It is easy to slip into the mindset that because it is Halloween and because it is tradition, that now is the perfect time to start indulging in those cute little innocent looking candy bars. They are after all, fun-sized. Not so fast.
Buying a bag here and a bag there for trick-or-treaters may be setting yourself up for the situation in which you find an empty stockpile October 31. Does this sound familiar? Obesityhelp.com offers these suggestions for how to enjoy the spirit of the holiday without sabotaging your nutritional guidelines.
1. Don’t buy your (once) favorite Halloween candy. Buy candies that are not triggers for you.
2. Wait until the last minute to buy candy. Keep candy out of your house until just before you will be hearing trick-or-treaters at your door.
3. Go the anti-candy route. Think of things to handout like small toys, stickers, small boxes of raisins, or cracker and cheese packs.
4. A treat could be of the coin variety. Purchase a few rolls of coins and hand those out as treats.
5. Invite your friends and host a healthy party with treats that you provide.
6. Go with the kids around the neighborhood trick-or-treating and get in a little exercise!
7. When you get home from trick-or-treating, let the kids pick out a handful of candy to keep and then give away the rest. Many dentists’ offices open up the next day offering to take that candy off your hands. This helps cut down on the supply of candy around the house.
8. Donate extra candy to your office-mates or your children’s school.
9. Save the date. Mark a day on the calendar soon after Halloween when your home will return to a candy-free zone again.
10. If it is all too much to manage, plan a night out at the movies or somewhere away from the house on Halloween.
11. Store candy in the freezer. This will help cut down on your children eating more than one or two at a time.
12. Allow yourself to have a bite here or there. Don’t deprive yourself entirely of Halloween candy, for it might have the exact opposite effect.
13. Be mindful of the calories, sugar and fat. Just because they are wrapped in a little fun-sized package doesn’t mean they are freebies.
Butterfinger (1 snack size): 100 calories Milky Way (1 snack size): 90 calories Almond Joy (1 snack size): 90 calories Three Musketeers (2 fun size): 140 calories Hershey Kisses (quantity of 8): 190 calories Hershey Almond bar (1 snack size): 100 calories M&M (plain, fun size 1 pack): 100 calories Snickers (1 fun size): 85 calories Whoppers (1 snack size): 100 calories Kit Kat (1 snack size): 120 calories
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