A diet high in sugar can lead to tooth decay, obesity and diabetes. Does that mean that children shouldn't have any candy on Halloween? Remember, moderation is key. A few pieces of candy aren't likely to do your children any harm, provided they are occasional treats rather than part of the daily diet.

Ways to reduce sugar overload from Halloween include keeping the candy stash out of sight, allowing kids to have only a few pieces a day and, on days when they're eating candy, cutting sugar from other areas of their diet. That also means reducing or eliminating fruit juice, which is often high in sugar.

Another way is to dish up creepy, healthy Halloween foods that show kids how to have fun celebrating while maintaining healthy habits. Here are recipes for four ghoulish snacks to serve before trick-or-treating:

"Bloody Fingers"

You will need:

• Slices of deli-style ham or roast beef
• Sliced almonds
• Ketchup

Roll each slice of meat tightly. Insert a sliced almond into one end of each roll so that the almonds look like fingernails. Drizzle some ketchup over each finger so that it looks like blood.

"Bowl of Eyeballs"

You will need:

• Grapes
• Paring knife
• Small bowls

Rinse a bunch of grapes and peel off the skin with a paring knife. Place the peeled grapes into small bowls. Have each child close their eyes, and then hand them a bowl of "eyeballs" to feel and eat.

"Decayed Corpse with Bloody Salsa"

You will need:

• Blue corn chips
• Small bowl of salsa
• Coffin-shaped pan
• Black napkins
• Small plastic or rubber skeleton

Line a coffin-shaped pan with black napkins and fill halfway with blue corn chips. Tuck the skeleton into the corn chips so that it is partly covered. Place a small bowl of salsa in the "coffin."

Two-tone "Bat Sandwiches"

You will need:

• Whole wheat and white sandwich bread
• Peanut butter
• Bat-shaped cookie cutter

Place one slice of wheat bread and one slice of white bread on a cutting board. Center the cookie cutter on each bread slice and cut out a bat shape. Remove the bat shape from each slice of bread but do not discard the remaining bread slice. To assemble sandwich, swap the bat cutouts so that the slice of wheat bread contains a white bat and the slice of white bread contains a wheat bat. Spread peanut butter onto one slice of bread then cover with the other slice.

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