Healthy Treat Ideas for the Holiday Season

Holidays are exciting and fun moments to children and adults alike. The last quarter of the year is the usual time for several major holidays that any kid is looking forward.  As part of celebrating holidays feasts and treats are served. Like in most holiday food has become the center of the celebration. Most families would serve elaborate dishes, fancy desserts and sweet yummy treats that are usually loaded with calories and contain too much fat.

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The holidays have become a challenge for most moms – thinking and planning for meals is part of it. If you have kids you sure know how hard it is to control their eating during these special celebrations. That is why as a responsible parent you should be able to provide your children with healthy alternatives such as healthier holiday treats. Whether you are celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas you should provide healthy food options for your family.

The Bad Effects of Unhealthy Holiday Treats

Most holiday treats are loaded with sugar, fat and carbohydrates. All of these would often result in ‘sugar high’ and mood swings in children and soon it will be followed by fatigue and irritability. The long term bad effects would be weight gain from eating too much sugar and carbs. Refine white sugar found in most processed foods are known to weaken the immune system by drastically decreasing the number of white cells which are essential in fighting off infection.

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Halloween Healthier Treats
Kids get so excited when Halloween is just around. This is the season of giving out and receiving treats in forms of candies, sugary snack food and fattening bars. As a parent you would not want to take out the fun stuff from this holiday event instead you could bring in more good healthy food treats that kids would love. Kids would want to receive chocolates on their baskets- good old fashion homemade chocolate goodies are better tasting and healthier. Homemade chocolates are very easy to do. You could go check out your local baking supplies store for chocolate molds and ingredients. Choose semisweet chocolate and skim milk instead of the regular milk chocolate. Pack them in creative Halloween theme.

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Having a Healthy Family on Thanksgiving 
Celebrating Thanksgiving means having a festive dinner with the family and some close friends. In this holiday event the food is the usual highlight. Most hosts would serve Thanksgiving treats for kids while waiting for the festive meal and processed snack foods are often the best choice for this. If you happen to host a Thanksgiving party it would be a smart move to include healthier snack for the kids. Serve some fruits on a stick by skewering fruit bite pieces into it or serve them on a platter. One great idea is to serve fruit slices with a nonfattening chocolate dip that would be a sure hit these kids would love.

Smart Healthy Eating for Kids during Christmas

Christmas is a very special holiday where the focus of this season is the gift giving. The Christmas season would begin this December and during this time many would have some parties and Christmas goodies are being handed out. Instead of giving out the familiar chocolate chip cookies why not baked your own healthier cookie alternative. Delicious but nutritious home baked oatmeal raisin cookies are surely a welcoming treat for anybody's kids and adults too.

About the Author: Michelle is a writer for My Food, a leading provider of healthy delivery diets in and around the UK.