Easter is coming up this Sunday, and for those of you who celebrate and are also trying to watch your weight, this means another holiday of dealing with candy and sweets. The positive side is that there is no rule that says you have to fill your Easter basket with pounds of chocolate eggs and jellybeans. Fill your basket with these healthier alternatives instead:
- Carrots (since the Easter Bunny likes to share)
- Fresh fruit
- Homemade cookies that are filled with healthy ingredients like oats, raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts, and dark chocolate chips
- Bars of Dark chocolate
- Colored eggs made with homemade dyes
- Dark chocolate covered peanuts, pretzels, or raisins
- Mini banana bread muffins
- Fitness DVDs
- A scented candle
- Animal shaped hand soaps (my girls love these)
If you want to see the other ideas then read more
- A jar of all fruit jam
- Energy bars
- A potted plant
- Small picture frames
- Trail mix
- Herbal teas and a mug
- A CD of relaxing music
- For kids: a coloring book, colored pencils, puzzles, small toys, stuffed bunnies, stickers, play-doh, magnets, disposable cameras, packets of seeds and gardening tools, plastic eggs filled with coins or beads, Silly Putty (it even comes in its own egg), and books about Easter.
Fit's Tips: I don't believe in denying yourself anything, especially during special family and holiday times. Make sure you do enjoy the treats you love, but do so in moderation. So if you get a 12 inch chocolate bunny then you may just want to eat one ear, instead of the entire bunny in one sitting.
Opening Ceremony
Manoush
Pedro Garcia
I'm making a basket for my best friend and I jsut found this awesome Easter Mr Potato head I'm going to get her. She'll love it!! Also, I like to get $5 gift cards to places like starbucks, they're always fun to have.
1I just got a package in the mail from my parents which is basically a grown-up Easter basket. It mostly had sugar in it, so all that stuff went into the kitchen at work for my co-workers to enjoy. I still appreciate the gesture, but maybe I'll have to direct my mom to this page. Cute suggestions, Fit.
2Oh, I also did Easter "baskets" for my friends this year. They received spring-time pajamas aka bright colored short and tank sets.
3I really wish people would do more research into their Dark Chocolate theory. It has been further discovered that while chocolate, and the rich dark cocoa, provides a load of antioxidants and other healthy aspects...HOWEVER when the chocolate is converted into a bar, it's beneficial aspects have almost been completely removed! And the regular Hershey's Dark Chocolate isn't nearly high enough anyways, it needs to be like the 75% and above cocoa, which by the way is uber yuck:)
But to get the wonderful antioxidants and benefits of the dark chocolate, you need to use Unprocessed Dutch Cocoa Powder, like in your milk, coffee, mixed with honey, or use as a topping on well anything!
4on the topic of dark chocolate...the best thing ever is to buy a tub of plain unmodified Cocoa powder.. put about 1 tbsp in a large mug, fill it up with hot water and a bit of milk and stevia...oh man! gourmet hot chocolate. all the benefits of cocoa without sugar or many calories!!
5Great tips fit
6I agree superfoxmi! Gotta love Pop for all there cool ideas and reminders for the holidays
7this is a great idea. i think most people would rather receive a basket with some thoughtful and creative gifts instead of the same old chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.
8My mom STILL gives us Easter Baskets every year (even though I'm 26...she refuses to let us grow up, lol). She always puts in non-candy stuff because she knows I'm pretty health conscious. Usually, she puts in sugarless gum, fun pens, new socks, scented candles, a new book that she thinks I'll like, a DVD, or individual packs of coffee in really yummy flavors. I like the idea of giving kids baskets that aren't just candy...they really don't need all that sugar.
9I don't care, i'm going to eat all the chocolate and jelly beans I can until I feel sick
10I miss being a kid again...
11I plan to ignore all moderation and eat my entire solid chocolate rabbit within the first hour of getting it. It's my favorite candy holiday and I skipped both Halloween and Valentines's Day. BRING ON THE ROBIN EGGS AND CASBERRY CREME EGGS! WOOT!
12Thank you for the info on dark chocolate. That's interesting...although I have to say I wish I would have learned this before I spent months trying to get myself to enjoy the stuff...
I am making baskets for my mom and my boo's parents this year full of exotic teas. All the talk about the benefits of green tea on this website made me decide to send them a not-so-subtle hint. And maybe a chocolate bar thrown in as well...
13you know how to make your easter healthier? by from eastern culture and not eat chocolate eggs but real ones.
14Great ideas, thank you!
So far for my daughters I have some organic chocolate bars, gluten-free cookies (the oldest is intolerant to wheat) and organic dried fruit bars, and of course I plan on adding the homemade colored eggs and small toys etc, but the trailmix and chocolate-covered pretzels are a great idea!
15growing up (Jewish), I always yearned for the basket of chocolate bunnies and jelly beans and fake green grass. I now indulge in a Cadbury's Egg or two during the month of March...they're my favorite. Pink jelly beans, too. Mmmm...
16I'm glad to see this article because I'm trying to assemble small "bunny bags" for nephews and nieces of various ages, from two to 28. These suggestions are absolutely terrific!
Thank you, Fit! 
17My BFF (as the teens say) is diabetic. Although we are over 35, I like to send her a basket each year because her parents are both passed away. Last year, I found chocolate scented, rabbit shaped soaps at the local health food store. You can bet those "chocolate bunnies" landed in the basket immediately! LOL
Now I have to find more of them for 2009. 
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