Building a Healthier Easter Basket

We all love sweets and the amazing selection of Easter treats that line store shelves year after year never ceases to amaze. If the days of excessive Easter weekends have come and gone, your Easter basket may need a healthy overhaul. Not to worry, a healthier Easter basket doesn’t mean you have to throw out all the goodies and there’s still plenty of room for chocolate! Take steps to make it a little healthier Easter this year with some suggestions from the American Dietetic Association:

• Instead of sugar, cream or caramel filled chocolate eggs, get peanut butter filled ones. The peanut butter adds protein and is low in saturated fat.

• Instead of those little chocolate eggs, give chocolate covered pretzels instead. Pretzels are often eaten during Lent, because the twists resemble arms crossed in prayer. But because they only have a thin layer of chocolate, the fat content is pretty low.

• Next, try a dark chocolate bunny. It has more antioxidants and less fat than milk chocolate.

• Instead of the traditional jelly beans, try Skittles or Starbursts. They do have some Vitamin C which makes them slightly healthier.

• And put in a few hard boiled Easter eggs. They’re a good source of protein and the whites are fat free. But don’t leave your hard boiled eggs out of the fridge for more than two hours or you’re gonna have some sick kids on your hands.