The countdown to Halloween has begun. Kids are itching to get out there and score some candy. But there's one thing parents need to do before the festivities begin.

CancerProject.org recently put out an ad about the connection between colon cancer and processed meats. The ad (which you can watch below) depicts school kids announcing that they have colon cancer, interspersed with images of hot dogs, pizza, and sliced ham, which are all common hot lunch offerings. Studies show that adults who frequently eat processed meats have an increased risk of developing colon cancer.

Critics point out that the children in the ad don't actually have cancer, something some may find misleading. They also say that studies have been done on adults, not children, and that an occasional hot dog hasn't been implicated in an increased risk of the disease.

But here's my argument. Kids who eat hot lunch every day AREN'T getting an occasional serving of processed meat. They're eating them every day. The menu at our school reads like this: hot dog, pizza, meat gravy, chicken nuggets, sliced ham... all with french fries or mashed potatoes. Every week. Though there might not be a direct link between these kinds of meals and colon cancer, this is obviously poor nutrition, and we're serving it to millions of school kids every day.

I'm not sure how I feel about this ad, but I do think our hot lunch programs need a serious overhaul. What do you think?

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I adopted my son at age 10. Which means that he had 10 years of developing food preferences before he ever met me. Ten years of not-so-great habits that he developed. When he first moved home our family dinners were accompanied by the sound of him gagging and pretending to throw up. Suffice it to say, his reactions weren't terribly motivating for me.

In time, I learned that he was completely unfamiliar with a home-cooked meal. Thankfully, he enjoys many healthy snacks like fruit, vegetables, and yogurt. But when it came time to actually eat a meal, if it didn't come out of a box he didn't want anything to do with it.

Both he and I have had to give a little bit, but we've finally found our groove. He eats home-cooked meals without complaint (and without gagging noises) now and I've learned to make healthy foods that are more kid friendly. Some of the winning meals at our house include:

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Did you buy a pumpkin earlier this month with the perfectly good intentions of carving it for Halloween but never got around to it? I'm more into painting on them than carving them, but either way -- what to do with that pumpkin when Halloween is over? Although in my opinion pumpkins look just great sitting around through and well past Thanksgiving (as long as they don't start rotting!) if you're not keen on that idea consider taking it into the kitchen and whipping up some healthy dishes for the family. Learn how to make a basic pumpkin puree (the staple of all good pumpkin recipes), and then pick from any number of pumpkin recipes online or in cookbooks. One that sounds particularly good to me are these Pumpkin Popovers.

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Are you into dating right now? If you're single, the answer is most likely a yes. If you're one to fix meals for your date instead of always going out to a restaurant, are you fixing healthy but delicious meals that put your culinary skills on display?

While it's always good to know what your date prefers to eat (pretty obvious, I know), it's also a good idea to fix a healthy meal f at all possible as well. That may be hard sometimes, but here are some menu items that have worked well for me in the past (smiles here):

• Bamboo-skewer kabobs with chicken breast, pineapple, onions and bell peppers
• Freshly-steamed Asparagus wrapped in fresh garlic and turkey slices
• Angel hair whole-wheat pasta with fresh basil and olive oil (a slight dash of Parmesan on top)

What are your healthy date meal ideas?

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