Happy Halloween. As you get ready for today’s events, here are some quick reminders on how to keep it real – healthy habits, that is.

• Have your child eat a good well-balanced meal before going trick or treating
• Avoid all unnecessary sugar that day. (they’ll have enough of it!)
• Make sure they brush those teeth, at least twice a day
• Decide ahead of time (before going out the door) and agree with your child, the number of treats they will be able to eat

A little extra candy won’t hurt your child’s health. It is ongoing habits that make the difference. And of course, Have FUN and be safe.

It’s election time and although our country is facing some huge economic issues, I do want to know how each of them stand on their policies about children’s health. Well, I found a report that was commissioned by a bipartisan group to analyze their position on this. Here is a quick summary from the report.

Here is what the report concluded:

McCain’s plan:

• The McCain tax credit will weaken families ability to afford coverage for their children
• It does not keep pace with the expected increase in healthcare costs
• The tax credit does not allow for added cost for children who are born or adopted
• The current 19 million children with special health care needs currently insured by employer coverage may be barred from insurance
• Sick children, those with pre-existing conditions, could be charged much more for heatl coverage
• By allowing the insurance to be sold across state line, millions of children will lose the protection of having guaranteed benefits
• It estimates that 55 million children could lose coverage for well-care visits
• 18 million could lose autism care
• 16 million could lose lead poisoning treatment
• Funding for public insurance programs for low income children could be reduced

Obama’s Plan:

• Plan wants to ensure that all of 8 million + uninsured children will have health care coverage through a combination of public and private coverage options
• Requires parent to enroll their chilren in a healthcare program
• Public programs that are successfull will be expanded
• Continue and expand Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program
• Tens of millions of children will benefit from improved protections in the private health insurance market

Mondays are a great day to renew Family Health vows. Every Monday, you will find some healthy tip to help your family start the week off on a Healthy Note!

This week, go grass! Look for meat, eggs and dairy products that come from grass-fed animals. Grass-fed products are higher in important nutrients and lower in fat than grain-fed products. Try it and have a healthy Monday!

With the holiday season approaching that usually means lots of social events for the kids, in school and out of school. How do we keep all those goodies featured at these party more on the nutritious side? Do we just throw our hands in the air?

I think sometimes we focus more on the foods that we think kids expect to make the party “fun”. But kids are going to the party not to “eat the high sugary, high fatty foods” that might be featured at these parties. Instead, kids are going to hang out with their friends in a fun social situation. It is really we parents who have created the association of party and “junk food”.

But kids can enjoy a fun party with all their friends and the festivities and still have nutritious snacks. It just requires a little creativity. Okay, here are some ideas:

• You can make healthy sandwiches and use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes for the party. Cookie cutter shapes provide endless options on make healthy sandwiches a fun addition to the party.

• How about creating fun faces and images with healthy foods. This again provides endless options.

• Use veggies and fruits for color and they can be cut into any shape.

Kids have a great imagination and this would be a fun family activity. Decide with our children what “theme” you are going to bring to the party. Then, together, use your imaginations and think of the different foods that you could use to make that image. You may be surprised at the different ideas kids come up with!

For more options, Family Fun Magazine has easy, low cost ideas.

By the way, you can do this for a family meal. You don’t have to wait for parties!

Scary facts and healthy solutions for a healthier Halloween!

Healthy Halloween Tips and Fun Coloring Pages and Bookmarks

According to the US Census Bureau, the Average American eats 25 pounds of candy every year with a large portion of that eaten during Halloween time.

If your child eats 12 treats that is about equal to 30 packets of sugar. Now, who would give their child 30 packets of sugar. It adds up quickly, all that sugar hidden in a small piece of candy.

Approximately 2 teaspoons of sugar in each:

• Goobers
• Twix
• Almond Joy
• Approximately 2.5 teaspoons of sugar in each:
• Snickers
• Reese’s peanut butter cup
• Raisenettes
• Kit Kat
• Nestles Butterfinger
• Tropical Dots

Approximately 2.75 teaspoons of sugar in each:

• 3 Musketeers
• 100 Grand

Approximately 3 teaspoons of sugar in each:

• Milky Way
• O’Henry
• Junior Mints

October’s Nourish Kids Health E-Article has healthy Halloween tips for parents, top alternatives to sugary Halloween treats, and fun Healthy Halloween printable coloring pages for kids. Halloween can also offer an excellent opportunity to teach your child about healthy eating and once-in-a-while treats.

Manage and limit Halloween loot to a small amount with portion control tips to limit high sugar foods, Kids can enjoy healthy foods and treats that are not candy based. Although it seem like nutrition and Halloween are an unlikely match, there are some Halloween learning opportunities that can help your child to establish healthy eating habits.
Promoting a Healthy Halloween Tips -Article

Kids have their own nutrition based story for October, as Chef Solus and the Explorer characters celebrate Halloween and learn about making healthy choices and the importance of making sweets a ‘once in while’ treat.
Fun Halloween Nutrition Story

Halloween Printables- new printables for parents including; Chef Solus’ top low and no sugar treat list, healthy holiday themed party foods and recipes, and fun Holiday themed lunch notes to print out for your children’s lunch boxes.

Chef Solus’ Top Low Sugar Halloween Treats Over 70 ideas!
Healthy Halloween Party Foods and Recipes
Printable Lunch Box Notes

Last but not least, our most popular seasonal addition is Fun Halloween Coloring Pages for Kids. Coloring activities such as seasonal orange vegetables, Jack O Lanterns to color, Halloween scenes and bookmarks!

Have a safe, fun and healthy Halloween!

Seasonal Veggies -Halloween Coloring Sheet

You will often hear the fruits and vegetables promoted for all the color they offer. It is one of the “fun” features of fruits and vegetables, the fact that they do come in so many colors. Just like kids use crayons to make fun pictures, fruits and vegetables can be used to make fun meal plates.

And as a bonus, usually the more color, the more nutrients!!

But, I was thinking, wouldn’t it be nice to have a quick reference of those colors? So if you are going to have your child liven up that meal plate and you need the color blue or red etc, you could quickly know what food item to get.

Well here you have it: here is a quick reference:

Reds: tomato, watermelon, pink grapefruit, raspberry, guava, red bell peppers

Orange: canteloupe, oranges, winter squash, sweet potato, carrots, mango, papaya, pumpkins

Yellow: banana, pineapple, corn, yellow bell pepper, yellow squash

Green: green grapes, zucchini, brussel sprouts, avocado, asparagus, broccoli, romaine lettuce, kale, spinach, green peas

Blue/Purple: beets, radishes, purple grapes, plums, blueberry, blackberry, eggplant

Please feel free to add your favorites to this list! Now, get to coloring!

source: Eat this, Not that by David Zinczenko, pg 12- 18

Halloween can be a time where kids just get loaded on candy treats. That is a big boo on nutrition. (okay, I tried)
It is not that have treats once in a while is bad, but often these treats dominate the entire day or several days. Candy bought for Halloween is often stashed in the house. Kids always know where it is and when readily available in the house, it makes it so much easier to eat

Parties at school or afterschool events are usually loaded with candy and cupcakes. Oh, dare I say, soda. The triple whammy!
So how can we have fun but still keep nutrition in mind?

First, try to buy your candy as close to Halloween as possible. Keep it out of reach.

It’s not that hard for you to add some “good-for-you treats” to Halloween time. Check out these fun great Halloween ideas:

• Bone Appetite!: Swap out sugary sodas or fruit drinks with lowfat chocolate milk. It’s a great trick for moms and a treat for kids. Each 8-ounce serving provides 300 milligrams of calcium — or 30 percent of the Daily Value for this vital bone-building nutrient. A Chocolate-Strawberry Shivering Smoothie is a delicious drink that has the chocolate taste kids love, but is more nutritious than the stash in their trick-or-treat bags.

• Fiendishly Full: Give kids a healthy meal or snack before parties and trick-or-treating to prevent your hungry monsters from digging into all of the goodies.

• Witchy Walk: Take a long walk around your neighborhood to enjoy the frightening decorations and socialize with your neighbors. When trick-or-treating with your kids, walk to the farthest house first and make your way back home to encourage a little extra physical activity.

New Healthy Halloween Resources and fun printables from our website:

Healthy Halloween treats that are sugar-free

Healthy Halloween Party Foods

Halloween Coloring and Activities Page!

Make a Halloween Bookmark

Pumpkin to Color

Orange Vegetables Coloring Pages!

Some Scarrrry Facts About Halloween, Kids Halloween Candy, Nutrition and Sugar Facts

Top 10 tips for a healthier Halloween

Fun Halloween Printables for Kids- Coloring Pages, Healthy Lunch Notes

Halloween is sugartime. Is there any hopes in controlling the amount of sugar that our kids eat during this time. It’s hard but here is some suggestions I found in this article.

I hope some of these Halloween nutrition tips help:

• Decide with children, before Halloween, on what is a reasonable amount of candy to eat that night, and beyond. Will the candy be packaged in small bags to make the holiday last longer, rationed to a piece or two a day, donated or thrown away?

• Feed children dinner before trick or treating so they will not be ravenous and want to fill up on candy while going from house to house.
• Go out early, when candy-givers are less likely to encourage children to grab a handful of candy so they don’t end up stuck with it.
• Do not ban candy or ditch it when the kids aren’t looking; it may just make them want it more.
• Parents should be good role models by not eating all the candy themselves.
• Let children enjoy some sweets on the holiday while focusing on good nutrition the rest of the year.
• Offer candy alternatives alone, or alongside candy, to give trick or treaters a choice.
• Take some emphasis off candy by focusing on the fun of the holiday, like checking out the costumes and decorated houses.
• Walk, don’t drive, if possible, to get some physical activity in while candy collecting.
• Suggest kids wait to eat candy until they get home, where parents can inspect the wrappers to ensure they’re tightly sealed. Parents should consider throwing out everything else.

New healthy Halloween tips and free printables from our website:

Healthy Halloween Tips-Halloween is sneaking up- Be prepared, manage your child’s sweet tooth. Our Halloween Nutrition Article for Parents!

Our top low sugar and no sugar Halloween treats for kids

Fun Healthy Halloween Coloring Pages- printable Halloween themed coloring pages and bookmarks for kids

free Halloween coloring pages and printables

Mondays are a great day to renew Family Health vows. Every Monday, you will find some healthy tip to help your family start the week off on a Healthy Note!

Want to improve you and your kids’ brains? Exercise your bodies. That’s right. Aerobic exercise isn’t just good for your heart, it’s good for your brain, too. So why not start your own Monday Mile Fun club? Grab those kids and maybe even some neighbors and circle the block a few times after dinner.

Resources:
Family Nutrition Tools -Nutriton and Fitness Goals Sheets

More Healthy Monday Tips

In California, Governor Schwarzenegger is reviewing a bill, SB 1420, that would require certain food chains to put their nutritional information on their menu.

Do you think that would make a difference in food choices, for you, for your children?

Just imagine, you are looking at a menu for one of your family’s local fav dinner spot, and suddenly you see 600 calories next to those fries you always order. Or perhaps, 800 calories. Would you still order it?

It makes you stop and think doesn’t it. Most Americans underestimate the amount of calories in a food item. I am the first to raise my hand. I was reading the book, “Eat this, Not that” by David Zinczenko. I had my mouth opened a few times. I read the calories and fat and thought, I totally got that wrong.

I am a strong advocate for this bill.

At least if we have the information and then we can decide, hopefully, make a better choice.