Halloween is all about eating candy. There's no way to avoid it!

Answer: Halloween CAN be about more than eating candy.

Make Halloween about choosing healthy foods and being active. Consider these ideas:

1) Halloween can teach moderation in the foods we eat. Talk to your kids about balancing healthy food choices like fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk, whole grains, lean meat, fish and poultry and beans with small portions of foods with sugar and fat...like candy. When your child comes back from trick or treating, look to see what chocolate candies they have in their treat bag. Here are some calorie count comparisons:

1 fun size candy bar or package = about 80 - 90 calories, 1 bite size candy bar = about 50 calories. 1 regular size candy bar can be about 200 - 300 calories. A king size bar may be 400 - 500 calories.

Talk with your child about how to balance eating healthy low fat, low sugar foods with these treats.

2) Halloween can be about being active as a family. Trick or treating can be a family event. Make this family time ACTIVE time. If you have a pedometer, have your child put it on before trick or treating. Look at the number of steps the pedometer records after trick or treating. Use the University of Missouri Extension's MyActivity Pyramid Log for Kids to help your child log time spent walking while trick or treating. Help your child to keep logging the amount of time spent in other physical activities during the week.

3) Halloween can be learning about what is in our food. How much sugar is in the treats that your child brought home? Search the web to find the nutrition information for candy in your child's Halloween stash. Look at the sugar information on the Nutrition Facts label - find it under Total Carbohydrate on the label. Here is an interactive Nutrition Facts label to help you locate it. 4 grams equals 1 teaspoon of sugar. Together with your child, look at different candies and compare the number of teaspoons of sugar in the candies.

Halloween comes only once a year so candy is OK, right?

Answer: Well...let's think about this...

Halloween may come only once a year but the treats hang around for a l-o-n-g time. Do you want your children to think only about candy when they think of Halloween? Remember, your children watch you for cues about these and other holidays. Here are some ideas about how to balance the treats of Halloween with fun and reminders about good health, too.

1) Give healthy but kid-approved Halloween treats. You are likely to find yourself with leftover treats so make them healthy. Ask your kids to write down a list of healthy treats. To get you started here are some ideas: pretzels, dried fruit, animal crackers, low-fat popcorn. Here are more ideas. For a snack mix you can make yourself:
Mix and Go Snack Mix - 6 servings
1 cup raisins
1 cup "O's" whole grain cereal
1 cup unsalted, dry roasted peanuts*
*Use pretzels or soy nuts if you are concerned about using peanuts.
Directions: Wash hands and surfaces. Mix all of the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Serve.

2) Give non-food Halloween treats. Dollar stores are great places to find fun items. How about stickers, balls or sidewalk chalk? Here are more ideas for you.

3) If you have your heart set on giving candy, give small bite-size pieces.

Next time we'll explore more Halloween ideas!

"Enhanced waters" are a good choice when I'm thirsty, right?

Answer: Sorry...no.

The bottled water aisle used to take up much less room a few short years ago. Now it it has become an aisle of its own. "Enhanced waters" have everything from vitamins, minerals, protein, herbs, caffeine and fiber added to it, thus the term "enhanced." Here are 3 questions you should ask yourself when you reach for a bottle:

1. Do I need the extra calories or protein or whatever is in it? Many of these bottled waters have added sugar adding extra calories (70 to 125 calories) that we don't need. Drinking bottled water with extra calories/sugar is like drinking a soft drink. As for protein, most of us get more than enough protein from the foods we eat.

2. Is the claim on the bottle "for real?" Many ingredients added to enhanced waters have murky claims - just what does "relaxed," or "more energy" mean when it's on a label? Most of us are stressed out and need more energy. When we see a label that tells us that this product will help us feel less stressed and have more energy, we want to believe it. There are few, if any, studies available to back the claims. Find more about these drinks. As for the vitamins, minerals and fiber in the water - better to get what you need from foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, lean meat and low-fat dairy foods.

3. Can I afford it? The cost for these drinks adds up quickly. When they are on sale, they can be as low as $1 per bottle. If you only drink one bottle a day that adds up to an extra $7 a week! Consider the cost to the environment, too. If you are concerned about less packaging, as many are these days, you are adding more plastic to the environment when buying these bottled waters even if the bottle is recyclable.

Looking for some alternatives? Here are some refreshing drink ideas.

Myth: I just read that leafy greens and tomatoes are 2 of the riskiest foods to eat. Should I stop eating them because they can make me sick?

Answer: No!

Have you read the report about the ten riskiest foods to eat? Thinking about not eating your fruits & veggies? Well, think again. There are BIG benefits to eating fruits & vegetables. As part of an overall healthy diet they may reduce your risk for heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases as well as your risk for type 2 diabetes. Fruits & veggies also may protect you against some cancers, such as mouth, stomach, and colon cancer. Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories. Eating them can help you control your calorie intake.

The report does not suggest to stop eating fruits and vegetables. Instead it highlights the concern over foodborne illness. One in four Americans are sickened by foodborne illnesses and 5,000 die each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (These numbers are likely lower than actual since many people who get sick from food don’t report it.) An increasingly globalized food supply and eating out (50 cents of every food dollar is now spent on food prepared outside the home) are two of the many reasons that we may fall victim to foodborne illness. We have less control of the food that we eat and we rely on others to make sure our food is safe. Certainly more coordination is needed to make sure that our foods are safe.

What can you do to protect you and your family?

1. Be informed. Find food safety information.

2. Know how to handle fresh produce so it is safe to eat.

3. Consider buying local. Ask your local farmer/grower how they grow their fruits and vegetables. What are they doing to make sure the fruits and vegetables they sell are safe to eat?

Myth: My child gets enough physical activity.

Answer: You may be wrong!

9 out of 10 parents believe their children are physically fit, but in reality only 1 in 3 children are.

What can you do? Here are three things you can do right now:

1. Physical activity is important for your child – it helps to control weight, build lean muscle and reduce fat and it reduces feelings of depression and anxiety. Learn more at http://missourifamilies.org/quick/parentingqa/parentingqa95.htm Hint: some of these benefits can help you too!
   
2. Model being active with your child. Put a reminder to be active on your refrigerator – download the University of Missouri Extension’s MyActivity Pyramid for Kids. Consider getting involved in walking your child to school. Oct. 3 – 7, 2009 is Walk a Child to School Week. Here is information about Missouri Walk Your Child to School events
   
3. Be aware of the physical activity recommendations for you as an adult – 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate intensive aerobic activity each week (moderate intensity is when you can talk while you are active but you can’t sing) OR at least 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) of vigorous intensity aerobic activity each week (vigorous intensity is you can only say a few words without stopping to catch your breath). Do strength activities at least two times each week and flexibility activities at least two days each week for at least 10 minutes each day. Download the University of Missouri Extension’s MyActivity Pyramid for Adults to remind you to be active!