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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Eating Healthy This Halloween


By: Dr. Margaret Lewin, Medical Director of Cinergy Health (www.cinergyhealth.com)

Careful as we are all year, we seem to lose our inhibitions against junk food when Halloween rolls around – snacking on the sugar-laden treats we bought for neighbors’ children as well as the ones our own children bring home from their trick-or-treating. Here are some tips for resisting temptation:


  • Buy treats only a day or so before Halloween – so they’re not around long to tempt you
  • Keep the treats in an inconvenient, difficult-to-reach place till Halloween arrives
  • Buy treats which you don’t particularly like, making it easier to resist
  • Buy healthy mini-packs of
    • Raisins or other dried fruit
    • 100% juice
    • Sugar-free hot chocolate mix
    • Trail mix
    • Cheese and crackers
    • Sugar-free gum
  • Buy non-edible treats such as
    • Stick-on temporary tattoos
    • Mini bottles of bubble bath or blow bubbles
    • Costume accessories such as wax false teeth or a stick-on mustache
    • Sidewalk chalk
  • Take your children out after dinner – when you’re not hungry
  • Go through the “goodie bag” when you arrive home – discarding any outrageously unhealthy treats or those with questionable packaging
  • Put the remaining edible treats in that same difficult-to-reach place – to be dispensed one at a time on a scheduled basis (such as dessert time)
  • When you yourself get that urge to indulge, take a look at your watch and wait ten minutes (if you’re lucky, you’ll get distracted and forget about the urge)
  • Set a date – maybe two weeks after Halloween – when you’ll dump the leftover.


So… plan ahead and – when it comes to the leftovers – think “waist” instead of “waste”!

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