Seasonal Tips: Healthier Halloween Treats? No Big Trick
Soon millions of children will put on costumes and go trick-or-treating in search of candy and other goodies.
At a time when childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, Halloween poses some special challenges. Doling out handfuls of high-calorie snacks can seem inappropriate. But dropping baby carrots into trick-or-treaters' bags doesn't seem quite right, especially if you want to avoid having your house wrapped in toilet paper.
Here are some giveaway ideas that kids will consider a treat rather than a trick but that also deliver slightly more nutrition than the rest of the stuff they're likely to collect. By offering them, you may even wind up introducing kids to snacks they'll choose themselves later on.- Introduce Dark Chocolate. Most kids already love milk chocolate, but fewer have acquired the taste for this darker and less-sweet flavor. Rich in antioxidants, dark chocolate also contains the healthy fat stearic acid and iron, of which most children need more.
- Think Small. Portion control can help limit calories. Food companies are providing small, individually packaged portions of popular foods, including Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs, downsized servings of Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins, Honey Maid Cinnamon graham crackers, Planters Peanut Butter Cookies, Kraft Cheese Nips and Ritz Snack Mix.
- Sneak In Some Protein. Protein helps mute the body's reaction to sugary foods, which quickly starts a vicious cycle: Blood sugar rises, prompting insulin production, which drops blood sugar and then boosts hunger. If allergies are not a problem, choose treats that contain dairy or nuts like cheese sticks, single serve containers of chocolate milk or packages of hot chocolate mix, bags of peanuts or chocolate with peanut butter or nuts.
- Pop a Surprise . Popcorn is a whole grain. So a small bag of popcorn could provide one of the three servings recommended daily by the latest dietary guidelines.
- Dole Out Calcium-Rich Treats. Most kids don't get enough bone-building calcium, so here's a place where you could make a little difference. There are several kid-friendly dairy foods to place in trick-or-treat bags: 4-ounce cups of shelf-stable puddings, squeeze tubes of yogurt, or 8 oz. chocolate milks. Each provide 15 to 25 percent of the daily calcium requirement.