Tricks and Tips for a Healthier Halloween
There are plenty of spooks on Halloween, but perhaps the scariest one is your chiropractor telling you to keep the holiday healthy! Here at Shields Chiropractic in Saginaw, MI, we love Halloween just as much as everyone else. What’s not to love about dressing up in costumes and collecting candy? It’s a tradition that many of us look back on fondly, but we also how the importance of maintaining balance in life, and too much Halloween candy can throw that off.
If you’ve got a family of your own, you have probably worked hard to instill balance and healthy habits in your family and you don’t want it all undone by one night of costumes and candy. So maybe one night won’t do it, but the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama found that on average, a child will collect up to 7,000 calories worth of candy on Halloween. Now that really is scary!
We aren’t suggesting you stop your favorite Halloween traditions or switch out your kid’s candy for fruits and veggies, but we have some tricks and tips for a healthier Halloween.
START THE NIGHT WITH A SCARY GOOD MEAL
Your kids might want to start trick-or-treating right when they get home from school, but it’s important that they eat a healthy meal before a night of fun and fright. A well-rounded meal will give you and your kids the energy you need for a big night out and also make it easier to resist filling up on candy. Include fiber, complex carbs, and lean protein to fuel up for a frightful night!
SET GHOULS ….ER, GOALS!
Besides spending time with your kids, a great part of trick-or-treating is that all that walking is good for your health. Get your family even more excited by mapping out a game plan and great ground-covering goals. Have a goal in mind of how far you plan to walk and then map out a route to help you meet that goal. You can always swing by more neighborhoods as you go!
DON’T BE FRIGHTENED BY FREEZING
Establish some candy-consuming boundaries with your kids, not only for Halloween night but also for how long they can keep it. Then, go ahead and freeze it. All those fun-size candy bars take longer to consume when they are frozen and it will help prevent you and your kids from consuming too much candy once Halloween has passed.
You might not realize it, but chiropractic works best when you do your part to maintain a healthy lifestyle, This holds true during the holidays when it is even harder to resist all the delicious treats. For more tricks on health, wellness, nutrition, and all things chiropractic, just click here to contact us. We are here to help you stay in scary good health!