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Oct
31
5 Tips For A Healthy Halloween
Filed Under Eating Healthy, Healthy Habits, Motivation
Halloween is here and that means it’s candy time! Yep, Halloween has been one of my favorite holidays since I was a child. When else do you get to go to random strangers’ houses and ask for candy? And then there’s the day after Halloween, when you pour out that bag full of candy on your bed, pick out the things you like best and gorge on sugar until you feel like your teeth are about to fall out.
Now back when I was a kid, that was ok. I had a relatively healthy diet the rest of the year and I was really active, so a single day of nothing but sugar didn’t hurt me much. That’s true these days too, with one exception. Back then I had a limited supply of candy, only what I had picked up while trick or treating and a mother who wouldn’t let things go too far. These days I’m the one with control of the candy bowl and I have no parent around to tell me “that’s enough Gal, save the rest for another day”. So what should a healthy adult who loves chocolate do on Halloween?
- Walk - How many times have I said that walking is the best exercise? Well, here I am saying it again. I have no idea why adults think going out and trick or treating is fun for kids only. There’s a lot of fun to be had in walking through the streets of your neighborhood looking around. You get to see the kids in their costumes, the houses with their decorations, and maybe, just maybe, you get into the fun of it and dress up yourself. In the meantime, the walking prevents you from sitting at home and munching on the candy dish.
- Delay the candy shopping - Today is Halloween morning. Do you have your candy ready? If so, you’re too early. Buy the candy on the way home from work, not before. That way you’re not sitting at home for days with a dish full of candy whispering to you “comeon, just one little piece!”
- Buy candy you don’t like - Got a favorite candy? I do, it’s the Kit Kat bar. Guess what, when I buy candy to give out, I don’t buy Kit Kat’s. I’ll usually buy something like a Snickers bar or something with dark chocolate. In short, I’ll buy something I don’t like so I’m not tempted to eat it.
- Out of sight, out of mind - Why is that candy bowl in the middle of the living room where you walk by it every five minutes? Put it away somewhere where you can’t see it and aren’t reminded of it. It’s amazing how much random impulses to overeat go away when the food isn’t visible.
- Relax and enjoy your candy - Did I just tell you to enjoy your candy? Yes I did! Remember, being healthy isn’t about being unhappy. It’s not about depriving yourself of everything you enjoy. It’s about using some common sense in your diet instead. All those sodas you gave up, all those bad fast food lunches you no longer eat and all those walks you’ve been taking? Well, now you get to enjoy some of the benefits. So sit down, unwrap that candy bar and enjoy. One little candy bar isn’t going to kill you, not even two little candy bars. Just use your common sense and don’t over do it.
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2 Responses to “5 Tips For A Healthy Halloween”
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Hi, I am a walker, too. It’s just so easy to do, and if you have a treadmill it’s even better so that you can keep your pace.
That’s wonderful that you can have just one candy bar….I’m addicted to sugar and can’t have just one. It just sets me up for overeating on all kinds of foods that aren’t healthy for me, besides sapping my energy. I do enjoy my sweets though, in the form of fresh fruit, I love it!
I’m fortunate that I’m a very picky candy eater (I only eat dark chocolate and even that one has to ahve certain specifications before I’ll eat it). So, the bowl of left-overs that has been on our table has not yet been touched by me.