by Wendy

The key to most fast food chains is targeting children. Growing up, going to McDonald’s was always something we looked forward. Our parents would order us happy meals, usually consisting of a hamburger, french fries, soda and a great toy, some sort of Disney character that would keep us occupied for hours.

However in recent years, Disney has been trying to promote a healthier lifestyle for families and kids. First it started in their parks and resorts, and now it’s happening in their advertising, promotions, and sponsorships.

Disney recently announced that it will no longer accept any new advertising deals from foods that are considered fast food or high in fat/sugar and does not meet government dietary guidelines on their tv channels, radio stations and websites, where their core demographic is children. This will make Disney the first major media company to take such a bold action to promote healthy food consumption. This won’t go into effect until 2015 due to existing contracts, but it will change how companies similar to Disney market to children.

Let’s take part on this in promoting a healthy lifestyle in our homes with these easy tips:

Keep clean, ready to eat fruits and veggies in the fridge or on the kitchen counter so they are within reach for the kids and family to snack on during the day, instead of giving them the opportunity to reach for a sugary snack.

Make your own frozen treats to keep cool this summer by combining unsweetened fruit juice, water and fresh fruit. Pour into an ice try, add wooden sticks, freeze until solid and enjoy!

Always keep peanut butter in the pantry. It goes well on everything- wheat bread with jelly, smeared on apples, or even dipped with celery sticks.

Some other fun snack recipes you can whip up at home are Juicing, Healthy Pizzas, Bento Boxes, and even Eating Rainbows.

What are some of your favorite fun snack recipes to your kids?

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Wendy Yu is a digital marketing professional living in New York City. When she’s not using the power of social media to share ideas on how to be more environmentally friendly, she is exploring the city, trying local foods, and learning more about how she can reduce her carbon footprint.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Green Halloween® or our partners.

We’re featured contributors on Healthy Child, Healthy World‘s fabulous new recipes page!

Now we know we’ve claimed in the past that cooking is not our thing (although eating is certainly one of our greatest talents) but when HCHW called to ask for some ideas, we couldn’t help but the share two of our favorite super easy, super-food recipes.

You’ll notice that our submissions don’t have exact measurements or even absolute ingredient lists – our style is a what-ever’s-in-the-fridge and a-little-of-this-a-little-of that kind of thing. But you’ll also notice that the recipes include healthy ingredients with fun names your kids will enjoy (did you read the study about kids are more likely to eat good-for-you foods when they have cool names?) so after making ‘em everyone’s happy.

Give ‘em a try and let us know what you think:

Super Guac

Kaleafornian Smoothie

Do you have some favorite recipes you’d like to share with us? If they are Halloween or fall themed, add as a comment here. Otherwise, contact us at: corey@celebrategreen.net and we’ll post your ideas to our Celebrate Green! blog.

Halloween may be all about the candy (for some) but it doesn’t have to be all about the sugar.

Many wonderful, natural and even good-for-you sugar-alternatives exist such as agave, molasses and date sugar; this week, I challenge you to give some of them a try.

PCC Natural Markets has a great online guide to natural sugars, including a chart with information on how to adjust recipes calling for conventional sugar. It also discusses the pros and cons of each choice. Read it and find out why honey is one of my all time favorites.

(Photo from www.pccnaturalmarkets.com)