Trick-or-treating was a favorite past-time of mine as a kid. Halloween couldn’t come soon or often enough. Unfortunately, the days of eating as much candy as you wanted with no ill effect are long gone. Nowadays, I, like many of you, have to consciously practice healthy habits during the holiday season. Halloween is the first of the major American eating (and over-eating) holidays and as such sets the stage for keeping or killing the healthy lifestyle we’ve established during the rest of the year. We all know how bad sugar is for us. But it tastes SO GOOD! Here are 4 healthy food tips to cure that sugar hangover and keep you on track for maintaining your healthy lifestyle.
Healthy Habits for Halloween
Healthy habits #1: No left-overs
This is rule #1 for a reason. The longer the candy lingers, the longer it lingers on your body. Once Halloween is over, so is the candy. So how do you get rid of it? Are you saying I should go to town and eat all the candy that night? No, nice try. You can take the candy to work the next day (provided Halloween isn’t on a weekend), and give it to a neighboring department-not on your own. If it’s in your office/cubicle or area you will inevitably snag a snack. Out of sight out of mind. If you change your environment you’ll change your habits-this is one of the easiest ways to help boost your self-control. Another option, one that I love, is to give out all the remaining candy to the last trick-or-treater you choose. I’ve seen people post a sign saying they will give away all their candy at 9 pm and whoever wants it can come at that time. I personally like picking the cutest kid with the least amount of candy at around 9 pm to off-load all the candy. It will totally make their night.
Healthy habit #2: Buy candy you don’t like
I LOVE Twix, and Snickers…let’s be honest, I love just about every candy. However, I hate dark chocolate. If there is dark chocolate in the house it doesn’t even register with my candy-finding radar. Pick a candy you don’t like to hand out for Halloween. You will be less likely to sneak in those extra tastes and your healthy habits really won’t be tempted, even if you can’t follow rule #1. With that said, don’t be that house that passes out toothbrushes or a penny. No one likes that house.
Healthy habit #3: Treat yourself to something you like
If you buy yourself something you really like and enjoy chances are your craving will be satisfied because you got to enjoy what you REALLY love. This is especially important if you follow rule #2. If everyone else is enjoying something, you should too. Also if you get yourself a full-size Twix bar, in my case, you will also be less likely to be eating 20 or 50 mini candy bars because you got your fill with that one. It’s true, you will probably eat less eating that one full candy bar than all those mini or fun-sized disappointments.
Healthy habit #4: When in doubt, be a Scrooge
Another option if you just don’t like this holiday is to be a Scrooge. Once again, if you change your environment it’s the easiest way to change your habits and lifestyle. You can choose not to buy any candy and not do the whole trick-or-treat thing. Or you can go to a party/get-together or anywhere away from all the sugar that entices you to gluttony. If you find yourself struggling with healthy choices and healthy habits during the holidays, start the season off right by following the 4 tips for a healthy Halloween-free hangover.