Halloween is a favorite holiday for many families. We love the parties, the spooky decorations, and parading around the neighborhood in frightfully delightful costumes. But celebrating with enormous amounts of sugar can make it downright dreadful!  I have some tips for a healthy Halloween that you’ll appreciate!

If you’re like me, you’re bracing yourself for the endless negotiations with your kids for treats at parties and on Halloween night. And you’re also wanting to avoid the inner battle of whether you should binge on left over candy.

Over-consumption of sugar right now can lower your immune system response, damage beneficial gut flora, and make you more likely to get sick. And no doubt, if you continue to indulge after the holiday, it can negatively affect your physique.

Is it possible to have a healthy Halloween without taking away all the fun?

Absolutely!

Here are several tips you can try that will get you through this festive time, without any regrets.

5 Tips for A Healthy Halloween

1. Bring healthy Halloween party food

Who said Halloween party food has to be sugary and full of artificial colors and flavors? You can bring healthy items that everyone will enjoy eating. Here are a few ideas you may want to try:

Tangerine Pumpkins and Banana Ghosts by Weelicious

3. Prepare for trick-or-treating with balanced meals

For the days surrounding Halloween, you can help prepare your child’s body for the treats to come by making sure they eat 3 well-balanced meals.

What does this mean? See here for my specific dietary advice for kids.  Basically, I recommend school-age children get approximately:

• 50% of calories from complex carbohydrates (mostly veggies & fruits with twice as many veggies, limit grains to 2-3 servings/day)
• 25-30% protein (free-range organic meat, fish, eggs, whole-fat yogurt, nuts, seeds, quinoa, and beans)
• 20-25% fat (olives, avocado, coconut, macadamia nuts, butter, egg yolk, fatty fish like salmon, flax oil)

Adding good fats to your child’s diet is critical to helping with blood sugar balance. It may also help keep them full longer, so they’re less likely to binge on candy.

You can also help manage blood sugar surges by taking a shot of apple cider vinegar diluted in water prior to each meal. It may be hard for children to accept, but they may try it if you say it’s necessary before eating candy.

4. Limit candy consumption

Last year I tried to be a cool mom by letting my son gorge on as much candy as he wanted when he returned home from trick or treating. And for the first time in his life he passed out during bedtime stories before 9pm. For us, this was a huge deal because my son has never been one to “crash” and has always been a night owl.

He thinks this story is hilarious. I think it’s horrifying. And I’m not going to do it again.

This year, we’re going to have a healthy, fatty snack after trick-or-treating and maybe just a few pieces of candy. And it will be given this way for a few days until we decide what to do with the rest of the candy. Perhaps that will work for your family too.

Now the #5 tip, what do you do with all that candy?

5. Give the candy away

It’s hard to fully embrace a healthy lifestyle if you’re eating handfuls of leftover Halloween candy each day. To resolve this problem, consider…

• Making a deal with your child – I know some parents who trade money for their candy, or toys for candy. There’s also the Switch Witch who leaves a special gift in exchange for piles of candy.

• Donate the candy – Operation Gratitude collects candy through their Halloween Candy Give-back for deployed troops & first responders. You can find a participating company, club, or dentist in your area at this link. Here in Redwood City, CA Roy Dental is one of the donation spots.

• Dump it – my son usually forgets about the candy after a few days, so I just keep a handful and either throw the rest out (because really, candy is not good for anyone), or my husband takes it to work. This year, we’ll try to donate it.

How do you deal with the sugar overload during Halloween? Do you have any rules for your family about candy? We’d love to hear how you manage!  Please let us know your own tips for a healthy Halloween!

When it comes to seasonal foods of Autumn, I think most everyone in the U.S. would agree that pumpkin is at the top!  I have some healthy pumpkin recipes for you in this article that will satisfy your craving for this tasty squash.

I wrote earlier about my love of of Fall and how it’s necessary to change our activity level, diet, and lifestyle in order to stay healthy throughout the season. Incorporating pumpkin into your diet is a great way to adjust and also add some variety and flare to your family kitchen.

Nutritional Benefits of Pumpkin

In addition to being a yummy food, fleshy pumpkin pulp is a valuable remedy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) dietetics. Pumpkin has a cool and sweet nature according to TCM. Therefore, it can help with many “heat” or inflammatory conditions such as dysentery, diabetes, eczema, and stomachaches.

Pumpkin seeds are just as valuable as the pulp. They’re high in protein, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, copper, vitamin E, and have many other nutritional benefits.

In TCM, pumpkin seed (called Nan gua zi) is an effective herbal remedy for prostate and bladder issues and is strong enough to expel stubborn parasites.

How to Incorporate Pumpkin Into Your Diet

If the thought of working with a whole pumpkin in the kitchen sounds too daunting, no worries. You can buy canned or boxed pumpkin  (BPA-free) instead and pumpkin seeds from most grocery stores. We like eating raw, sprouted seeds in our house, like this Go Raw brand.

The beginning of the school year is a great time to  assess your kid’s health in preparation for the challenges that come in Autumn.  Sadly, I’m not just talking about the common cold, influenza, or temporary childhood diseases.  Asthma attacks have been shown to spike during the Fall, which can be scary for many parents.  I’m sharing with you some hope though, since this information about Chinese Medicine for Pediatric Asthma can dramatically improve your child’s health.

Children often become sick in the Fall because of stressors like:

• Fluctuating hot-cold Fall weather can be difficult for their bodies to adjust to.
• Being packed in small classrooms with infectious kids (there’s always at least one runny nose in the room, right?!)
• Having compromised gut flora and depressed immune systems from a Summer full of sugar, high exposure to chlorine in pools, and a recent round of vaccinations.
• Low vitamin D stores if they were constantly covered-up with sunscreen outside in the summer and were not getting dietary supplements.

The increase in asthma this time of year is usually explained by cold & flu viruses progressing to and irritating the lungs.  However, medical doctors also say that it’s because of colder, lung-constricting weather, and mold allergies.

Asthma Statistics, an Increasing Concern

Asthma is a really, really big deal, as parents who have a child with this condition know. Breath is life and heart breaking to watch your child gasping for it. Here’s some statistics that may interest you:

• Asthma is on the rise and children are effected the most, according to CDC statistics (8.4% of children with asthma vs. 7.6% of adults in 2015).
• It accounted for 1.6 million emergency room visits in 2013 alone.
• Asthma attacks result in thousands of deaths each year.

Parents should be concerned about these statistics because asthma can develop at ANY time during adolescence. Just because your child doesn’t have it today doesn’t mean they won’t have it soon, especially if they already have an inflammatory condition like food/seasonal allergies, eczema, and chronic ear & sinus infections.

Also, the standard medicines used to manage asthma are clearly not enough to bring morbidity down. Though the prescribed medications are very effective for calming attacks, there are serious side effects. Bronchodilators are stimulating like caffeine, so they may cause increased heart rate, insomnia, and hyperactivity. Steroids, on the other hand, can cause immune suppression and growth delays.

There is another hope in managing asthma in children that is complementary to the current Western medical approach – an older system from the East that focuses more on the energetic as well as physiological imbalances that makes certain children more susceptible to asthma: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

TCM For Childhood Asthma

What makes TCM most attractive as a complementary approach for asthma is that it is individualized for the patient. Their symptoms and presentation are taken into account, along with other Chinese Medicine diagnostic cues.  This input then guides the practitioner to the appropriate treatment.

(It’s often an imbalance involving Lung energy, which is the organ/channel system that relates to Autumn!)

Specific acupoints are stimulated through gently-placed needles or noninvasive methods like laser, shonishin, or Tuina acupressure massage.  This balances the child’s energy, essentially teaching the body how to heal itself. From a biomedical perspective, this stimulation helps to reduce inflammation, reduce bronchospasm in the case of asthma, and bolster the immune system.

Chinese herbal remedies aid in the reduction of inflammation and bronchospasm too. Also, they address the root energetic imbalance that is present. So for pediatric asthma, herbs that tonify the Lungs, Spleen, and Kidney organs are usually prescribed.

Most TCM practitioners advise on whole food nutrition, which sustains the effects of acupuncture and herbs and sets your child up for a lifetime of healthy eating based on their personal constitution.

Skilled practitioners can also teach your child relaxation techniques that will keep the airway relaxed when your child feels an attack coming on. They can have their inhaler handy, but may not need to use it!

Here’s a wonderful article with greater detail: Childhood Asthma – The Traditional Chinese Medicine Approach

Asthma sufferers have reported that TCM treatments result in:

• Symptom relief – deeper breathing, less wheezing, greater physical endurance
• A decrease in asthma attacks
• Less dependence on medications

Next Steps For Healing Your Child’s Asthma Naturally

If your child has asthma or if anyone in the family has respiratory issues, you can get a head start on the healing by doing working with these 10 Acupressure Points for Asthma.  It’s a super easy protocol that will provide great relief with regular sessions!

Of course it’s best if you also seeing a TCM practitioner.  If your child doesn’t have asthma, but is at risk, they can receive wellness treatments that will keep them strong and prevent asthma from happening in the first place. The time to help them is now.

It may also be worthwhile to talk to your child’s teachers and see if they can incorporate mindfulness practices in the classroom (perhaps at the same time also making sure you’re on the same page about discipline and the way your child is treated in class).

Please reach out to me if you have any questions about treating your child’s ADD/ADHD naturally. I offer free consultations where we can discuss more about how TCM, whole food nutrition, and mindfulness can help your family. Well wishes to you…

Can you feel the energetic pull as we descend into Autumn? The yang energy of the sun has been decreasing since the summer solstice in June.  It continues to go down as we traverse Autumn and slide toward the Winter solstice. Yin energy therefore becomes greater and we feel the need to slow down, to stay inside more, to reflect on the past, to appreciate what we have in our life now, and to honor the simple moments that make life so sweet.  In Autumn, self-care should be a priority.

Prevent Imbalances With Autumn Self-Care According to Traditional Chinese Medicine

I LOVE this time of year and all that it usually brings up for me. But for some of us, this transition is not so pleasant. If we refuse to listen to the call of nature to adjust our lifestyle with the season, we are more prone to energetic disharmonies that then manifest as physical illness.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Lung and Large Intestine organs are associated with Autumn and disharmonies tend to arise in these organs and the channels that flow through them when our Qi (vital energy) is depleted or stuck. This can result in a breakdown of immune function and make us more prone to infection.

A couple of my friends were already sick with pneumonia in September. And I’ve noticed with myself that unchecked stress can lead to a tight neck (around Large Intestine acupoints) and constipation. Lung and large intestine disharmony can also show up on the skin with conditions such as acne, rashes, or dryness.

Tonifying Lung qi and dispersing Large Intestine qi is something that we can all focus on this season.  Here are 5 Autumn self-care rituals that help us address these imbalances.

Autumn Self-Care Rituals

1. Nadi Shodana breathing practice

The Large Intestine meridian runs bilaterally from the radial side of the index finger, along the lateral elbow crease, up to the top of the shoulder, along the side of the neck and crosses the face to end at the opposite nostril. This is one reason why keeping the nose clear is energetically important for staying healthy this season. Also, the lungs are intimately connected with the throat and nostrils since they are the entryway for breath in respiration.

Nadi Shodana is a wonderful way to keep the channel clear while also strengthening the lungs. It’s also a very calming breath practice and one I choose to do when my mind is racing and it’s too difficult to just meditate on the moment. So it’s a great preparation for meditation. Here’s a peaceful video to show you how, or keep reading below for my instructions.

Nadi Shodana is translated as “nadi cleansing”, with nadis being the energetic tributaries (synonymous with the meridians in TCM) that contain and mobilize Prana (vital energy in yoga, synonymous with Qi).

Instructions for Nadi Shodana

To begin, come into a comfortable seated position with your spine erect.

Allow your left hand to rest in your lap. With the right hand, lightly place the thumb on the right nostril and the ring and pinky fingers on the left nostril. The index and middle fingers can rest in between the eyes or you can tuck them into your hand.

Close the right nostril and exhale completely out the left.

The cycle starts with the next breath, inhaling through the left nostril. Close the left, open the right and exhale. Inhale through the right. Close the right and exhale through the left. That is the end of the cycle.

I try to do at least 10 cycles and then sit for a brief period of meditation.

2. Meditative Yin yoga

Yin Yoga is a fabulous way to indulge in Autumn self-care.  We described the channel flow for the Large Intestine with Nadi Shodana breathing, above. The Lung meridian is the Yin partner to the Yang Large Intestine. The Lung channel runs bilaterally from the lung to the inner side of the upper arm, through the elbow crease, along the radius of the forearm, ending at the outer edge of the thumb nail.

Whenever we mindfully bear weight on the arms or stretch the chest and arms, we are mobilizing Prana/Qi and blood through the Lung & Large Intestine meridians.

Try holding the shapes below for 2-5 minutes with slow, deep breaths. With each inhalation, imagine that you’re dilating the meridians and nourishing each cell in the whole body. With the exhalation we are letting go of tension, stress, old ideas/habits, and anything that does not serve our wellbeing and that of others.

From upper left corner clockwise: Seated Meditation, Quarter Dog, Supine Twist, Twisted Child’s Pose.

3. Eat Autumn fruits and vegetables

Acupuncture and herbs can resolve just about any disharmony, but only in conjunction with a balanced diet. Most of us should be eating larger portions of organic vegetables and some fruits, preferably grown on a local farm.

In TCM, we also consider the character and taste of the food to balance our systems. Dryness in any form (dry skin, a dry cough, dry intestines, etc.) is common in Autumn, and once again related to an imbalance of Lung/Large Intestine energy. The following vegetables and fruits are in season now (or soon) and benefit the lungs and large intestine by adding moisture and clearing heat & dryness (from Maoshing Ni’s The Tao of Nutrition):

• Apple
• Beet
• Bok choy
• Cabbage
• Daikon radish
• Orange
• Pear
• Persimmon
• Pumpkin (all winter squash)
• Spinach

4. Move your bowels every morning

What? Not an easy suggestion for you? TCM has mapped out the hours of the day where Qi moving through the organs and meridians is most plentiful. For the Large Intestine, the hours are 5-7am. If you are hydrated, if you are eating a balanced diet, if you are going to bed before 10pm and rising with the sun, and if you are emotionally and energetically balanced, then you will typically have a bowel movement at this time of the day.

Here are some other suggestions to help regulate your bowels:

• Massage your abdomen in the evening, then again in the morning if your bowel movement is not timely. Massaging the sacrum in a downward movement can also encourage bowel movements.  Try this acupressure sequence to relieve constipation.
• Use essential oils such as tangerine and doTERRA’s DigestZen in a carrier oil for the abdominal and sacral massage. Using castor oil as the carrier has a much stronger action on the bowels (use caution when pregnant).
• Practice forward bends, gentle twists, and stretch/massage to let go of any shoulder and neck tension at night before bed (which will help with your sleep too!)
• Supplement with probiotics and eat fermented foods (yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles, etc.)
• Drink a large glass of water upon waking and meditate, focusing your energy down. (Do not start the morning with reading potentially stressful emails or going onto social media – a habit that I’m trying to break too!)

5. Light outdoor exercise

Of course getting outdoor exercise is a good suggestion for anytime of the year. But it is especially important as the days get shorter to help prevent Seasonal Affective Disorders. If you are prone to seasonal depression, any amount of sunlight can help pull you up and out. And stimulating Lung Qi with brisk walks, cycling, kayaking on a lake or anything where you can exercise and also appreciate nature can help you deal with feelings of grief and regret that often come up this time of year.

I need to emphasize that the exercise should be light. Overdoing it will lead to exhaustion of your Qi & fluids.

Hopefully you can adopt at least a few of these practices to help you with Autumn self-care. If you’d like more advice, here is an article I wrote in my old yogic parenting blog on Communing with Nature that might help you appreciate outside time from a TCM perspective. And while I’m at it, here’s an old piece on Autumn Reflection that can help as well.