Nutrition

Ghosts & Goblins

Are you getting ready to greet ghosts and goblins? Little people look forward to this night all year. It is filled with imagination, a bit of spookiness, and candy. While you may enjoy walking the neighborhood or handing out candy, take a moment to consider how you can take care of your body by limiting sugar and still have fun.

Sugar contains no nutrients and often replaces nutrient-dense food leaving your body lacking in nutrients. It stresses your hormonal system which can lead to adrenal fatigue, thyroid conditions, and other hormonal disruptions. It causes an inflammatory response and upsets your gut bacteria which suppresses your immune system leaving you vulnerable to infection.

Here are some tips that can help you be intentional about your sugar intake while still enjoying Halloween. Once you try out these tips, you may find them to be valuable during other holidays as well.

Rethink Handing out Candy

I don’t want you to be known as the Grinch House that passes out toothbrushes, but there are other fun things that you could give besides candy. If you get creative, you could even become one of the coolest houses on the block.

As a child, my favorite house had a jar of foreign coins. The top of the jar was small, but you were allowed to take anything you could grab. This meant that small hands could grab even more than big hands. It was fun to see the foreign currency and figure out what country it was from.

Get candy that doesn't tempt you.  

It’s tempting to buy your favorite candy to pass out on Halloween. You want to give out the good stuff, but we forget that everyone has different tastes. We don’t have to buy our favorite candy to give a good treat.

Reese's peanut butter cups are my all-time favorite candy. I’ll definitely eat more than I should while passing them out. So, I hand out candy that isn’t as hard for me to resist and it is probably someone else's favorite.

Read Ingredients

Look at the ingredients of the treats you plan to buy. If the list is long or contains a lot of words you don’t understand, you may want to think twice. Reading ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, food coloring, and hydrogenated oils should give you pause.

A colleague said that when she reads the lists of ingredients on most candy, she views it more like an object (i.e. their spiral notebook) than food. I am not saying that you should never enjoy a sweet treat, but this mindset may make it less appealing.

I've heard good things about Yum Earth candy which is organic, non-GMO, as well as free from artificial dyes and high fructose corn syrup. It is great for kids with allergies because it doesn't contain peanuts, tree nuts, milk, fish, shellfish, egg, soy, wheat, or sesame. (Check out the Halloween mix at my affiliate link here.)

Solid Meals

Eat a good healthy lunch and dinner that will leave you feeling full and satisfied! Don’t “save your calories” for the festivities. Passing out candy or trick-or-treating on an empty stomach is the worst thing you can do on Halloween! 

You will likely end up eating way more candy than you would if you nourish your body throughout the day. It is also important to eat healthy meals because you need protein to balance out the candy and help regulate your blood sugar.

Set a Limit Ahead of Time

Think about how many pieces of candy you want to eat ahead of time. I won't tell you how many, you know your goals and can decide for yourself. Set this amount aside to prevent yourself from mindlessly grabbing it from the bowl. 

When you are walking around, it is easy to have a piece or two out of the kids' bag - that is unless you have older children who will resist sharing their candy! Do your best to be aware of your intake and make sure each piece is really worth it. 

Read more ...