How to Cure Your Child’s Halloween Hangover

I can always guarantee without fail that the day after Halloween will be my own personal purgatory, thanks in large part to the fact that my all-organic children will inevitably be showered with inordinate amounts of frankencandy each and every October 31st. If they don’t vomit or otherwise get sick, they’re at the very least hopped up, insanely hyperactive and breathtakingly defiant. Their emotions go haywire, their attention spans dwindle to nonexistent levels and if they’re not yelling or crying, you can bet they’re whining mercilessly. It’s a blast. 

But I’m realistic. I know their little trick-or-treat buckets will be filled to the brim with GMO contraband that they can’t wait to get home and sink their teeth into, and I’m not a mean enough mama to deny them this annual rite of passage, much to my chagrin. Come November 1st, however, the sheriff’s back in town.

My boys and hubby on Halloween

A couple years ago, I had a light bulb moment. It occurred to me that what my kids were experiencing was basically a hangover. A Halloween hangover. Their penance for their sugar-fueled bender. Between all the high fructose corn syrup and additives and artificial colorings, they were all crashing down from their highs, paying a steep price for their unabashed gluttony the night before. I had to treat this just as I would when recovering from a wild night myself (distant memories of my college days will have to suffice here): with a little hair of the dog that bit ‘em, albeit a cleaner, healthier, non-GMO, probiotic-loaded version. 

Behold: the Halloween Hangover smoothie! Packed with the probiotic power of kefir, fiber-filled flax (say that three times fast), vitamin- and mineral-rich spinach, orange and banana and the natural sugars that all the fruit affords, this is literally a recipe for fending off that post-Halloween funk like a champ. While the probiotics help load the gut with soldiers to fight off sugar-fed pathogenic bacteria, the fiber helps slow the carb absorption to prevent that nasty sugar crash. The vitamins and minerals help fortify the immune system, and the natural sugars just help them avoid feeling like they’ve been hit by a truck. And better yet, they slurp it right down with no complaints whatsoever. Works every. single. time. Halloween hangover: exorcised.

Halloween Hangover Smoothie