Reduce the sugar high that’s just waiting for your little trick-or-treaters this Halloween by making homemade goodies, instead of buying bags of candy or grocery store cupcakes. These are the perfect way to treat the kids to some festive snacks without nose-diving into fat, sugar and calories.
Plus, you can put their busy little hands to work to help you prepare these for their school parties or for a fun-filled Halloween night at home.
Trick or Treat Trail Mix
A simple snack to fill goody bags, or just keep handy during a scary movie, this trail mix takes minutes to prepare. Pretzles, reduced-fat cheese crackers, dried fruits, nuts and a few M&M candies will have them asking for more!
Sugar-Free Dirt and Worms
This is a funny little snack that sends imaginations running wild. Fill tiny flower pots or Halloween paper cups with pumpkin pudding, homemade granola and sugar-free gummy worms you make yourself for an unforgettable treat.
By day, guest blogger Maris Callahan is a publicist in New York City. In her spare time, she is a freelance writer and food blogger at In Good Taste, a blog about cooking and eating good healthy food when you’re busy or on-the-go (with a few indulgences, because everyone needs those!) When she isn’t cooking or writing she enjoys running, knitting, photography and a good latte.
We all know to put honey in our tea when we have sore throats, but most of us don’t stop to ask why. For centuries, honey has been used as a topical application to help prevent infection, due to naturally occurring antiseptic and antibacterial qualities. With the invention of antibiotics, this practice became less frequent, but consuming honey is still said to have health benefits and might even reduce sensitivity to certain environmental allergens.
The weather is cooling off, and now is the perfect time to get out there and exercise. It’s so much easier to run, walk, bike or skate when it’s not a million degrees out with 500% humidity. Fall is my favorite season, and one of the greatest things about fall is eating home style soups, stews and the like.
What do those three sentences have in common and how can you use that commonality to your advantage while pursuing healthy eating? Both call for easy, hearty meals, and both can be resolved with my greatest kitchen friend – the slow cooker. Thick, rich, hearty soups and stews are comforting and filling, and can be made inexpensively – always a bonus in these tough economic times.
When you think of soup, do you think of a health food or a heart attack? Believe it or not, most people consider soups to be more harmful to health than beneficial. But I’m here to help soup reach its full potential and earn its way back on your “health hero” list. In this post, I’ll explain the pros and cons of soups and I’ll show you how you can enjoy a bowl of healthful goodness no matter what your time availability or cooking skill level.
The Pro: A nutrition boost! Soups can be a wonderful way to get more veggies, fiber, and plant-based protein in your diet. Soups made with low-sodium broth, veggies, beans, and lean protein have a lot of nutrition to offer for 100-200 calories per serving.
The Con: Most people worry about the sodium content of soups so they avoid them altogether. The reality is you have room in your sodium “bank account” for about 600-700mg of salt per meal. If you generally eat a healthy breakfast and lunch then you have room for a soup-salad combo at dinnertime every once in awhile.
He’s back at the ranch and sure to bring even more healthy cooking knowledge! Tune in tonight, September 22, to the second episode of Biggest Loser to see what this attractive chef is serving. Curtis Stone is the Aussie chef who first showed up at Biggest Loser during season 7 with recipes so good it was hard to believe they were good for us. Now he’s back to help the newest cast of Biggest Loser contestants overcome their old habits in the kitchen by introducing healthier tips and tricks that anyone can use to make delicious, healthy meals.
Tonight Curtis also has a pop quiz prepared for the contestants, sure to test their nutrition knowledge. It might only be week two, but we’re hoping to see nothing but right answers.
If you missed his season seven appearance, then you must try these recipes:
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