Sneaky Strategies for a Healthy Halloween

By Sara Butler

There might not be anything quite as scary as your chiropractor trying to convince you to keep your Halloween healthy. Listen, here at The Joint Chiropractic we like Halloween as much as the next person. What’s not to love about dressing up to be as scary, or as goofy, as you can while you collect small pieces of candy from total strangers? It’s a tradition many people look back on with fond memories. In 1985, my She-Ra costume was on point. But we also know that life is about balance -- which can be challenging on Halloween.

Now that you have a family of your own, you probably spend a fair amount of time trying to instill healthy, balanced habits in your children -- healthy habits that can all be undone with one night of costumes and candy! OK, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but according to the University of Alabama’s School of Public Health, the average kid collects somewhere between 3,500 and 7,000 calories worth of candy on Halloween night. Talk about frightening.

We don’t expect you to replace all your kid’s candy with broccoli, but we do want to give you some tips to help you balance health and horror (and fun!) this Halloween.

Prep with a Horrifyingly Healthy Meal

You kids may be ready to go out and collect all the candy they can as soon as you walk in the door on Halloween night, but it’s important to get a good meal in first. Before you take the kids out, have a healthy, filling dinner. This will make it easier for you and your kids to resist stuffing yourselves to the gills with candy later. Aim for lean protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates in your meal so that it will stick with you and give you the energy to gather all the free candy you can.

Set Some Ghoulish Goals

Here’s the good news: Walking to collect all that candy is actually pretty good exercise. Feel free to sit down with your kids and a map to create ground-covering goals. Map out how far you plan to walk and then map out a route to help you meet that goal. If your kids still want to keep going when you reach the end, then go for it!

Frightfully Freeze!

Talk with your children about how much candy they can have on Halloween night, then take the rest and put it in the freezer. All those fun-size candy bars take a lot longer to eat when they’re frozen, so it’ll help prevent you and your kids from gorging after Halloween ends.

At The Joint Chiropractic, we want to help you and your family meet your health and fitness goals even during this festive time of year. Make sure to stay on top of chiropractic adjustments, exercise, and proper nutrition to help you stay frightfully flourishing until next Halloween.

The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this page are for informational purposes only. The purpose of this post is to promote broad consumer understanding and knowledge of various health topics, including but not limited to the benefits of chiropractic care, exercise and nutrition. It is not intended to provide or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your chiropractor, physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this page.