With Halloween creeping up on us, your little monsters may be ready to stuff their faces with candy.
A local nutritionist has tips on how to help your child avoid a sugar overload nightmare.
"I think parents need to have a plan on how they want to handle it with their children," said Registered Dietician and Nutrition Therapist Pamela Kelle. "I think Halloween is the perfect time to teach about moderation."
Kelle has worked with people when it comes to forming healthy habits for years.
She said when it comes to kids, it's all about teaching, not forcing.
"I work with a lot of people that have disordered eating problems in their life and a lot of them will point back to the fact that they were not allowed to have sugar as a kid, so they never learned about moderation," said Kelle.
She said first make sure your child eats more than just sugar before Halloween.
"Make sure that you have a good meal before you go out," said Kelle. "So it needs to have protein, complex carbohydrates that has some fiber, making sure you have plenty of water."
She also advises parents to be careful about how much value they put into how bad candy can be, especially since it's just one day when children will be consuming higher levels of sugar.
"Demonizing it and saying 'you should not have sugar' just makes it have a lot of magical value," said Kelle. "When you just let it be a fun food for a holiday that is part of American tradition, it's a lot easier to say 'let's pick out what we like.'"
She added to not take away the fun of Halloween, but spread the focus across the holiday for parts that don't necessarily involve.
"I think Halloween is tradition, it's family, it's costumes, it's parties, it's fun, it's decorating," said Kelle.
