10 Tips To Survive Halloween On A Diet

Are you trying to lose weight and dread the thought of Halloween? Here is how not to be a miser and still keep the calories under control.

1. Beware of Candy Bowls

For dieters working at an office or any other place with well-meaning colleagues, they are a serious threat: all those bowls on desks, full of Halloween candy, whispering “I’m small, I’m nothing, I’m sweet, just go ahead, eat me!”

The hungrier you are, the easier it will be to give in. So either have breakfast at home or take a small low-cal snack with you.

2. Keep Them Out Of Sight

You can also (nicely!) ask your colleagues to keep the candy out of sight, either in cabinets or at least in containers with a lid. Research has shown that a treat we see is much easier to give in to than one we have to recall as existing.

3. Dito At Home

The same of course goes for your home. If you keep candy around to give away for trick-or-treating, it should be somewhere in a cupboard where you don’t see it every time you walk by.

The other day I cleaned out our sweets cupboard and discovered a bar of chocolate old enough to ask me to be taken to our leader.

4. Fill Up Before Halloween Parties

Those Halloween parties! To make them a dieter’s nightmare, you don’t even need the spooky decorations: tons of food, treats, alcohol and a bunch of people who on that day have to look up the meaning of “restraint.”

Once more, if you eat something light before you go, you are much less likely to mindlessly gorge yourself on all the stuff available.

5. Set An Acceptable Limit…

You will of course still feel like joining in. And should. It is sociable and you also won’t feel like you denied yourself the enjoyment. The trick is to set yourself a limit for how much food and candy you find acceptable. Spread it over the evening, then quit eating.

6. …Then Stick To it

If others try to push you beyond that limit, it is fine to politely say no, I had enough. Stand your ground.

7. Buy What Kids Like, Not You

When buying candy you want to hand out to trick-or-treaters, buy stuff kids like, but you don’t. Think back to what gross sweets you liked at age eight and today make you shudder  – they are exactly what you want.

8. Or Dont Give Them Candy

But what if you feel a bit more responsible and don’t want to hand out treats with nutritional values like a  bowl of sugar?

Kids are way more flexible than you might imagine and glowing bracelets and other little toys literally work like a treat.

9. Boo “Healthy” Halloween Treats

“Healthy” Halloween treats like these organic Halloween lollipops and organic maple syrup pumpkins and ghosts have as many calories as their regular counterparts.

What counts to keep your diet on course is the number of calories.

10. Donate Stuff

When Halloween’s over, you may find yourself with lots of leftover sweets. You always run the risk of eating them, but throwing them away would be a waste. What then?

Your first option is to donate the candy to a food bank. Although we have an obesity epidemic, there are people who can’t afford to buy their kids an occasional piece of candy.

Or you can get in touch with the Operation Gratitude Halloween Candy Program, that sends little Halloween care packages to overseas US troops. Some soldiers don’t have family and never receive gifts. For very little you can put a smile on their faces.

More Tips?

Got more ways to handle Halloween and your waist line? Let’s hear them!

Picture courtesy of Roger Ahlbrand.