Halloween is just around the corner, which means this is the official start to the holiday sugar season.

The candy that our little Trick-or-Treaters accumulate on Halloween night and at Halloween parties is notorious for containing high amounts of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. This excess candy sugar can have direct correlations to weight gain, hyperactivity, and immune suppression to name a few.

I always tell people that healthy eating doesn’t have to equal deprivation; but when it comes to candy, the less you eat the better.

Here are some ideas to make this Halloween a bit more healthy:

1. Put a limit on how much candy your kids are allowed collect in the first place.

2. After Halloween make holiday gingerbread houses and decorate them with this year’s Halloween candy. This can be a fun family activity that doesn’t involve eating the end result!

3. Offer your kids alternatives to Halloween candy. When they get home from trick-or-treating let them trade in their Halloween candy for something else that they have been wanting, like a video game, book, toy, trip to the movies, etc.

4. Don’t keep Halloween candy around where it is tempting you and your kids to pick at all day long for weeks and weeks. I hate to say throw it out but… there is no nutritional value in candy and having large amounts of candy in your house isn’t healthy for anyone.

5. Instead of buying and giving away candy to Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween night consider offering Halloween stickers, temporary tattoos, noisemakers, pencils with Halloween erasers, playdoh, bubbles, small individually wrapped toothbrushes (hey why not? good dental hygiene when eating more sugar is important too) or fun seasonal toys, like little plastic spiders.

Finally, when talking to your kids about why they can’t eat bag after bag of candy, don’t say, “You can’t eat it because you’re on a diet,” or “You need to watch your weight.” Simply say, “Eating too much candy is not part of our family’s healthy eating plan.”

Have a safe and healthy Halloween!

Guest Blogger, Jolene Park, grew up on her family’s centennial farm (which means it’s been in her family for more than 100 years) in northeastern Colorado. She grew up around 1,000-plus cattle, lots of open space and whole, fresh food. In a way, she was born into the original “green organic living” before it was trendy.  She founded Healthy Discoveries in 2001, and with a passion for health, Jolene inspires her audiences to create balance in all areas of their lives. She promotes individual responsibility and believes in the power of information to provide options for choosing healthy lifestyles.