A Healthier Halloween

By Caitlin Grogan

A few tricks to manage treats

You don’t want to rob your kids of having fun, but when trick-or-treat means “give me nothing but sugar to eat,” every responsible parent wants a savvy way of curbing the Halloween candy intake. This year, instead of forcing more apples or granola bars into your kids’ hands, let them eat their Twix and Kit-Kats, but moderate their portions. These tips should help keep sugar levels in check.

Divvy and dole
To get to the candy, they have to get through you first. How? Have them pour out their gigantic bags of chocolates and gummies, then divide them into much smaller portions—about two or three pieces per plastic baggie. “The advantage is you can dole it out over a very long period of time,” says David Grotto, a Chicago-based registered dietician and father of three Halloween-loving daughters. These smaller portions make a good dessert replacement.

Teach candy connoisseurship
It’s the same routine every year: After a few days, the crème de la crème of the candy disappears, while the stuff the kids don’t really like remains. Still, caught in the trance (and sugar rush) of Halloween, they pop the candy corns anyway. There’s a better way, Grotto says. After a post-trick-or-treating bartering session, Grotto’s daughters pitch some of the candy they don’t like in the trash. Each day afterward, for one portion of candy they eat, they toss another handful out. “Don’t feel guilty about throwing it out,” Grotto says. It’s better if it ends up there than in their bellies.

Ding dong, the candy’s gone!
Halloween has a way of lasting until New Year’s—stale candy, empty wrappers, and all. To prevent your kids’ sugary habits from lasting even longer, dump it all after one month. “The kids may have some parting sorrow for that bag of candy when it’s gone,” Grotto says. With his own daughters, he holds a “funeral” for the last pieces. The girls compete to see who can make their final piece last the longest. You don’t necessarily have to hold your own memorial service, but take a moment with your kids to acknowledge the end of the candy, and talk about why it’s better that the sweets are gone. That is, until next year.

Here are some other ways to share the wealth:

• Donate the candy to a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.

• Freeze it or store it in an airtight container, then use it later to jazz up a birthday cake.

• Put it in a pinata.

• Save it til the winter holidays and decorate a gingerbread house.

• Be artistic. Make a mosaic of hard candy. (Coat it with acrylic sealant to keep bugs away.)

• Share it with the staff and residents of a nursing home.

• Buy it from the kids, then save it for Take Your Candy to Work Day.

---