5 Halloween Health Tips & Wellness Ideas

tips for a heart healthy halloween
Written by Ron Martin
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3 minutes

Around Halloween, it’s easy to be tempted by sugary treats and candy. Enjoying the season is one thing, but don’t let yourself lose sight of your health goals! To help you stay on track and fight the temptation, we’ve compiled some ways to make this Halloween heart healthy with Halloween health tips!

5 Halloween Health Tips & Wellness Ideas

1. Fill Up on the Good Stuff First

Whether you’re off to a Halloween party, going trick-or-treating with the children in your life, or staying in to pass out candy, make sure to eat a balanced meal full of protein, fruits, and vegetables and low in saturated fat and sodium. You can start with some fruit, and then have a quick, hearty meal like pork and chile stew, which will warm you up and keep you full so you’ll be less likely to reach for candy or other sugary sweets.

2. Make a Healthy Alternative

How many times have you gone to a Halloween party to find nothing but sweets, starchy snacks, alcohol, and soda? Take control over the parties you attend this year by offering to make a snack or appetizer to share. Add a festive twist to a low-fat chocolate pudding by creating a spiderweb out of the vanilla topping, or add a few cookie crumbles on top to make an adult version of dirt n’ worms. Or, add some fruit to the mix by making white chocolate-covered strawberries with ghost faces. The host will love the help and you can bet your fellow partygoers will appreciate alternative healthy options for Halloween.

3. Save the Candy for Trick-or-Treaters

If you’re planning on staying in this Halloween and think you’ll be tempted by that bag of candy, hold off buying it until the big day. If you think you’ll be tempted to eat a few bites while you’re handing out candy, consider handing out healthier alternatives, like hot chocolate packs, animal crackers, or granola bars. You can even hand out non-food items, like glow sticks, stickers, and temporary tattoos. You might find that children enjoy the added variety to their Halloween buckets!.

4. Get Moving

Trick-or-treating is more than a way for children to get candy - it’s exercise! Walking around the neighborhood for an hour or two is a great way to get in heart healthy exercise while spending quality time with the kids in your life. If you’re trick-or-treating this year, avoid temptations to eat candy throughout the night by making a healthy alternative to snack on, like homemade trail mix.

If you’re not trick-or-treating, you can still sneak in some exercise. Try our tips for getting more exercise or see if you can do some quick exercises between trick-or-treaters. With any luck, you’ll not only support your heart, but also distract yourself from snacking on your candy!

5. Give Away Extra Candy

If you bought way too much candy and are tempted to eat all the leftovers, give it away! Thousands of dentists across the country participate in Halloween Candy Buy Back Programs, which help you earn some money from your uneaten candy. Plus, participating dentists donate the candy to U.S. troops, so you can feel even better about your healthy choice. If you can’t find a buy back program near you, reach out to local nonprofits, children’s hospitals, or shelters to see if they’ll take the candy.

Halloween can be a season of temptation, but with the right preparation and mindset, you can recommit to your health goals and find creative ways to celebrate the holiday. Your healthy choices may even motivate those around you to follow your example. By providing alternative healthy options for Halloween, everyone's heart will thank you!

Written by:

Ron Martin

Director of Marketing

Ron Martin is the Director of Marketing at Kaneka Ubiquinol. Ron’s dedication to lifelong learning and belief that “one cannot know too much” inspired a decades-long career centered around educating the public about health.

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