Can You Have A Healthy (And Fun) Halloween? Yes - Here's How!
#SugarBalancedLiving
Halloween is almost here… a spooktacularly fun time for get-togethers and trick-or-treating, full of costumes, imagination and of course, tons of tricks, treats and candy. Here's how to navigate this treat filled holiday while on a low sugar, low carb, keto, or sugar free diet!
Like most people, memories of Halloween enjoyment are full of tons of sweets and buckets full of chocolate and candies. Yes… the obvious problem here is that mini bags of M&M’s and spider cupcakes aren't exactly healthy!
Of course this mean Halloween is a super easy time to let yourself overdo it on chewy candy, peanut butter cups, snickers, creepy desserts, chocolate, punch, sliders and pizza.
The annual ‘food guilt’ season is beginning to loom.
I mean, you're literally surrounded by buckets full of wrapped candies for 4 weeks! It can seem impossible to stay on track with your health goals!
But don’t fear. It doesn’t have to be like that.
Today we’re going to take charge of this hauntingly fun holiday. By using my effective tried and tested hacks, tools and health balanced tips, it can actually be easy to incorporate your favorite sweet seasonal treats into your diet while also avoiding the candy binge-fest, weight gain and health goal wreckage that can come with this orange-colored time of year.
Planning a Balanced Halloween
Halloween is an exciting party and holiday, and we all deserve some fun and a day full of things we can't normally enjoy.
I always believe that a healthy life is about balance. I literally have a motto called ‘sugar balance’ – where health and nutrition is still your #1 priority, but you can still treat yourself using control!
Basically, what I'm saying here is that ‘sugar balance’ means you can enjoy some not so healthy treats and foods occasionally, but all the while still being healthy and kind to your body, mind and soul no matter what the occasion, whether its Halloween, Easter or even Christmas. You don’t want to accidentally go to crazy on a mad huge treat and junk food binge!
Halloween is a never ending parade of candy and junk foods all of October, that then continues into another never ending parade of holiday food and drinks all the way into the beginning of January, and it can be very easy to slip up into continuous negative eating habits if you’re not careful.
You do not want to find yourself in January, sick with negative habits, having gained weight and having created toxic bodily issues (like hormone struggles, acne, insomnia, etc.) formed from the effects of negative eating patterns.
If you can still enjoy yourself at Halloween and be healthy it's a win-win situation that proves you can maintain a good balance all of the rest of the time.
Plus, if you feel like you suffer with overeating, binge eating, emotional eating, cheat eating and negative food obsessions, processed sugar, carb and junk-food cravings or even food addiction, Halloween is also a good time to work on these negative junk food and sugar habits in general. With Thanksgiving and winter holidays drawing closer it’s a crucial time for learning to better protect yourself from the food struggles that often arrive during this time.
Break Halloween Sugar Cravings
I used to suffer with endless sugar and junk food cravings and had reliance on sugar and junk foods, which hurt my health in big ways. It also triggered a pattern of destructive eating and self-sabotage.
Actually out of this struggle came my passion to share the knowledge I gained in successfully overcoming these sugar and food centric issues.
I now have an awesome balance with sugar and junk foods - I can enjoy a sugary treat on a holiday (or an occasional frappe) and not have a single craving afterwards.
This means I have complete control, and I couldn’t be happier! This is why I really want you to be careful with the Halloween Treats, especially if you suffer with unresolved endless cravings, ‘a bad sweet tooth’, emotional eating habits, and/or other negative food patterns.
Or if you currently struggle from a health condition such as type 2 and pre-diabetes (metabolic syndrome), fatty liver, gout, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, hypertension, obesity, kidney disease, and you’ve been told that you must learn how to live with sugar moderation and control your sugar consumption and you need to get guidance on effective sugar limitation lifestyle tweaks.
You don't want over do it, gain weight, feel guilty, get angry at yourself and cause a spiral of negative eating patterns – you need to still think about your body, mind and soul when you decide to eat or drink (I'm looking at you Starbucks holiday drinks) something.
Trust me: it is possible to enjoy the unhealthy sweet and savory side of Halloween while also preventing weight gain and taking care of your body, mind and soul.
How exactly can you have a healthy Halloween when it seems temptation waits around every corner and every office candy bowl during this season?
Well, firstly I want to note – what and why we’re categorizing certain things as unhealthy foods and drinks…
Put simply, what I personally categorize as unhealthy foods and drinks… are foods and drinks that are high in sugar, spike your blood sugar levels, act like sugar in the body, or that mess with hormone functions. And these foods and drinks will tend to be addictive - yes, food can be addictive.
Sugar and foods that have the same effect as sugar are even more addictive than cocaine. Yeah, you read that right. Sugary and junky foods are addictive in the same way that heroin or cocaine is addictive too.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that high sugar, high glycemic foods are just as addictive as table sugar.
David Ludwig and his colleagues at Harvard, did a study that showed that foods that raise blood sugar such as table sugar, white flour, and refined starch, trigger a region in the brain “nucleus accumbens” which is the area in the brain that is ground zero for a drug abuse addiction.
Whether it’s white sugar, coconut sugar, agave, chips, white flour, or corn syrup, they all wreck your hormone function in a similar way, and of course eating large amounts may lead to many negative effects and chronic health issues, that go further than weight gain, such as insulin resistance syndrome, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and even type 2 and pre-diabetes.
How to stay healthy during Halloween!
Now you know why you may see certain foods like white breads categorized as unhealthy, we can now move on to how we stay healthy and still enjoy our Halloween season.
Well, all you really need to do is adopt a healthy approach to your Halloween routine & eating; there are plenty of guilt-free, indulgent (balance), Halloween options that can boost health and offer a feel-good factor too.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s find out how we can have the best healthiest Halloween ever!
Plan Ahead
With junk food and candy easily accessible, and seemingly less expensive, eating healthy during this ‘hallow’ and autumnal season can seem difficult. Many of us are tempted by the delicious homemade jack’o latern rice cookies our co-workers share, the spider rice crispy treats your kids bring home from school, the vast selection of pumpkin spiced treats at the cafe or the seasonal autumn themed goodies as we walk down the local grocer’s snack aisle.
Well, basically, if you get caught short and don't have your fresh healthy foods on hand, you'll have to rely on the seemingly readily available and seasonally appealing foods that might not be the best for you.
Not really great for your waistline or your health.
In order to make sure you aren’t caught short and have to rely on foods which aren't good for your body, I suggest planning meals in advance, making priority going to the grocery store and stocking up the fridge with healthy ingredients.
Take some time to sit down and work through what you like to eat that’s healthy and make a list of the foods you’ll need to have on hand. I also recommend prepping each meal time and any midday or evening snacks. If you have everything already set, the likelihood of you turning to something unhealthy will decrease exponentially. Create your grocery list, and stick to it. Also be sure to eat a healthy snack before grocery shopping, be mindful of what you buy, and stick to that list to avoid distractions from the unhealthy treats.
Keep It at Halloween!
Halloween treats and junk foods are everywhere, from every store to school pick up to the office kitchen, WEEKS before Halloween is even here, causing endless temptation week after week – even on small regular errands.
I’m guilty of this one.
When you see your fave brand of pretzels with an exclusive autumn dip, cute mummy sandwiches or Reese's Cups Halloween bats, you can't help but say “well, I’ll have one just this once”, but you gotta say “no”. Its not going to be just once, Halloween is still days away, which means most likely you’ll be back to snacking on Halloween treats before you know it.
You have to remember that the companies are just trying to get you to buy Halloween junk foods and treats early, because you’re more likely to eat them early and then go back and buy them again, again, and again.
This causes an endless sugary and junky food buying cycle – I mean, how likely are you to want to hold out until Halloween once you’ve already given into your favorite goodies? - great for the companies, but not so great for your mental and physical health.
So please, for your health, try to keep the Halloween candy and chocolates for Halloween.
Getting them weeks and weeks before Halloween will only encourage you to eat them.
Its Halloween Day, What Should You Eat at Meal Time?
Now you maybe wondering, once you’ve made your health a priority and focused on nutrition of sugar and junk food and have skipped out on endless cups of PSL and spooky candies and treats, what do you do once Halloween arrives? How do you tackle eating and drinking on Halloween, Halloween weekend and Halloween parties in the best way possible to preserve positive eating habits and prevent after party cravings?
Well… I’m now going share my tricks for intuitively staying healthy or healthier on Halloween, during Halloween weekend or at Halloween party, and tell you how to tackle eating sugary and junky Halloween foods and drinks to prevent after-cravings and how to use moderation and how to make your favorite spooky Halloween treats and foods healthy and healthier!
Firstly, let’s start with the ‘healthyfication’ of some of your favorite Halloween yummys.
I always say if you can make your favorite foods healthy while still enjoyable, then why not do it?
I know that Halloween is a time for your favorite traditional candies and buffet treats, but if you can make any of your recipes even a tad bit healthier, then I say go for it!
Every little change counts.
This will help you to stay healthier and to eat less calories, and by eating better choices at meal time, you won't get that nasty full lethargic feeling you normally get. Also, you’ll also suffer less from cravings as you’ll feel fuller from the healthier, more fiber-filled, vitamin rich foods.
Eating these more nutritious options will help you prevent overdoing it, preventing a spiral of negative eating patterns – esp. with Thanksgiving and winter holidays drawing closer it’s a crucial time for creating healthier, more effective and positive eating patterns.
I LOVE Halloween Candy & Snacks… What Should I Do About All the Unhealthy Foods?
Healthy Halloween Hack 1. Set A Limit
It doesn’t matter how many Halloween candies, treats, snacks or trick or treating leftovers you are around or have in your house at Halloween – you need to set yourself a limit.
Make a plan for what items and how much of any unhealthy food or drinks you plan to eat. Keep it to a limit, choose only your favorites and plan the times you will eat it at.
Eat small portions, spread out throughout the Halloween weekend, and make sure you go for the best quality/healthiest stuff.
If you find moderation a struggle, try eating with mindful thinking. Mindfulness is a state of being in which you are focused 100 percent on the present moment and without distraction.
Awareness like this is particularly important when attempting to avoid negative eating patterns, cravings binges and self-medicating.
If you need help getting started with mindfulness, and don’t know where to even start? No worries, there is no need to go searching through pages of the web for help, because I got you covered with my The Ultimate Mindful Eating Exercise + Workbook for Beginners.
A full how-to exercise + workbook for getting started with mindful eating to improve eating habits & health.
Healthy Halloween Hack 2. Opt For Darker Chocolate
Dark chocolate over milk or white is your best choice, as dark chocolate contains more cocoa solids, and usually will contain less added sugars, and a lower amount of carbs, meaning it won´t affect your sugar levels as much as your other standard chocolates.
Plus dark chocolate, particularly anything over 70% cocoa, can actually be good for your heart. Studies have shown moderate dark chocolate consumption can actually aid weight loss due to flavonoids, which act as powerful antioxidants and lower blood pressure.
And… since dark chocolate is less processed and richer, you will tend to need less of it to feel satiated.
This Halloween, try to opt for darker chocolate goodness and remember moderation is still key.
Actually I personally love ChocZero 70% Dark Chocolate as a sugar free option. It’s free of alcohol sugars and artificial sweeteners. Its perfect for a healthy Halloween bucket filler, if you want to keep the kids (and yourself) sugar free!
Healthy Halloween Hack 3. Fair Trade
Combine a feel-good factor with your love of candy and chocolate.
When choosing your Halloween candy and chocolate goodies choices, I highly recommend opting for a Certified Fair trade.
While this isn't exactly to do with your health, fair trade sweets have a real feel-good factor and will tend to be made with less processing and made from purer ingredients.
Certified Fair trade candy and chocolate comes from farmers who have been paid a fair price, meaning that they don't use child labor, and that they support schools and hospitals in communities.
Yes, I know Fair Trade chocolate and candy is more expensive, but your plan this Halloween is less about consuming and more about eating less and enjoying the smaller amount of better quality treats, so what’s the issue here?! And the better quality something is, the richer and more satisfying the food or drink is!
Said simply – choosing Fair trade Halloween goodies is simply a delicious way of helping others.
Healthy Halloween Hack 4. Use Some Tricks & Make Your Own Treats… Let’s Substitute It Y’all
As I mentioned earlier… for those of you who love whip on the apron and bake and cook (like me ✋), there is nothing better than cooking and baking at a holiday, so why not enjoy Halloween goodies that you’ve made yourself this year?
Even if you’re not skilled in the kitchen, honestly you can totally try out baking this year… you don’t need to feel overwhelmed about the idea; there are a ton of super easy and tasty healthy recipes, with some sugar free treat recipes using only fruit or pure natural stevia.
Making your own Halloween goodies is a fantastic option, because you’re going to be able to have complete control of the ingredients you add and you´ll no-doubt receive a lot of admiration from friends and family too.
And… healthy Halloween treats baking time makes for a fantastic opportunity to involve the kids in baking and can be a great bonding activity during this holiday.
You know exactly what you’re putting in your goodies and you get the fun experience of making and decorating your foods and treats.
This means you can make your Halloween as healthy as you want it.
If you don’t want to bake or cook anything… it might be difficult to fully balance out your sugary treats, but it is possible reduce the severity of the calories, sugar and create a more balanced treat.
You could try and make your favorite Halloween sweets and snacks a little bit healthier with clever swaps.
Many of the store-bought Halloween goodies we have grown up and loved over the years are just super crazy high in fat and sugar. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? There are 88 calories and 8 grams of sugar in just 1 individual Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
And the average Fruit Punch contains a whopping 26.5 grams of sugar in a single serving! I highly doubt you’ll only be having one Peanut Butter Cup or just one serving of punch!
Whoah.
To make it all worse, classic Halloween treats tend to be full with additives and artificial ingredients – forget it!
These suggestions are much healthier swaps to our childhood Halloween treats:
1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Instead of: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Try: Lily’s Milk Chocolate Style Peanut Butter Cups or popcorn topped with unsweetened peanut butter topped with melted semi sweet dark chocolate chips
Of course you don't have to avoid completely that sweet and salty, classic chocolate and peanut flavor you get from a Reese’s – simply opt for Lily’s sugar-free take on the classic treat or combine salty-sweet snack that's way healthier than the traditional treat, but with a popping popcorn and low-sugar twist with just as much peanut-butter chocolate flavor!
Reese's the brand does have a sugar-free version of peanut butter cups, but honestly its full of additives and artificial nastiness. Also Lily’s Milk Chocolate Style Peanut Butter Cups does contain some erythritol which I personally don’t like to promote as its a sugar alcohol, and sugar alcohols when eaten in excess can cause cravings and sometimes even digestive issues, but it is much better than the Reese's alternative. Just be sure to moderate.
Or if you’re willing to tryout the apron and make some Halloween treats… you can find my recipe for Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cups in the ‘Make Your Halloween Healthy and Delicious 7+ Halloween Party Buffet & Sugar-Free Dessert Recipe Guide’ guide. This recipe is honestly better than the original sweet and is made from only pure ingredients.
2. Punch
Instead of: Store-bought punch
Try: unsweetened fizzy water, no-sugar juice of your choice and slice orange and lemon
A Halloween part isn’t a party without a witch’s bowl of punch. But if you want to cut all that sugar and all those calories that normally fill the punch bowl, begin with this zesty punch alternative.
3. Chips & Dips
Instead of: Potato chips and unhealthy dips (ex: many thousand isle dressings & blue cheese dips)
Try: Whole grain crackers and healthy dips like guacamole and hummus or pistachios
Chips and dips is something I think we’ve all so easily found ourselves mindlessly eating while standing by the buffet at a Halloween party.
Many popular store-bought (and even homemade) dressings and dips (Think: Thousand Isle Dressing, Ketchup, BBQ sauce) are packed with sugar. Take, for example, Kraft Thousand Island Salad Dressing. It has sugar listed as it’s fourth ingredient, and just 2 tbsp. of the stuff contains a whopping 4 grams of sugar. And don’t even get me started on many BBQ dips sugar content.
And then there is the vessel for your dips… potato chips.
Chips are not only high in sodium, cooked in corn, canola and sunflower oil, spike your blood sugar levels, but contain high levels of acrylamide, a well known carcinogen, shown to increase one's cancer risk.
So, let swap out those chips and dips with 100% whole grain crackers or even better veggies and healthier dips. Be careful to read the labels for sugar and anything you can’t pronounce and opt for more filling dips like hummus and guacamole. Word to the wise, black bean hummus with a pipped sour cream web makes for a great healthy Halloween choice.
Or if you simply want something salty and crunchy yet filling and satisfying. Roasted and lightly salted pistachios make for a great Halloween party choice. You can find a fun and yummy Spooky Black Bean Hummus Recipe in again my ‘Make Your Halloween Healthy and Delicious 7+ Halloween Party Buffet & Sugar-Free Dessert Recipe Guide’ guide.
4. Candied Apples
Instead of: Candied Apples,
Try: Kind Fruit Bites or Bare Cinnamon Apply Chips
Kind Fruit Bites are fruity and sweet, yet made with only real fruit–no juices, purees, concentrates, preservatives, or added sugar. Or if you’re looking for some crunchy apple sweetness… cinnamon apple chips will do the trick. Crunchy yet sweet and made with fresh apples and cinnamon—nothing else!
5. Snickers
Instead of: Snickers
Try: Dark chocolate covered roasted peanuts or pretzel dippers
Choose a high quality dark chocolate covered peanut option for a delicious wholesomely scrumptious low sugar snickers replacement. Or opt for coating some pretzels with melted dark chocolate using your fave nut or seed butter for dipping.
If you don’t mind consuming a little extra sugar for something more like candy bars, cookies, and other sweets, then a more wholesome and lower sugar option that is still candy-like would be KIND bars.
They do contain natural sweeteners clocking in at 5-6 grams of sugar, but they do at least contain no artificial sweetener and it’s a much better option when compared to the 20 grams of sugar in a Snickers bar and the ingredients make for a much richer and quality treat.
Also if you’re craving candy bars, but don’t want any of the sugar or calories, my Homemade Sugar-Free Twix Bars Recipe is really delicious and always helps me snag any candy cravings I get. You can grab the recipe in my ‘Make Your Halloween Healthy and Delicious 7+ Halloween Party Buffet & Sugar-Free Dessert Recipe Guide’ guide.
6. Pizza
Instead of: Pizza
Try: Healthier whole grain crust and load it with veggie topping or kale chips and white sauce
Pizza seems to have become a modern day tradition for Halloween parties… pizza bakes and pizza itself all seem to be a Halloween smash hit these days, with myself included having served pizza at my spectacular parties. But as we all know pizza isn’t exactly a healthful food. Pizza crust is loaded with carb, topped with way too much cheese, sugar added into most marinaras and pizza sauces, and since the average pizza uses white flour, this makes for a large blood sugar level spike.
The best way to make this healthier is to opt for a whole-grain crust instead of white flour crust and unless you’re making homemade pizza sauce, opt for ricotta and roasted tomatoes in lieu of pizza sauce.
Honestly if you’re buying pizza, it’s most likely the crust will be less than ideal for your health - even with the whole grain option - but it is a better option. Also be sure to order plenty of veggies and seasoning toppings like crushed red pepper flakes and fresh basil to add flavoring.
Plus, the veggies will load you up with healthy fiber to keep you full and stop you from going back for more.
If you want to go homemade and eat the most delicious and healthiest pizza you’ve ever eaten, my ‘Make Your Halloween Healthy and Delicious 7+ Halloween Party Buffet & Sugar-Free Dessert Recipe Guide’ guide includes my totally scrumptious and pizza-tastic Healthy Socca Bread Pizza Recipe with several different types of topping ideas.
The Spooktacular Time Is Here… What Should I Do To Help Me Make Smarter Choices?
Whether you’re just celebrating Halloween day or scheduled to join some Halloween parties Halloween weekend, there are smart tricks and tips you can incorporate into the party day or days that’ll help you keep your body running efficiently and healthily even after indulging. Plus, these steps are also designed to help your mind and body intuitively make smarter choices, avoid binging or feeling deprived.
Start Your Day Off Right
Over Halloween I want you to keep with your usual breakfast routine, if it’s a healthy one of course! Make sure you include good healthy fats and protein at breakfast. The good fats will stabilize your appetite, help keep your energy in check, reducing cravings during the day.
Some good nutrient-rich options for breakfast include eggs, yoghurt, ricotta, cottage cheese and nuts.
Keeping up your healthy morning routines will also help you help keep your energy in check and keep your body and metabolism moving. If you need some inspiration for your morning routine, check out my blog on My Favourite Morning Habits for Happy Weight-Loss!
Stay Active
Shift emphasis away from food and toward other fun activities, making it way easier to avoid chugging down punch, eating pizza, grazing chips, crackers, and pretzels and gobbling down candy bars.
Focus on spending time playing with the dogs, face painting with the family, dressing up, hula-hooping, and jump-roping with your family kids.
You could even plan ahead and set up a game of volleyball at or after the party - really get creative! Either way, get social, focus on games, join in, and have fun!
Also, a great idea is to plan your social events around your movement; perhaps you could get up a bit earlier to go for a walk or do a 15 minute HIIT workout before breakfast.
A bonus tip: exercising in the morning will help improve your food choices throughout the day.
Water
Your body needs water for everything - it’s crucial to our existence - and drinking water is even more important in the boiling summer heat!
Sip on 8 to 10 cups of water a day to ensure that you stay well hydrated, and to boost weight loss (since many a time folks can mistake dehydration for feeling hungry).
Be sure you stay away from sodas and other sugar-laden drinks. These will only lead to dehydration, lethargy, and weight gain.
Summing It Up…
Halloween is a great holiday, and a perfect time for fun and hanging out with friends and family. Decorating, baking, dressing up and entertaining – it’s such a fantastic excuse to enjoy the autumnal season and be around friends, and even eat some seasonal dishes.
We shouldn’t have to be afraid of Halloween and the season of holidays to come. It feels as though there will be plenty of desserts, snacks and dishes that wreck our diets and general health like pizza, sandwich sliders, punch and sodas, and plenty of cookies, cupcakes and candy, that’ll leave us bloated, tired and in an endless craving roller-coaster living the tireless, negative yo-yo dieting life all the way into the holiday season and beyond.
While it may seem impossible to stay on track with your health goals, keep wellness in mind and avoid binge cycles, let me assure you it’s not. If you implement my advice, you’ll not only avoid the dreaded holiday weight gain, but thrive in a healthier and happier state without diet caused aliments, tireless binging and cravings. So I really hope you follow along with my advice.
I promise if you do, you will have the healthiest Halloween possible while still enjoying what you love.
Stick to moderation or opt for fully healthy swaps like I shared earlier and stay on track with healthy routines like an exercise regime and do more fun non-food related activities, remember to make healthier choices first and use my yummy healthier Halloween food swap-outs and recipes to keep you on track.
That’s it from me… go ahead and celebrate this year! Be festive and enjoy the Halloween fun! I promise, you’ll feel better when Halloween comes to an end if you stick with real food, healthy routines, and treat moderation. Happy Halloween!!