Part of our nutrition journey to health and wellness is figuring out how to celebrate life, love our families and enjoy celebrations while still improving the health and nutrition offered by our food choices. Unfortunately, we have become a society that gets loved and gives love by offering up “sweets and treats” filled with sugar, a highly addictive and harmful substance to the human body. This ultimately makes us face the fact that an Easter Basket filled with marshmallow chickadees, jelly beans and malted milk eggs is not really a gift of love and celebration. So what can be done to keep the celebration fun and filled with love, without the monstrous sugar load? Here are some ideas to guide you in an Easter Basket Makeover:
1. Limit candy and sweets to one or two choices in a very small serving, choosing ingredients such as coconut, dark chocolate and nuts. The healthier fats will help to balance the sugar digestion better. Dark chocolate covered nuts are available in bulk nut sections of the grocery store and can be bagged up into party bags. Check out www.hailmerry.com for gift packs of healthier “cookies” made from whole food, quality fat ingredients.
2. Add a piece of fruit using small tangerines and baby bananas as a treat, or include dried mango or papaya as a special sweet.
3. Fill in the rest of the basket with non-food items such as blowing bubbles, Play dough, DVD’s, books, games, puzzles, harmonicas, dice, Matchbox cars, Frisbees, hair accessories, balls, flash drives, gift cards, loose coins or dollar bills in plastic eggs, cell phone accessories, a Slinky, post-it notes, notepads, pens, and pretty tissues. Check out www.vermontcountrystore.com for novelty and old fashioned toys.
Happy Hunting, Happy Spring, Happy Health!