by Kelsey Murray

For many people, Easter is a religious holiday that causes them to meditate on the sacrifices their Creator made for them. For most children, however, Easter is all about the Bunny and the candy. For the parents of these children, Easter is about sugar-highs and trips to the dentist.

If you are a parent and want to give your children healthier candies and chocolates this year (or if you just have a sweet tooth yourself), consider these Easter sweets instead of your usual standbys.

Dark Chocolate Covered Nuts. Almonds, walnuts, cashews, and other nuts provide healthy fats that are essential for your body to function properly. Dark chocolate provides antioxidants while also lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol and boosting your mood (every woman knows that chocolate has magic mood-lifting powers). The combination of nuts and dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa) usually weighs in at 210 calories per 1.4 ounces while also providing 8 percent of your daily dietary fiber.

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Once in a while, a study comes around that just has to make health professionals a little squeamish. You know the kind – the ones that seem to not only contradict common sense, but also ends up as fuel for unhealthy people to justify bad eating habits.

This time around, a study is giving people who love their sweets a sweet surprise. Apparently candy and chocolate eaters tend to beat out those who don’t in the categories of waistline, weight, and body mass index (BMI).

But wait, there’s more.

Those in the study who ate candy and chocolate had a 14 percent lower risk of elevated blood pressure and a 15 percent decreased risk of metabolic syndrome (risk factors for heart disease and stroke).
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Would you eat four candy bars for breakfast? What if your kids asked for this for breakfast, would you let them? The answer is likely no, because it’s candy and we don’t eat that for breakfast. But did you ever stop to think that the things you typically grab for breakfast, for yourself or your kids, might as well be candy? It’s true! Most of our go-to breakfast items have as much sugar as our favorite candies. No wonder our kids can’t concentrate in school and we don’t have the energy to get through a 10 a.m. meeting without bum-rushing the coffee machine.

If you’re looking to make some healthy changes for the new year, we can tell you that changing the way you do breakfast should be a priority. The cliche that it’s the most important meal of the day is very true, and if you can conquer that meal, then you’ll be able to start conquering the others.

We compared 10 of the most popular breakfast items, some of which actually give the illusion of being health foods, to our favorite candies to show you that a cup of yogurt or bowl of cereal is sometimes no better than the treats Santa left in your stocking.
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You are working hard to minimize your intake of sugar and processed foods, but you don’t want your children to miss out on the fun of Halloween and dressing up and trick or treating. Maybe you want to minimize the sugar and processed food your children eat and teach them healthy eating habits.

What are you going to do with all that Halloween candy?!?

You could simply throw it out, but you risk complaints from the kids. Plus, what are you teaching them other than denying them indulgence? You could hide it in that cabinet above the refrigerator, hoping the kids (and you) forget about it- but will that work?
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Houses across America have either already been inundated with bucket loads of candy, or they’re starting to brace themselves for Sunday night’s onslaught. Kids aren’t the only victims of the sugar high and calorie binge that’s about to take place, moms and dads are just as, if not more, likely to dip their hands into the trick-or-treat stash.

What to do? Sure you could handout toothbrushes… but really? Temporary tattoos, scary baby carrots, goody bag yo-yos and sugar-free gum are all healthy alternatives, but where’s the fun in that? Put that candy to good use!

Go ahead and let your kids rake in as much candy as possible. Then, spend an afternoon experimenting with the candy! Instead of burning brain cells on refined sugar, fuel their brain cells with fun-filled knowledge.

We cruised around the Web and found some pretty cool candy experiments. All of these make for some cheap fun that uses all that Halloween loot in a practical, fun and non-wasteful way. Just like in high school chemistry… don’t eat anything in the lab!
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