As the air turns crisp and the leaves begin to change, October offers the perfect time to hit the reset button on your family’s health. Prioritizing wellness now sets a foundation to manage through the upcoming holiday season and can create healthy habits to last a lifetime.
Fueling your family with healthy, wholesome snacks in season such as apples, pears, pumpkin, and carrots will provide nutrient-dense support for growth and development. These seasonal varieties offer what your bodies need at this time of year.
As the time changes, and it starts getting dark outside earlier, movement plays an important role. Sharing this experience as a family helps everyone to enjoy the autumn weather together. Fitting in a family stroll to the park or in nature before dark, helps to clear the mind and appreciate one’s surroundings. Even walking a pumpkin patch and carrying the pumpkins is form of exercise. Playing games of sports such as tag, football, or soccer, this time of year can be lots of fun. Regular movement is a wonderful way to bond and keep our bones, body, and mind healthy.
October is often synonymous with sugar, but it’s a great time to model mindful eating. When those sweet cravings hit, try swapping sugary treats for whole fruits and dried fruits. Remember if you do indulge in sweets, balance them with fiber-rich foods, protein or fat to help stabilize blood sugar levels and energy. Movement also helps to move sugar into the muscles. Incorporating these ideas helps slow how fast the sugar is absorbed in the bloodstream. When baking at home you can often reduce the amount of sugar in recipes without sacrificing flavor or try adding in applesauce or chopped dates instead.
Let’s embrace these habits today so that we can enjoy many active, happy seasons to come with our families.
Laura McDermott, MSIN
(Master’s of Science in Integrative Nutrition)
Laura's Recipe:
Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
1 cup of gluten free flour
½ cup of almond flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin spice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
½ cup applesauce
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup of almond milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients together. Add in the dry ingredients, mix well with a whisk. You may also add in chopped nuts, raisins, or chopped dates. If you desire more sweetness, add 2 tablespoons of organic maple syrup.
Mix well.
Pour into lightly greased muffin tin or cupcake holders. Makes about 10 muffins. Recipe may be easily doubled for larger batch.
Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes.