It’s Halloween!!!

Before you go reaching for those prepackaged snacks and treats you have purchased for trick or treaters, think about this:

👉With each piece of candy, chocolate, or potato chips we offer kids, we are literally choking their arteries.

👉A single Halloween treat may contain up to 20 grams of sugar.

👉Those mini snack-sized candies not only have calories and chemicals but also give dental cavities to the kids.

👉You may end up eating half the chocolate stash that your kid brings home. You would need to walk briskly for about 25-30 minutes to burn the calories from just one single bar or mini package of candy.

So before you start handing out those sugar-filled treats, try preparing your own fun-sized snacks to offer trick-or-treaters, or go the non-food route, and feel good about your choices. We all have good intentions in giving out chocolate and candy because we know that’s what they anticipate; however, there are so many other things we could be doing to treat children on Halloween night.

There are numerous treats that you can easily prepare beforehand. Here are just a few examples:

♠Chocolate Nut Date Rolls   
♠Energy Bites  
♠Maple Popcorn 
♠Chickpea Chocolate Truffles 
♠Black Bean Brownies
♠Chocolate Chickpea Cookies

No time to prepare treats yourself? No problem! You can easily hand out fruit such as mandarin oranges, clementines, apples, and raisins, or pass out pencils, bracelets, or small toys such as Play-Doh!

So what do you do with those bagfuls of treats that your own child brings home? Why not discuss with your child about the possibility of the Halloween Witch! Allow your child to choose a few favourites to keep and enjoy, but suggest trading the rest with the Halloween Witch in exchange for a gift! You could even donate the leftover treats to a homeless shelter around your area, youth network or organization, or food bank.

The possibilities are endless! You no longer have to hoard the leftover Halloween treats for yourself, and you can rest easy knowing you treated your trick-or-treaters with healthy and sensible alternatives!

👻🎃Happy Halloween 🎃 👻