Tips on how to make it through Halloween without going overboard!

We are 2 days away from the scariest holiday of the year!

HALLOWEEN causes many of us to go running in the opposite direction from the mirror when you pull up those skinny jeans after a week of potlucks in the office, candy treats, fun drinks and appetizers!

You might think that those mini candy bars are a good idea because they are portion sized but then you also think to yourself that you can have more than 1 because they are bite sized! Before you know it you are on the couch with the candy bowl and you just can’t stop. 

It’s hard to get out of that pattern once you start so I want you to also start to change your thinking right now!

Just because you think its going to be hard doesn't mean you just don't start at all or you take an entire week off of eating healthy and working out because of one day of trick or treating! It's all about changing your mindset. So here are some of my top tips:

1. Don't get your favorite candy to hand out on Halloween

I always used to get the box that had the Reece’s Pieces cups in it. Because I loved them. BUT then they tempted me all week before Halloween because of course I opened the box early.  AND they tempted me on Halloween night and again they tempted me after Halloween was over. 

So this year I let the Boys pick.  In prior years I have gone the no candy route, last year I got a healthy potato pop chip to hand out.  But this year I let the boys choose and they got a box of whatever mini chocolate bars they wanted.  I actually don’t even know what is in there.  AndI don’t want to know either!

This way I’m not tempted to get into them before Halloween, and because I know there are no reece cups I won’t have quite as much trouble staying away on Halloween night or after either!

2. Out of sight out of mind

Right now that nasty box of Chocolate bars is sitting on top of my China cabinet still in the bag it came in!  We have had it for about a week now but it remains unopened and will do so until Halloween night!

3. Keep a journal

It's really really important that as you move into the holidays that you have a great way of tracking your daily food intake. Honestly, its so easy to not realize what you are eating and how it all adds up. You take 1 little bite here and 1 little bite there and before you know it you have had way more than you ever expected.

This is called the compound effect.  Little things done daily lead to big things.  Whether that be good changes or Bad. For example: working out for 20 minutes each day although a little change can lead to big changes in your health and fitness over a year.  But a little seemingly inconsequential change over time like an extra not so healthy snack each day over a few months could lead to a few extra pounds to carry around by Christmas time.

But when you have to write it down and be accountable to that it makes you second guess that decision! You might be sabotaging yourself without even knowing it!

4. Exercise

It’s so important to stick to your exercise routine or even start a new one.  On Friday morning I plan to workout at lunch with my co-workers (P90 with Tony), eat a healthy lunch, drink my water and then have a good healthy dinner (Portobello Mushroom Pizzas - Recipe found on my Dinner Inspiration board).

I’ll probably go trick or treating with my boys and have a treat or two. 

BUT

I'm not throwing all caution to the wind for the entire day. I'm not starving myself to have extra calories for the evening! I will stick to the plan. It's one treat not an entire day or week! This is the key to success. Everything in moderation and don't skip a workout EVER on a cheat day! DEAL!!!

5. Find healthy alternatives

Feel the need to have a sweet treat on Friday night after the kids are in bed and the candy is available? Make up a batch of something healthy but sweet to enjoy instead. 

Maybe these Coconut Bars

Or

These Dairy Free Gluten Free Chick Pea cookies! 

No one will even know there are chick peas in them!

And if you are really up to the challenge join my Halloween Candy Detox Challenge Group to help you get focused after halloween and make it to Christmas with a whole new set of tools to use!

5 Days of Shakeology

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** Holiday Survival Tips

*** Plus our Make it to Christmas Motivation and group support

Click here to join the Facebook Group and contact me to get your Shakeology!

Halloween Candy and the Switch witch

The candy is stacked higher than me in Superstore.... and I have to say this is kind of disgusting to me.... 

You have got to think that this is just one store of many who are selling halloween candy in our area and it they so so much candy. 

Will all of this be purchased? Handed out? Consumed? Thrown away? 

It's kind of crazy to think that it could all get purchased in the next few weeks.  It's more insane to think that it could all get consumed.  But really I bet there will be a lot of waste that happens also.  I wish I could find some stats on this.... hold on let me go find some!

Ok I'm back!

Check out what I found.....

More ABC news videos | ABC Entertainment News

On a CTV new Article i read that Costumes were expected to account for $1.2 billion dollars out of the $6.9 billion spent on halloween last year.

It also noted that Americans will spend $1.9 billion on it this year,according to The Nielsen Company. That’s around 600 million pounds worth of Hershey bars, lollipops, Milk Duds, Twizzlers and Clark Bars.
Crazy!!

Ok so with that out of my system I can move on. 

As a child I loved this holiday because of the fun of going door to door seeing how much you could collect then sorting through it all and trading with your friends and sister... But seeing this mound of junk makes me think about how this holiday is so much about consumerism and is fed by the food production industry.  It's really sad that we see boxes upon boxes of unhealthy over processed food stuff when instead there really could be healthy pre packaged foods like dried fruit, nuts, healthy cookies and the like. 

In our house the Switch Witch comes to collect Asher's Candy. 

How it works

Asher still enjoys every aspect of Halloween including having a few treats. But before he heads to bed he selects a few treats to keep and the rest he puts out for the switch witch who exchanges his treats for a toy, clothes or crafts. 

When he wakes up the next morning his new toy is in place of the treats. 

He actually brought this up the other day and was excited about what the switch which might bring him. I think that doing this provides a nice balance between enjoying the holiday and having a loot bag of treats hanging around for weeks. 

How can you get the switch witch poem for yourself?  

You can simply click here to fill out your name and email address and I will email you a copy of the switch witch document that I use!

I like to print off the switch witch poem a day before halloween and put it into an envelope in our mail box.

The second sheet which has just the photo of the switch witch on it, I will cut out and glue to the front of the envelope.

Put the letter in the mail box for your child and they are sure to be excited!

This is such a great way to reduce the amount of candy your kiddos actually eat but still allows for the fun of halloween!

I hope you try it with your kiddos this year and I would love to hear from you so if you do use the Switch Witch poem with them please comment below and tell me how it went!