Halloween Candy? Now That's Scary Stuff!

Fall is a time of settling down. By Labor Day, the summer vacation photos have been shared, the beach towels are folded and put away, and the kids are back in school.

For many of us, life feels calmer and more structured. We can even start to focus on ourselves and our wellness. Then, with just a few weeks of this under our belts, Halloween hits. Now, it used to be a late October holiday. But recently, with merchandising at it's finest, that Halloween candy starts appearing in stores just as we're starting to look for binder paper and a new lunchbox in the back-to-school shopping. Those little fun sized treats become ubiquitous. My cleaners has them, my bank has them, and even my shoe repair has them. Candy is everywhere!

What can we do to fight this temptation? So, let's talk about this holiday in three parts - before, the night itself, and the aftermath. The reason that it's worth thinking about Halloween now is that many of us fall off our good intentions of wellness after a wild foraging with mini treats, and then totally lose it over the next two months of winter holidays. With just a few strategies, you can keep it together past this scary candy holiday month.

BEFORE: You have choices. If you don't want to participate in the holiday at all, turn off the lights. If you want to participate in Halloween, and candy has been an issue in the past, hand out stickers, markers, little bottles of water or juice (the kids are often really thirsty) or some other non-food treat. If you want to give out candy, buy the kind you really hate. Those sour things or Nerds appeal to kids, but often not as much to adults. If you wait to buy the candy until the day before, all the "good things" are already off the store shelves, or so my kids say. Then, keep the candy in the trunk of the car until the children start making the rounds.

DURING: This is when things get "tricky." If you have time between children's doorbell rings, find something to do away from the candy. Make an intentional effort to be busy - read a book, work on a craft, do some work, make a phone call, etc. Keep your waiting eyes off the candy bowl. Try to distribute all the candy during the evening. If there is any left after the children have stopped coming around, you can (gasp) throw it away! This candy is not going to help feed the hungry (food banks want real food, not candy). You can bring it to work the next day (see below). Or, you can leave it out with a note to the late-night roving teenagers to take the candy but leave the bowl behind.

AFTER: Great! You managed the pre-Halloween period really well. You got through the night too. Now is when things go from scary to downright frightening! All that candy that other co-workers wanted to get out of their house shows up at work. Bowls and bowls of it! You thought you were out of the woods, and are now surrounded your entire working day with those temptresses of mini and fun-sized treats. You really need a battle plan now, because it's the Halloween aftermath that does us in, causing us to give up the wellness project until January. So, you can make an agreement with your co-workers before the holiday about how to handle the post-Halloween fall-out. Or, have a little candy - and I'll stress a little... If you can have one treat a day, good for you! If one treat turns into a pile of shiny wrappers in a matter of minutes, bring something else that will satisfy you instead. Maybe popcorn, hot cocoa, gum, or hard candy will fill in for those mini marvels. If you really love chocolate, buy a piece of delectable, gourmet and freshly made candy from a local shop. You know, those Halloween treats were mass-manufactured a long time ago and really aren't the most delicious chocolates around. It's the memory of childhood, the easy access, and the volume of treats at hand that sway us. I read somewhere that 97 percent of parents raid their children's Halloween bag at night when the kids are in bed. My bet is that 3 percent just didn't confess. So, what do you do with the mountain of kids treats left over from their big night? Of course, that's up to you. I'll just suggest to keep it out of sight so that it doesn't catch your eye every waking moment.

A REAL OFFER: If all else fails, bring your candy left-overs to me at Weight Watchers at 357 Third Street in San Rafael. Leave it there with anyone on staff and say it's for Martha. I'll take care of it for you. No problem!

Have fun, and don't be scared by those little treats.  You're going to do great!