Creative costumes, haunted houses, and trick-or-treating make Halloween one of the year’s most interesting and fun holidays.
On Friday, October 31, children disguised as witches, clowns, ghosts and action heroes will race door-to-door asking neighbors to fill their bags with all sorts of treats. This Halloween, the American Heart Association says don’t be scared to offer trick-or-treaters healthy snacks … so kids don’t get “tricked” into treats high in cholesterol or fat.
American Heart Association national scientific statements have recommended that schools should teach and encourage heart-healthy behavior to reduce the number of children who are overweight, physically inactive, and engaging in unhealthy habits such as smoking.
A “frightening” trend noted in American Heart Association scientific statements, and cited in many national surveys, is the dramatic increase in the prevalence of overweight and obese children and youth in our country. Obesity rates have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents over the last 20 years, says the American Heart Association. One in seven young people is obese and one in three is overweight.
Halloween can bring out the sweetest monster in all of us! Consider these tips to keep your ghosts and goblins a little healthier along the way, and Happy Halloween!
1. Feed’em First - make sure your kids are fueled up for trick-or-treating with a healthy snack or meal before they go trick-or-treating so they do not dip into their treats.
2. Pillow Cases are for Pillows - give the kids smaller treat bags like recycled grocery bags so they will not bring home too many sweets, and keep the pillowcases and trash bags at home!
3. Surprise ‘em with Health, not Horror - Be the healthy house on the block by offering treats like pre-packaged snack-sized dried fruit, pretzels, or baby carrots.
4. Give ‘em Treasures for Treats - Hand out boxes of crayons, stickers, colored pencils, erasers, Halloween tattoos (the removable kind!), or rubber spiders!
5. Patrol Those Treats - After inspecting all treats to make sure they’re safe, remind the kids to eat their treats in moderation, so they last longer (wink, wink).
The American Heart Association says keep the fun in Halloween, but think about offering your neighborhood trick-or-treaters healthy treats, such as individually wrapped packages of raisins or other dried fruit; animal crackers; trail mix; pretzels or sugar-free gum.
These snacks are all healthy substitutes for sweets that may be high in calories and fat. Offering nutritious snacks will help children maintain a healthy lifestyle and promote cardiovascular health. Obese and overweight children are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. Being overweight increases the strain on the heart and raises blood pressure and blood cholesterol. Overweight children are more likely to be overweight adults. In fact, studies show that a 12 year-old child who is overweight has a 75 percent chance of becoming an overweight adult.
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation
In response to the obesity epidemic facing the country, the Healthy Schools Program was launched on May 3, 2005 by the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, with funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and in collaboration with members of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a network of organizations and individuals concerned with childhood obesity and physical inactivity among America’s youth by focusing on a 10-year initiative to prevent childhood obesity and create healthier lifestyles for our nation’s youth.
About the American Heart Association
Founded in 1924, the American Heart Association today is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to reducing disability and death from diseases of the heart and stroke. These diseases, America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers, and all other cardiovascular diseases claim over 870,000 lives a year. In fiscal year 2005-06 the association invested over $543 million in research, professional and public education, advocacy and community service programs to help all Americans live longer, healthier lives. To learn more, call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or visit americanheart.org.
