Candy shouldn’t be the scariest part of Halloween
Dealing with all that candy in the house doesn't have to be the scariest part of Halloween.
You can absolutely enjoy those Halloween treats AND lose weight.
Here’s my strategy: PLAN to eat the candy.
Don’t tell yourself you can’t have any. Restriction only makes food cravings worse.
Our brains are basically rebellious teenagers - telling ourselves we CAN’T have something only makes us want it more.
Total restriction intensifies cravings and increases obsessive thoughts about food.
When you try to avoid the candy entirely, you often find that candy is all you can think about.
That little voice calling you from the candy bowl just gets louder and louder.
Eventually, your willpower runs out and you end up going WAY overboard just to quiet the non-stop chatter in your head.
Here’s the truth: restriction always backfires.
If restriction worked, dieting would feel easy. But diets feel tedious and grueling because they force us to deny ourselves what we really want, which only makes us crave those things more.
So, flip the script this holiday season. Instead of telling yourself that you can’t have the candy, make a plan to eat some.
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For me, this looks like giving myself full permission to have a couple of pieces of candy each day.
I decide ahead of time which varieties of candy are 100% delicious and “worth it” to me (lookin’ at you Twix and white chocolate Reese’s ghosts 🤤), and which are blah and skippable (most others).
And then I think about the rest of my day. I do not try to eat “light” earlier in the day to “earn” my treat - that’s just diet mentality. I make sure that I’m adequately nourished and eating foods that are truly satisfying to me all day long so that my body’s needs and my tastebuds have already been prioritized. This is the best way to set yourself up for success.
When it’s candy time - I make sure I’m present for the experience. I want to really taste and enjoy it. When we’re mindlessly raiding the kids’ candy haul in front of the tv, we're often missing out on truly experiencing the tastes and textures - we miss most of the joy! Instead, I choose a time when I can really focus on the satisfaction I’m getting from the candy rather than the tv, my phone, or my inbox.
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So that's your recipe for enjoying Halloween candy AND feeling in control around it:
Take good, compassionate care of your body by honoring your hunger and fullness
Eat foods that are satisfying and make you feel good
Give yourself full permission to enjoy the candy you love
Stay present for the experience of eating it
When you do these things, it's SO much easier to stop after a piece or two rather than ending up face-down in the candy bowl.
Try it this week and let me know how it goes!
