With Easter right around the corner, many parents of children with ADHD are already beginning to stress about the inevitable behavior that will result from all the candy in those cute little Easter baskets. ???

Today, I’m here to help! 

Because the truth is, Easter doesn’t have to be stressful. And it doesn’t have to be full of gluten, dairy, soy, artificial flavors and colorings, and other nasties either. 

Children with ADHD can still have a great time at Easter without eating way too much sugar and other terrible ingredients. 

Here are a few ways that many of the families I work with are making Easter both fun and relatively healthy! 

How to Make Easter Fun and (Relatively) Healthy: 

First of all, remember that candy is not the ONLY thing that can fill those Easter baskets. 

Some other items to consider: small packages of legos, money, toy-filled eggs (just search for those on Amazon to find lots of options), water balloons, balls, chalk, bubbles, clothes, books, giftcards, fidgets, playdoh or kinetic sand, dollar store toys, tattoos or stickers, fun bandaids, sunglasses, goggles, new swimsuits or pajamas, craft kits, etc. 

One idea that a mom in my program recently shared is  that she opens a lego package and hides the pieces in plastic eggs. When her children find all the eggs, they put the lego pieces together to make a new lego masterpiece! 

There really are many things to include that aren’t food! Be creative and have fun! 

Secondly, remember to include SOME candy in the baskets, but choose healthier alternatives. 

It’s important to make sure our children don’t feel left out. 

I teach all of the families I work with to avoid gluten, dairy, and soy because these are the top 3 inflammatory foods. And by removing these foods and replacing them with nutrient-dense, whole fruits and vegetables, grass fed protein sources, and healthy fats, families are able to reduce inflammation in the body, leading to a reduction in ADHD symptoms too. 

But cutting out these foods and eating healthier does NOT mean they never get treats. 

These are kids, and they need to still get fun treats, just like their friends are getting. 

BUT we can choose better alternatives that avoid some of the worst ingredients out there…ingredients like artificial colors (like red 40 and blue 1), artificial flavors, and of course, like I always say, those top inflammatory foods (gluten, dairy, and soy).  

Artificial Colors (Like Red 40 And Blue 1) are derived from petroleum and linked to several health issues, including allergies and hyperactivity in children. 

Did you know that they require a warning label in Europe? And yet we give them to our kids freely here in America! 

Artificial flavors are complex chemical mixtures made in a lab using various substances like crude oil or coal tar, and can contain upwards of 100 ingredients (including some that are recently banned). 

Food companies don’t have to tell us anything about the ingredients actually in their artificial flavors – they just slap “artificial flavors” on the ingredient label – and we are left in the dark about what we are really eating. So we definitely want to avoid that. 

Luckily for us, not all candy has these ingredients! 

Some of my absolute favorite brands for better candy are Yum Earth, Free2Be, and Enjoy Life. 

By choosing better alternatives, our kids still get candy and don’t feel left out, but we don’t have to deal with any fall out that might result from gluten, dairy, soy, artificial colorings, or other nasties. We get the best of both worlds! Our kids are  happy, and so are we! 

Another idea for Easter baskets that many families like is to make a deal with children ahead of time, letting them know that they can trade out any “bad” candy they receive for cash!  

Many children would much rather have cash than candy that disappears in seconds. 

Remember, Easter isn’t about candy. Or at least, it doesn’t have to be! 

Our kids can still have a great time without getting a sugar high or filling their bellies with inflammatory foods!

To help with that, I’ve created a printable Easter recipe for an alternative to the Peanut Butter Cup Egg.

You can grab that FREE recipe by clicking here!