Weight Watchers Friendly Strategies for Dealing with Halloween Candy
Halloween is upon us.
Are you haunted by the thought of losing control in the face of Halloween candy?
Do you have a strategy for dealing with Halloween candy?
It's definitely the scariest part of halloween for me!
Fortunately, I have no young kids and we get very few, if any, trick-or-treaters, so I'm able to avoid the issue by not bringing it into the house.
Not everyone is this lucky.
Past years, I've used Halloween as an excuse to buy a bag or two of Snickers and/or Almond Joys (my favorites) knowing full well that it would be me who ate most of them
This year, I'm taking a more honest approach with myself.
If I want a Snickers or Almond Joy, they're always right there waiting for me at store. And that's where they're going to stay, until I really want them.
Why have them here in the house calling to me from the pantry?
I took part in an interesting discussion at my Weight Watchers meeting yesterday where we shared ideas for not going overboard with the Halloween treats.
I got some great tips that I wanted to share.
8 simple strategies to help you tackle the potential candy overload and manage all of those treats:
- Buy the candy on the day of Halloween - not moment sooner - if having it around is just too tempting. Or do as one lady suggested - have your spouse buy it and hide it so you don't have to deal with it ahead of time.
- Purchase only the kinds of candy you don't like. (If there is such a thing!) It's a lot easier to steer clear of sweets you don't like.
- Select a treat other than candy to hand out. Think little toys, loose change, school supplies, little bags or boxes of raisins, etc.
- Keep the candy out of sight in a hard-to-get-to place. It's a lot more difficult to resist foods that are in plain sight. (It doesn't mean you're weak. It's just the way our bodies and brains are programmed - to eat the food we see.) So stash it far far away.
- Focus on eating healthy. Eat lots of lean protein, fruits and vegetables to keep you feeling full. Don't "save" calories for the candy. The last thing you want to do is be hungry while handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.
- Indulge a little. If you really want a little candy be sure to have it. And be sure to really enjoy it. Sit down and savor it. Just remember that candy is best enjoyed as a once-in-a-while food, not an everyday one.
- Focus on the fun, not the candy. Dress up. Be playful. Try to make food the background - not the focus - of your celebration.
- When Halloween is over, get rid of the candy that's left. Bring it to work, throw it away or donate it. I learned about a cool program where leftover candy is donated to the troops. In the first, participating dentists take part in a Halloween Candy Buy Back Project and then send it off to our troops through Operation Gratitude, a program for sending care packages to members of the US military.
I hope these strategies and tips help.
Do you have another strategy for handling Halloween candy?
I'd love to hear it.
Addendum: Last year's strategy really worked for me and I didn't feel the lest bit deprived! I no longer delude myself into buying candy I don't need. This year I've read about another clever way to deal with the candy:
Make it a Game to See if You Can Get Rid of It All
As it gets later, hand out more and more candy to each trick-or-treater so you are left with less.
Ditch the All or Nothing Thinking
Eating a little bit of candy on Halloween doesn't make a person overweight – it's constant overeating that can pile on the pounds. So don't assume you can't enjoy even a single treat, especially since deprivation is a dieting tactic that often backfires.
Keep the Wrappers
Because it’s so easy to mindlessly pop Halloween candy into your mouth and lose track of how much you've eaten, keep every single wrapper so you know exactly how much you’ve had. Your mind may say you’ve only had three mini peanut butter cups, but a big pile of wrappers won’t lie.
Sources:
FitWatch
WebMD
Weight Watchers
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