How to Escape the Perils of Halloween Candy

It's Halloween night and you are tired...

This stress of trying to get everyone ready in their costumes and the added trauma of trying to get your jacked up, sugar higher children to bed after trick or treating has left you exhausted. You climb into bed and began to scroll social media when you begin to hear, ever so faintly, something calling your name. You try to ignore it but it keeps getting louder and louder. Finally you can't take it anymore and you get up to find, dun dun dun, your children's bucket of Halloween Candy. There's not way you have enough bites left in your day for what is about to happen. Oh the horror!!

Let's face it, the scariest part of Halloween isn't the ghost and goblins, it's the ever present temptation of Halloween candy. Those little fun size treats aren't so fun are they? Just one extra 100 calorie indulgence can cause weight to sneak back up fast. But it's literally everywhere; At your coworkers desk, in your child's trick-or-treat bucket, in your pantry in prep for the future trick-or-treaters. But don't fret, with these tricks you can beat the ever dreaded sugar fiend.

Besides using strategies like keeping Halloween candy out of sight out of mind, keeping candy in the freezer, not buying candy that you love, waiting to buy candy until last minute, using gum or mouthwash, and saving up bites, here are some unique strategies to help you conquer these metaphorical monsters.

1. Manage Your Hunger
   • Make sure you're eating regularly and not trying to skip any meals. You can also have some planned healthy snacks to keep your hunger in check.
2. Count the Wrappers
   • Sometimes all you need is a visual. Keeping the empty wrappers in site will help ground you in the moment so you aren't mindlessly eating.
3. Free Your Guilt
   • No matter how many bites are in your budget, pick one serving of your favorite candy, track it and slowly savor it, then move on and forget about it. No guilt or shame in your game.
4. Challenge Your Mind
   • Eat your candy with the least dominant hand. This helps you to be super intuitive in your eating and can actually help you cut down the amount you eat by 30%.
5. The Halloween Fairy
   • Take a tip from a pro. The Wellness Strategies Robin Treasure explains “In our home the "candy fairy" appears at night after every holiday, takes all the candy, and leaves coins. The candy gets chucked mercilessly in the trash". If throwing away all that candy seems wasteful to you, you can choose to donate it. Organizations like Operation Gratitude and Operation Stars and Stripes will send wrapped candy to troops at home or abroad.

If you do end up over indulging, take heart and show yourself some grace. Definitely dump the "all or nothing" mentality and don't let it completely derail you. And if you would like to indulge a little: Smarties, Tootsie Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Air Heads, Laffy Taffy, Starburst, and Candy Corn are safer bets. While not healthy, each serving contains 150 calories or less and will do the least damage.Happy Tracking!Coach Mindy