Fitness and health briefs

Bob Greene, founder of the online weight loss site www.TheBestLife.com, offers these tips for managing holiday sweets:

• Delay candy shopping. Stores have been selling Halloween candy since September, but why buy it early? Don't purchase treats until Oct. 30.

• Choose lower calorie treats. Consider getting hard candies, such as small lollipops, which have fewer calories than chocolate and caramels.

• Eat before taking your children trick-or-treating. If you have a healthy meal before heading out, you'll be less inclined to pluck an extra candy for yourself from the neighbor's bowl.

• Bob for apples. Fruit is nature's candy, and it's much better for you. Apples taste great, are high in fiber and help fight off cancer.

An alternative to candy

The American Dental Association and PopCap Games have partnered to offer an alternative to traditional Halloween treats. Instead of chocolate, give trick-or-treaters a handful of zombies.

PopCap is the maker of “Plants vs. Zombies,” a popular, family friendly computer game. Since late September, packages of limited edition zombie trading cards have been sent to dentists nationwide. Each pack includes a coupon for a free copy of “Plants vs. Zombies.”

Adults who plan to dole out Halloween treats can obtain card packs from participating dentists or download and print out game coupons from www.stopzombiemouth.com.

The game giveaway is part of the “Stop Zombie Mouth” campaign, which continues through Halloween. It aims to educate children about how the foods they eat can affect their dental health.

Two years ago, Medline Industries Inc. filmed the first Pink Glove Dance video as a way to raise awareness of breast cancer. The video featured dancers from a hospital in Portland, Ore.

The video was so popular that another video was shot last year. This one featured more than 4,000 health care workers and breast cancer survivors from 139 hospitals nationwide.

For 2012, Medline — the nation's largest privately held maker and distributor of medical and surgical supplies — has upped the ante. Hospitals, nursing homes, schools, churches and individuals were invited to film their own Pink Glove Dance videos.

The top three videos, as chosen by online voting, will have sums ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 donated in their names to the breast cancer charity of their choice.