Dear ,
Do not read this if Halloween candy is not a temptation for
you.
If you are like my sister, who, when I go for our summer
visit in Ohio and I look in her
candy jar (five minutes after arrival) and it is chock-full of untouched candy
from Halloween the previous fall,
then skip this article as none of it will make sense.
On the other hand, maybe you are like me and dole sweets out
in the "one for you, three for me" method of sharing.
I'm ashamed to say I will eat any candy, even candy I don't
like, even candy with coconut, even stale candy that's been abandoned in a
candy jar for ten months and even when the tootsie rolls are petrified to the
wrapper and they practically break your teeth.
If any of this rings a bell for you,
then this
article may be just in time to help you think outside the (candy)box for next weekend's
sugary festivities.
I'm going to start by suggesting that you make an exception
to my usual "only what you love" rule and advise you to only buy
candy that you do NOT like. If you hate coconut, buy it. If nuts give you
hives, think Reese's.
Also, mini-sizes are evil.
Sure, regular size candy bars have more calories (around 300
on average, most of which are nutritionally worth zilch and will also take you
more than a half-hour of pretty hard cardio to burn off)
but who eats
just one mini?
I personally
would never sneak a regular size Snickers bar,
yet I cannot resist the temptation of the tiny size.
Then, once I have one, I have to have just one more,
then just one more
but for sure this is the absolute LAST one, etc.etc.
I love miniaturization; mini ketchup bottles,
mini-dachsunds, mini-skirts,mini-liquor bottles.
The problem with candy is that once you get a tiny taste,
the odds are against stopping with one taste.
The taste-bud dam springs a leak ,so to speak,
plus the brain starts rationalizing that you can have one
more since they are so tiny.
Did I mention not buying your candy until the last minute?
And finally, make a plan to deal with your leftovers the day
after.
This will
require a pre-conversation with your kids about how you will handle extra candy.
Some parents let their kids pick out a certain amount of "keeping"
candy and then buy(read-bribe) the rest.
Throwing your candy away is a last resort if you cannot
think of an acceptable way to recycle your leftovers but I tell my clients to
think of their mouth as a garbage can. They can either throw the candy in the
real garbage can or the garbage can of their mouth, both are a waste but if you
throw it in your mouth you are going to be dealing with the junk in your own
trunk for weeks to come.
I always say that five minutes of eating can undo five hours
of exercise but when you are dealing with candy, you are probably talking about
more like five minutes of candy consumption equaling seven hours of sweating.
Now tell me, does ANY candy taste good enough to make it worth an almost full
eight hour shift of exercising?
Often kids are not thrilled about giving up the majority of
their loot
so I recommend talking to them every day this week about the
plan that you've made and then stick with it.
Another suggestion that I have is to be accountable to
someone. Tell someone who loves you how you plan to deal with the sweets and
ask them to lovingly hold you to it. Be accountable. Sometimes it gives you
some extra fortitude if you know you have to file a candy report in the
morning.
Finally, get a workout in on Halloween Day, no matter what.
Waking up the day after and feeling good will make all your effort worthwhile.
Heading into the holiday season is a great reason to stay
strong through Halloween. You will have set the tone for the challenges ahead in the upcoming holiday
season.
(and yes, if this all sounds familiar, this rant is a repeat from
last year. I thought it was worth repeating.)
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