Have a Happy and Healthy Halloween with The 1:1 Diet

More than ghosts and ghouls, Halloween is known for the sweet treats and sugar filled goodies. Whether you are a parent who is watching their weight, your kid responds badly to sugar, or you just want to teach healthy eating and nutritious alternatives to junk food, this article is for you.

Our expert The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan Consultants from around Spain have shared their favourite ways to avoid the temptation and empty calories from all the traditional Halloween goodies and substitute them with healthy alternatives.

Here are our three favourite ways to stay away from the sweet stuff, we’d love to hear what you do in your family.

1. Make healthy snacks with a fun Halloween twist

With a little effort, you can make snacks that look amazing on the table and everyone will love to eat, but which are based around natural ingredients. Here are a few simple and effective ideas -

Banana Ghosts - Turn a banana into a ghost by cutting it in half, standing it up on the cut edge and giving it eyes and a mouth using three chocolate chips

Spider Sandwiches – Cut wholemeal bread into rounds, fill with a filling of your choice and add olive eyes and pretzel stick legs. Lots of fun, filling and delicious too.

Veggie Skeleton – This is a great one for anyone following a low-calorie diet. Cut up raw vegetables into crudité sticks and arrange into a skeleton shape, with a bowl of low-fat dip as the head. You might even be able to tempt the kids with some red pepper, cucumber or carrot “bones”

Tangerine Pumpkins – There are two ways you can do this and they are both highly effective. Draw faces onto the peel of your tangerine, or peel them and then use a stick of celery in the middle to make it look like a pumpkin 

Here are some other great healthy Halloween snacks to try

2. Throw a healthy Halloween party – with no trick or treating involved

Prepare some of the healthy snacks above and organize some fun and creative activities for your little witches and devils. When they are having so much fun, no one will miss the sweets! Here are some ideas –

• Bob for apples in the garden
• Make Halloween masks
• Make wands for your little Harry Potters and Hermione Grangers – all you need is wooden chopsticks, string, PVA glue and brown paint and you can make a great result that the kids will love.
• Try a Halloween Scavenger Hunt – this is good reading practice and gets the kids moving too
• Mix up a potion or two – We’ve tried this activity and the kids absolutely love to make these. Adults can also mix up non-alcoholic mocktail potions, which will make it easier if you’re trying to stay off the booze.

There are many more great ideas online from Halloween colouring and crafts to recipes. Let us know what you do! 

3. Arrange a visit from the Switch Witch

If your kids are invited trick or treating or to Halloween parties and bring lots of sweets home, you can introduce them to the Switch Witch. This is a good witch who visits children’s homes in the night and swaps their Halloween sweeties for a toy. This is very popular for kids and parents a like – but just be careful that you’re not tempted by all the sweeties yourself!  Find out more about how to introduce the Switch Witch into your Halloween routine.  

We hope these ideas have helped inspire you to enjoy a healthier Halloween for the whole family this year. For more nutritional advice and guidance on how to slim down with the help of a clinically proven diet program with delicious products please contact your nearest The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan Consultant. They will be with you every step of the way to help you break bad habits and learn to eat right and get active at a healthy weight for you.