Halloween seems to be a salient turning point in which our bikini body aspirations are overpowered by the desire of the Halloween and Christmas confectionary deals that are shoved in front of us every time we enter a supermarket. So this Halloween quit whilst you are ahead, before you fall down the slippery slope of sugary binges. Whether you need to avoid gobbling from your trick-or-treat stash, your child’s pumpkin goodie bucket or the office Halloween pot, follow these top ten tips to keep you on trick…sorry, track.
1. Buy your treats on Halloween – to rid yourself of the horrific temptation of knowing that your sweets are in the cupboard, do not buy any trick-or-treat goods before the morning of Halloween. You could just end up chomping them down yourself, feeling guilty then having to go out and restock anyway.
2. Out of sight, out of mind – research has shown that we are more likely to crave certain things if we can see or smell them by then imagining to eat them. Don’t put yourself through this torture and keep your supply hidden by the door saving them just for visitors.
3. Bring in the sweets that you don’t like – if you’re a chocolate fan, stock up on Haribo, if you’re a Skittles addict get the biscuits in. Don’t stock anything that you know you will struggle to refuse.
4. Do a Halloween morning workout – if you start the day optimistically, you’re more likely to maintain that positivity and strength throughout the day, plus if you do sneak in a couple of little sweets those extra calories won’t be as detrimental.
5. Eat your normal daily diet – do not ‘save up’ calories throughout the day to allow an indulgence that evening when your children come back with their goody bag. The hungrier you are, the more likely you’ll grab 20 sweets instead of 3. Therefore, ensure you eat three nutritious meals on Halloween.
6. Give your children a smaller trick-or-treat bag – the smaller their bag, the less likely excess chocolates will be lying around the house available for you to snatch up. The mini pumpkin buckets are more fun anyway!
7. Use trick-or-treating as exercise – Halloween can benefit your diet rather than being a threat to it; walk around with your children for an hour and you could burn 250-300 calories.
8. Plan to eat three – if you cannot refuse any longer, allow yourself just three treats. Focus on the texture and taste of each one in your mouth rather than the next one. This slow and savouring method will diminish the likelihood of mindlessly stuffing down the whole lot. The advantage of planning to eat just three, maintains the sense of control so the ‘I’ve blown it now, I may as well eat the pack’ attitude cannot ruin your diet.
9. Empty wrappers – if you do find yourself losing control, keep the wrappers on your desk or in eye shot; this way you’ll be more conscious of how much you have already consumed. And others will also be able to see the evidence of the damage done too.
10. Relieve your sugar hangover – if things don’t quite go to plan and you wake up on Saturday morning with a sugar hangover, write it off and ensure that you eat a healthy high fibre and protein breakfast to steady your blood sugar levels. You haven’t blown your diet, just make November your month so that you can feel confident in that little black dress this Christmas.
Share the excitement of fancy dress, great parties and the fabulously freaky monster mash music playlists and have a happy low sugar Halloween!