5 Ways to Use Halloween Candy to Your Active Child’s Advantage
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Halloween candy often becomes a villain in parents’ lives who want to fight against cavities, sugar crashes, and excess calories for their child. As a dietitian, I always encourage a balanced diet, which includes whole foods and limited foods in saturated fats and added sugars; however, I also remind my clients that it’s completely normal for a child to want to celebrate a holiday tradition or not eat the healthiest every single day.
Especially for families with children in sports, diet can be critical when it comes to performance and growth, so knowing how to use nutrition as a tool can be helpful for your active child’s success. This blog aims to offer creative ways for your child to enjoy their Halloween candy while still aligning with their sport-related goals.
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1.Use it as their “quick” carbohydrate source
Candy is generally made with added sugars, which also means candy is made up of simple sugars. The benefit of simple sugars is that it is easily absorbed by the body, meaning it may help provide the body with a quick source of energy.
If your child is involved in a sport, I always recommend a quick carbohydrate source prior to practice. This allows your child to have additional energy to spend during actual practice. Often times these snacks may look like pretzels, crackers, fruit, gummies, energy bars or energy balls, however if you are trying to find a mindful way to get rid of your child’s Halloween Candy, you can swap out these snacks for the Halloween candy.
As a reminder, it’s essential that you pay attention to serving sizes when making this swap. Too much sugar may lead to a crash, cause fullness, or lead to unintentional excess calories.
2. Use it as their after practice protein source
Some candies actually have a decent amount of protein in them, making Halloween candy a potential source of protein. For example, the Reese’s Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Pumpkins contain 4 grams of protein per serving. Since it is also candy, then it’s also a source for carbohydrates.
After a practice, it’s important that your child has carbohydrates and protein together to help optimize muscle recovery and growth, so a candy with protein in it can be a helpful combo.
With this example, pair one Reese’s Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Pumpkin with 2 oz of turkey deli meat to have a high protein + carbohydrate snack after practice.
As an additional reminder, it’s always important that you pay attention to serving sizes when making this swap from usual protein + carbohydrate sources because it may lead to a crash, fullness, or unintentional excess calories.
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3. Use Halloween candy in energy balls or bars
Many energy ball/bar recipes include something sweet in it like chocolate chips in it. Try replacing the chocolate chips with M&M’s or crushed candy bars you child may have received. This way your child still gets to enjoy the candy, but still put it into use into a useful snack.
Keep in mind that candy has a lot of added sugar in it, so if a recipe calls for added sugar, like honey, you may want to not include it in the recipe or it may be too sweet.
4. Create a granola or trail mix
Just like energy ball and energy bar recipes, you can use Halloween candy in a granola or trail mix. Granola is great on top of yogurt or on it’s own and trail mix is generally a great protein + carbohydrate snack for after a practice.
Be mindful that these snacks can be higher in calories, so knowing what portion sizes to give your child will be important to avoid providing excessive calories or causing too much fullness during a practice.
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5. Use Halloween candy to build a healthier relationship with food
Children in sports may have a higher chance of having an eating disorder/disordered eating due to the physical demand and sometimes aesthetic demand of their sport. Sometimes this disordered eating isn’t intentional, but part of the culture of the sport, making it hard to even recognize that there may be a problem until physical symptoms manifest (e.g. low energy, injury, and/or poor growth).
Some sports may recommend a certain way of eating, however many of these diets are unrealistic, especially for a child who is developing physically, emotionally, and socially.
If Halloween is a holiday your family celebrates, then allowing your child to have Halloween candy can be a way to teach them a lesson on mindfulness, building a more positive relationship with food.
Allow them to recognize that desiring this yearly treat is normal and not something to frown upon. Normalizing candy isn’t pushing to making it a daily occurrence, but more to help your child understand it’s not forbidden but just a food product that is made up with specific ingredients that can be used as a source of energy or protein for the body when used mindfully. Choosing words carefully is the key to this lesson…avoiding categorizing foods as “good” and “bad”.
To reiterate, I always support a diet full of whole foods, however, unless your child requires restrictions for specific health reasons, there should be no reason that they can’t find a way to enjoy the experience of having candy on Halloween.
As you can see, there are also ways to use it as a tool, so that the candy doesn’t go to waste, but can be used as an appropriate source of energy.
Allowing your child to build a healthy relationship with food prevents the risk of eating disorders or disordered eating in their future, allowing your child to grow appropriately and perform their best.
-Maura Fowler, MPH, RDN, CPH