaping a jack-o-lantern out of carrot sticks with yellow pepper pieces as the eyes and smile), make dips and sauces with lower fat ingredients etc. Make sure to include lots of activities that get people moving - download some great music and get everyone dancing.
If despite good intentions and your best effort you wake up on November 1st knowing that you've over indulged, don't despair or let guilt get you down. Just get right back on track - limit sweets and processed foods and increase your water and fresh fruits and veggies get your system back on track, and of course make sure that you're getting your exercise in too.
Do you have your own tips for making Halloween a healthier celebration? We'd love for you to share them with us email us at [email protected] or post them in a comment on our Facebook page.
