Halloween Healthy Eating Tips

Dr. Monali Y. Desai
4 min readOct 17, 2018

It’s that time of year again. I always find it the hardest to eat healthy around this time of year because from Halloween to New Year’s Eve it’s a lot of parties and get togethers and a lot of yummy unhealthy food.

It’s easy to say “Don’t eat that Halloween candy, eat fruits and vegetables instead”, but it’s harder actually to do it. My Halloween favorite is candy corn, so I know how hard it is to resist. Here are some Halloween tips for eating healthier.

How to Eat at Halloween Get Togethers

Usually at Halloween get togethers there are a lot of baked goods like pumpkin pie that you only eat at this time of the year or candies like candy corn that you really only eat at Halloween that you may really enjoy eating. I recommend you count this as a cheat meal, I usually recommend three cheat meals a week.

Again, a cheat meal means a meal with a higher amount of sugar, unhealthy carbs, and/or unhealthy fats. That doesn’t mean you should go crazy and eat everything. If you get one plate of food including cookies, cupcakes, etc. that counts as one cheat meal. So if you eat two to three plates of cupcakes, pie, candy, etc. at one Halloween get together you may end up eating all three cheat meals for the week at one event.

What To Do If Your Coworkers Keep Offering You Halloween Treats

If you have coworkers who are bringing in sweet treats or their kids’ leftover Halloween candy every day around Halloween you may have to tell people you’re trying to eat healthy. Sometimes it’s not comfortable to tell people you’re trying to lose weight, so try telling people you’re trying to eat healthier for another reason.

Some other reasons people say no to candy or extra sugar include that some people find that eating extra sugar gives them digestive issues, some people feel like it makes their skin break out, and other people feel like it makes them feel more tired or like they have less energy. You could even say you’re doing a 30 day Halloween challenge that involves you not eating any Halloween candy.

There are a lot of health benefits to eating less candy besides losing weight. Hopefully, your coworkers will then stop offering you candy, so you won’t have to keep utilizing your willpower to say no.

Halloween Candy at Your House

You may have leftover candy from what you were giving out to trick or treaters, or your kids may have brought home a lot of candy when they went trick or treating. A good option is to donate the extra candy at your house. If there isn’t very much candy at your house you won’t have to worry about you eating all the extra candy.

There are a number of organizations that will take leftover candy donations at this time of the year. Also, your dentist’s office may take leftover candy because they want you to have healthy teeth. Your pediatrician’s office may be collecting leftover candy donations because they want your kids to eat healthy.

Also, it’s something to consider because it can help your kids form healthy eating habits too. Not that they shouldn’t eat any candy, but usually the amount of candy most kids get at Halloween is extra, so they could keep a small amount of the candy they get and donate the rest. This will help them start making healthy eating habits as a child, so it will be easier for them to eat healthy as an adult.

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Originally published on If We Were Family.

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Dr. Monali Y. Desai

I’m a cardiologist, consulting and providing advisory services in health tech.