Tricks for a Healthier Halloween

One of the scariest things we can think of is your chiropractor telling you to keep your Halloween healthy. At Williamsburg Chiropractic, we love Halloween as much as everybody else. What’s not to love about dressing up in a spooky or silly costume while getting candy?! It is a tradition that most look back on with fond memories, but we also know how important it is to maintain balance in life, and Halloween can make that a challenge.

If you have a family of your own, you probably work hard to instill balanced and healthy habits in your kids and you don’t want all that to be undone by one night of candy and costumes. Okay, so one night won’t do it, but according to the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama, on average a child will collect between 3,500 and 7,000 calories worth of candy on Halloween. Now that’s scary!

We aren’t suggesting you nix trick-or-treating or replace all your kid’s candy with fruits and vegetables, but we do have some tricks for a healthier Halloween.

Start with a Scary Good Meal

Your kids might be ready to get trick-or-treating as fast as possible, but it’s important for them to start with a healthy meal. Before you take your kids out for a night of fun and fright, start out with a well-rounded meal. This will make it easier for your kids (and you!) to resist stuffing yourselves silly with candy. Include lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and fiber in your meal so you will have plenty of energy while you trick-or-treat.

Set Ghostly Goals

One great thing trick-or-treating does for your health is that all the walking is pretty good exercise. Get your kids even more excited by mapping out your game plan and create ground-covering goals. Have a goal in mind of how far you plan to walk and then map a route out to help you meet that goal. You can always add on extra neighborhoods as you go!

Don’t be Afraid to Freeze!

Talk with your kids ahead of time about how much candy they can have on Halloween night, then take the remainder of it away and freeze it. All the fun-size candy bars take longer to eat when they are frozen, and it will help keep you and your kids from consuming too much candy once Halloween is over.

You might not realize how much chiropractic effects your overall health, and we want you and your family to be as healthy as possible. This holds especially true during the holidays, when it is harder to hold back. For more tips and tricks, just ask during your next adjustment or contact us. We want to help you to stay in frightfully good shape!