Tricks for Healthy Halloween Treats

Tricks for Healthy Halloween Treats

April 8th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Halloween is the holiday that children anticipate and dentists dread. While every holiday has its traditional treats, none can quite compare to Halloween for sheer sugar overload. Halloween doesn’t have to be a junk food nightmare, however. You can balance the scales a little by making some healthier treats at home to accompany the trick or treating goodies.

Naturally Sweet

Fruit may be the closest thing nature offers to candy, and it won’t be a tough sell to get your kids to eat some Halloween treats that are both sweet and healthy thanks to some spooky fruit recipes.

Make a healthy jack-o-lantern using an orange instead of a pumpkin. Hollow out a navel orange and cut out a face just like you would a pumpkin. Then fill your mini jack-o-lantern with tasty treats such as fruit salad, gelatin squares or crunchy nuts – whatever creative and healthy filling you can think of!

Caramel apples are a great way to combine a sweet treat with healthy fruit. You can buy caramel dip at the store, or make your own at home. They are delicious with just the caramel, but you can also dip them in nuts for an added touch and crunch.

Turn grapes into eerie eyeballs by cutting a small opening and pressing a raisin into one end. A bowlful of these creepy but tasty and healthy treats are sure to please your little ones!

Shape It Up

Turn all kinds of healthy foods into Halloween treats with cookie cutters. Pick up shapes like a pumpkin, ghost, and cat, and get creative. Make breakfast fun by cutting pancakes or toast into ghost shapes, and covering with a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar to turn them white. A couple of raisins make perfect eyes!

At lunchtime, use a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter on a grilled cheese sandwich, and then cut eyes and a mouth. If you cut while the cheese is still warm, you’ll get a creepy oozing of cheese into the openings. You can do the same with peanut butter and jelly. Or make a jack-o-lantern face on a quesadilla, the round shape is perfect!

Cut Halloween shapes into pitas or another flat bread, and then bake until crispy. Serve your creepy crackers with black bean dip, or salsa. Or, cut shapes out of cheese slices for a matching accompaniment to the crackers.

Devilishly Delicious Drinks

Serve up fun Halloween beverages that will refresh without a ton of sugar. For a fizzy treat, mix orange juice with sparkling water, and add a touch of blood red by drizzling grenadine slowly into the glass.

Add fun to any Halloween drink by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water in your ice cube trays. Red and orange are great Halloween colors. Make your ice cubes extra creepy by freezing a small plastic spider into each cube!

Be Realistic

Keeping Halloween healthier is a great goal, but don’t cut out the candy altogether. Denying your kids the Halloween treats they have been waiting for won’t win you any fans. The goal for this sugary holiday should be to teach moderation, self-control, and also show kids that healthy foods can be fun and delicious too.

If you can get this message across successfully, you will raise kids who know how to enjoy a treat, but won’t turn their back on healthy snacks.

Do Pregnancy and Cats Mix?

Do Pregnancy and Cats Mix?

March 10th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

You are absolutely ecstatic! You have just found out that you are pregnant and what better cause for celebration and jubilation. You want to shout it from the roof tops and share it with everyone you know, including your beloved pet. However, you have been told by someone who was told by someone that cats can carry a disease that can harm your baby. Is it true? Do you have to give up your precious cat?

Well, you will be relieved to know that the answer to this question is NO. Just having a cat during your pregnancy is harmless. However, you will have to make one major change, because there is a risk of disease. This change, unless you are already very fortunate not to have this job as part of your chores, is that you must stop cleaning the litter box.

“Woohoo”, you shout. No more litter box scooping. Yes, this is a nice side bonus of being pregnant. If you are on your own for any reason and need to clean the litter box, then wear rubber gloves and wash your hands thoroughly after you are finished. So why all the fuss? The name of the disease that can be transmitted is called toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasmosis is generally transmitted to outdoor cats from a parasite that they pick up from prey that they eat or from contaminated soil. Indoor cats rarely have a chance of infection. If you work outdoors in your garden, then you should also wear gloves. Humans can also contract the disease from coming into contact with or eating raw or undercooked meat.

This means that if you eat meat, then you also need to take precautions. Of course, safe handling of meat is always a concern, but when pregnant you need to be even more diligent. Ensuring you do not cut meat and other food on the same cutting board and that you clean up thoroughly after handling and cutting raw meat is essential.

Of course, you might already carry immunity to toxoplasmosis. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that more than 60 million people in the US carry the parasite that causes the disease, but few show the symptoms of it because the human immune system generally keeps the parasite under control.

The symptoms of toxoplasmosis are often not present, but when they are present they are usually flu-like symptoms that last for a few weeks. Once gone, the parasite lies dormant and will remain that way unless the immune system becomes compromised. However, in the unborn child there can be severe consequences if infection occurs. The child’s neurological and ocular development can be compromised. Miscarriage is also possible.

Of course, if the pregnant woman already has immunity to toxoplasmosis, then the baby will also have that immunity. It is only when the mother contracts the disease for the first time while pregnant that the unborn child is in danger. If you take the precautions mentioned above and avoid cleaning the litter box or handling raw meat, you should be able to safely go through your pregnancy without concern. You can enjoy the feeling of being pregnant and you can still enjoy your first baby – your cat. After all, we do love our pets and you will want your child to grow up with the joys of having a cat in the house. Rest assured that you can do so safely.