by Kelly Jones, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN

Halloween usually means candy galore but Pennsylvania dietitians have some simple tips on how to really enjoy the holiday with your family.

Halloween can be an exciting and fun way to kick off the holiday season, but for some, instead of enjoyable festivities, it brings stress and anxiety for fear of personal overindulgence or for the health of one’s children. The stress and fear that builds around this holiday and many others can cause parents and other adults to create strict food rules, taking the enjoyment out of the season. On the other hand, some individuals look at these days as an excuse to eat excessive amounts of sugar, as if they’ll never have the opportunity to eat it again!

Since these habits impact the function of the body and mind in the short term and long term, it’s time to take a breath and decide to make a change this year. Luckily, Pennsylvania’s registered dietitians want to help!

Pick 2-3 action items from the suggestions below that feel like a fit for your lifestyle this Halloween and holiday season:

Halloween itself one day, but Rosanne Rust, MS, RDN, LDN, Nutrition Communications expert and current Chair of the Nutrition Entrepreneurs DPG, reminds us that “Halloween has become a ‘season’. Candy and decor hit stores early, which can make it difficult for parents to combat the urge to buy too much, too soon.” While RD and Chef Zach Breeding has a blog post compiling a list of the least calorically dense, but still delicious Halloween candies, many other dietitians offer suggestions for ensuring you and your kids can enjoy those that are more calorically dense without going overboard. Not a parent? These tips are for you, too!

As already mentioned, this holiday should be exciting and fun for reasons other than candy! Not only are there many other Halloween activities to enjoy, but also plenty of other foods that can be festive for this season. Karen Buch, RDN, LDN, founder of Nutrition Connections, LLC, says “now that I am the parent of a 5 and 7-year-old, Halloween is a big celebration in our house. We focus on making Halloween much more about family and much less about the candy.”

Here are some of her family’s favorite activities!

• Travel to a local pumpkin farm to select our pumpkins. While there, ride on a hayride, navigate the corn maze and feed the goats, pot-bellied pigs and chickens.
• Paint and carve our pumpkins and decorate the house inside and out.
• Read It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and watch the movie “Spookley the Square Pumpkin”
• Cook together in the kitchen to make pumpkin pancakes and baked pumpkin custard.
• Attend the annual Halloween parade held in our downtown main street and various trunk-or-treat celebrations.
• Have fun getting dressed up before going trick or treating in our neighborhood as a family.
• Place a help-yourself candy display on our porch that’s filled with the candy collected at various pre-Halloween events.
• Donate extra candy to a local shelter. Buch says “my kids are more excited about collecting the candy and soon forget about it in the days that follow”.

When it comes to festive Halloween parties, Emma Fogt MBA, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND, suggests you “create, make or order healthy side dishes to bring with you to events.” Rust reminds us that “With young children, there are so many celebrations between home and school, that it can become sugar overload.” How can we bring balance? Rust suggests you “encourage your child’s classroom to offer healthy treats for parties and volunteer to bring healthy options in like clementines. Instead of a big bowl of sugary candy corn, mix a small amount into a festive trail mix.”

Heather Mangieri, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDN, Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and author of “Fueling Young Athletes” say, “It’s sad that candy has become more frightening than witches and haunted houses. While collecting candy is fun for kids, you can create memories that involve more than treats.” Heather loves to cook a healthy Halloween-themed meal as a family, and enjoy it together before the trick-or-treating begins. “This presents a great way to get children of all ages involved in planning and preparing healthy meals, which will help to promote healthy eating habits.” She has more ideas on her blog to start a new Halloween tradition, too!

Dietitians want parents to understand it is possible to create a healthy environment for any situation, so that the availability of treats is less likely for kids to have the desire to go overboard with. It’s important to treat Halloween, and any other holiday, like a normal day when it comes to eating. It just happens to include some treats! Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, CSSD, LDN recommends that you “Eat an earlier dinner before the treating begins”. This helps adults regulate hunger and appetite while passing out candy and kids to do the same when collecting it.

Fogt reflects on her own childhood saying “Creating a healthy environment for kids, even around Halloween time, is doable.  I believe in the old motto ‘everything in moderation’. When we were kids, we used to look forward to a piece of candy after dinner. It was a treat and fit into the entire day of eating. With so much candy at Halloween time- those bags lasted months in our house!” Offering a variety of food every day and letting your kids listen to their bodies is important, too. Rust says, “I never withheld candy from my children. I keep a filled candy bowl in our home. When they were very young, they’d take more than they needed, but they tired of it quickly. Offer many healthy choices, keep portions in mind, and don’t make a big deal about the treats.”

“Keep the happy in this holiday,” says Mangieri. “Collecting the candy is part of what makes Halloween fun for kids. Let them enjoy collecting it, sorting it, eating a few pieces, then move the candy out of sight, so soon it will be out of mind.” She also recommends using the candy to make original creations later, like these candy houses made with Halloween candy.

If you aren’t so worried about the kids, reflect on your own habits during the holidays. “Seeing food out on counters and tables can prompt us to grab and eat it without even thinking,” says Fogt. Hone in on hunger and satiety.  Ask yourself ‘Am I hungry enough to eat an apple?’”. A similar tactic when at home, from Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Spokesperson Caroline West Passerrello, MS, RDN, LDN is to “Keep candy out of site – the top shelf of the pantry or the freezer for chocolates”. She agrees with Fogt that it’s important to check in with yourself on hunger and fullness levels before and after eating.

Buch reminds us that these recommendations aren’t just pulled out of thin air, but based on research! “Thinking back to the research discussed in Brian Wansink’s book “Mindless Eating”, both the proximity and visibility of chocolate candy in a candy dish in an office setting had a direct impact on the volume of candy consumed. The study showed that when candy is more visible and at arm’s reach, people tend to eat more. I think these findings could easily be applied to Halloween candy as well!”

Angie Dye, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDN of Carpe Diem Nutrition also encourages that we “utilize principals of mindful and intuitive eating to think about the most important and special ways that you enjoy seasonal fall foods. Take time and prioritize including those fall favorites. Maybe it is roasting butternut squash or enjoying a piece of your favorite Halloween candy. Taking time to include your true fall favorites will enhance your enjoyment of food and decrease the temptation to mindlessly nibble on less special holiday fare.”

Whether you decide to be more mindful yourself, teach your children mindfulness skills early, or incorporate more non-food activities into the fall season, remember the real reason for every holiday and enjoy it!

Kelly Jones, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, is a consultant, spokesperson and nutrition coach, specializing in performance nutrition, fitness club programming, and intuitive eating. Visit Kelly’s blog for recipes, fitness nutrition tips, and more. Connect with Kelly on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.