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10 Tricks to Avoid Halloween Candy - Simply Woman

By on October 29, 2014
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By The Go Fit Gals,
your experts in fitness and nutrition

My husband and I own one of those houses that you hated as a kid on Halloween. Lights out, no candy, no fun scary front yard or haunting noises coming from the garage. We are THE No-Halloween house in our neighborhood.

You see, I don’t place a lot of value in Halloween because, well quite frankly, I think it’s a stupid thing to celebrate. But, I do recognize that a lot of other people enjoy it, and a lot of those people have a hard time staying on point with their diet over Halloween.

Halloween candy is everywhere, making it hard for people to resist the temptation to indulge. So, how do you avoid the temptation of Halloween candy? It’s easy if you follow these 10 tips:

Buy candy you don’t like. If you don’t like it, you won’t eat it. Now, unfortunately this means you are still giving away sugar to kids, but if you gotta give out candy, give out the crap that you don’t like and won’t eat.

Move the candy. If the office, or your home, has candy the can be seen and easily accessed, you will eat it. You see, when it comes to candy, out of sight means out of mouth.

A recent study at Cornell University proved just this. Researchers gave 40 university female staff and faculty members 30 chocolate Kisses in either clear or opaque candy jars and placed the jar on their desks, or six feet away. Each night, the researchers counted how many candies were eaten and refilled the jars.

Not surprising, the participants ate fewer candies when the Kisses were in opaque jars rather than clear candy jars on their desks and even fewer when the opaque jars were six feet away from their desks.

Don’t buy candy. I know I am sounding like Captain Obvious with this statement, but if you fear you will eat too much candy then don’t buy the stuff in the first place. Instead, give out non-food items to the kids like: erasers, mini tattoos, stickers, toothbrushes, Glosticks, pencils or Halloween jewelry.

Replace the candy with healthier choices. I am not asking you to replace a Kit Kat with a kale salad (well, Risse would but I’m a bit more a of realist and I know that this probably isn’t going to happen). But, what about making cleaner versions of your favorite treats?

On our blog alone we have clean versions of a number of different sweets. Click here to check them out.

So, if you believe that not having candy on Halloween would be depriving yourself, then get your butt in the kitchen and whip something that both your taste buds AND your waistline will love.

Keep track of the wrappers. Nothing can put an end to mindless snacking faster than surrounding yourself with the evidence. For every “fun-size” chocolate bar you eat put the wrapper right in front of you – and keep it there. Keep a tally of how many you eat and this will aid in helping you exercise some self-control.

Eat well, throughout the day. Eating healthy does not go away just because it’s a holiday. Eat clean all day, with 3 meals and a couple of snacks.

Make sure that you have a good ratio of complex carbs, protein and fat with each meal. This will keep your blood sugar levels steady and your metabolism cruising along.

Plan, not grab. Plan for the weekend (and a holiday) the same way that we ask you to plan for the week ahead. Planning, not grabbing, will keep your overall calories, fat and sodium on track.

Buy candy late, throw it away early. The early bird does not get the worm when buying candy. Instead, the early bird runs the risk of eating the bag before the day and then having to fly to the store to get more.

Buy the candy the day of Halloween and then as soon as you turn out the front door lights throw the leftovers away.

Enjoy the party because of your friends and good times, not the food. We say this on every holiday because our society has turned our kitchen table into the main event, and it shouldn’t be. Your friends, family and the atmosphere are what you should be enjoying. Not the food and drink.

Sip tea and chill out. We are huge advocates of herbal tea, or decaf tea, after dinner – and the same rings true when candy-cravings happen. Calm your cravings with a soothing cup of tea. It really does work, trust us!

The tea will fill you up and give you something to do, which are the two biggest culprits to cravings. (Wow, I just noticed that there are 7 words that start with the letter C in the above paragraphs. I think that’s a record for me.)

 

gofit1The Go Fit Gals, your experts in fitness and nutrition for women from new mommies to menopause. We provide the plans and the inspiration to get our members strong, healthy and confident through our unique online programs based on eating clean and training dirty.

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