The Candy Strategy

All foods can fit into a nutritious diet. Yes, even candy. In fact, Halloween is a fantastic opportunity to implement the principles of the SAGE Spotlight Program®, Variety, Balance and Moderation.

The goal of the SAGE Spotlight Program® is to encourage a fun and healthy relationship with all food. Teaching your child how to enjoy less nutritious foods, like candy, without going overboard is a useful skill. What better holiday to do that than Halloween?

Variety. Let your child test different kinds of candy to discover their likes and dislikes. Donate, give away or create candy experiments with the candy they don't like (http://www.candyexperiments.com/).

Moderation. Jointly develop a plan for how much candy they can eat each day or week. You may be surprised at how well they budget their future candy allowance.

Balance. Provide nutritious foods at snack time and meals. Knowing that your child is getting valuable nutrients can make indulging on candy easier for you to accept. Include your children in meal planning so they can see how you make room for treats.

Talk with your child about balancing nutritious foods with fun foods. Halloween is once a year, but the opportunity to incorporate treats into a healthy diet happens often. So instead of dreading the candy fight, relax and use this as an opportunity to teach your child lifelong eating strategies.