Today I feel compelled to share with you my brilliant, never-fail tips for not clogging up your arteries (or moving out to the next notch on your belt) on Halloween. It is, after all, the start of the winter eating season.
Sadly, I only have one tip: DON’T EAT ALL THE CANDY.
That’s pretty much it.
I have employed a mish-mash of strategies over the years, some of which were more successful than others. But it really boils down to one simple, but terribly difficult thing: willpower.
I have tried:
–Not buying candy (we call it going dark–turn off the lights, or go somewhere else during trick-or-treat hours, so we don’t have to deal with the kids at the door). Somehow, my own kids always bring home candy, so I just wind up eating theirs.
–Buying only nasty candy (I don’t eat any candy that’s not chocolate, and I’m kind of picky about the chocolate). But again, I just wind up eating the children’s. Because even when I’m giving out Bits O’ Honey and Twizzlers, the neighbors are giving out Twix and Reese’s pieces. They hate me.
–Making some sort of lovely, wholesome, homemade dessert that won’t kill me. Fat-free, whole wheat, low-sugar beet cake, anyone? How about a nice piece of fruit? Sorry–the KitKats win every time.
–Having lots of grown-ups over and filling us up with a fabulous home-cooked dinner. I love our friends and relations, but honestly? The distraction of chatting just makes me eat more chocolate.
–Being pregnant. I’ve done that one twice. Doesn’t help me be more restrained. I just ate the candy, and wound up with a sugar-buzzed baby kicking my bladder. (Although, come to think of it, they’re a little more manageable when they’re in utero–less likely to wreck the house while they’re hopped up on candy.)
–My kids have even tried hiding the candy from me. Doesn’t work. Didn’t work when my mother did it, either. She hid it on top of the second refrigerator in the utility room. Ask me how I know.
Last year I managed fairly well; I just didn’t eat it. Not one piece. I went back and forth to the door, handing out miniature Milky Ways and tiny packets of M&Ms, and just . . . didn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but I resisted. All night, over and over, every time I thought about having a piece, I chose not to.
Willpower. If I can do it, anyone can.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My most successful strategy is to buy the candy that doesn’t call to me in the night. Basically the solid sugar types – no chocolate, no peanut butter allowed. Our house is usually stocked with everything and anything in the solid sugar variety – skittles, gummies, life savers, laffy taffy etc..). Also anything ‘sour’ – that stuff is awful, so I buy tons of it
Hi Eileen–
Yeah, I do that too, some years. But then the kids bring home the good stuff . . .