Halloween candy can make you gain weight: 8 tips to help you control candy-binging

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Halloween candy here, Halloween candy there, Halloween candy everywhere!

That should truly be the theme for the month of October.

I can tell you that I’ve noticed that most grocery stores and drugstores had started selling Halloween candy just after they had stored away the back to school supply. Yup, stores have been selling Halloween candy since the second week of September!

This is the time of year where things start getting a bit scary in most offices. By scary I mean you’ll start finding a lot more candy and goodies around the office and the temptation to eat far more candy than anyone will ever need is just that much easier.

When you combine the amount of sugar most people eat in October to the fact that most of us will be partying it up at Halloween parties where there will be alcohol and some not-so-healthy-snacks, you can see how you can end up the month of October with a few extra pounds.

Remember that sugar is a guaranteed ager and it also converts into your body into fat. It’s one of the easier ways to quickly gain weight and most people are unaware of the many different hidden forms of sugar.

So how can you control the amount of candy you eat during Halloween season?

Here are 8 tips to help you control candy-binging:

1. If you are opening your home to kids on the night of Halloween, don’t eat the candy while waiting for the door bell to ring. Make sure you have a proper meal so that you’re not as tempted to dip into the candy bowl.

2. Instead of eating candy mindlessly, why not take the candy that was offered to you back to your desk and set yourself a “candy time” so that at a specific time of the day you treat yourself to a specific number of pieces of candy. If you sit down and eat two or three pieces of Halloween candy … you’ll remember just how many you ate … that won’t happen when you eat candy on the run.

3. Make sure that you don’t substitute candy for a meal. If you think that eating 10 pieces of candy exempts you from a proper nutritional meal … think again. This kind of eating is a sure way to help you GAIN weight fast.

4. Just because stores start selling candy in September, doesn’t mean you have to start buying it that early.

5. You might want to substitute candy with fruit! During the month of October, maybe you might want to brown-bag a few extra fruits for the office. When you are tempted by the gluttony of candy, you can reach for that apple, pear or orange. You’ll feel a lot better about making that choice later because you won’t need to sweat over losing extra weight you put on because of candy-binging.

6. If you’re buying large bags of candy to give to tricker-treaters be sure to buy what you think you might need (don’t over-buy as much as possible) and if you have any leftover candy, you might want to consider getting it out of your home and out of your desk drawers. If the temptation is not looking at you in the eye … it’s harder to give in.

7. Remember that those Halloween cupcakes are also filled with sugar. During the Halloween season, sugar takes on many different forms: cupcakes, cookies, cake bars, fruity drinks at parties, alcohol and those special coffee drinks with loads of sugary syrup. Be aware of the hidden forms of sugar … because it adds up really fast.

8. Just say NO! I know this might sound obvious and it might be a difficult thing for so many to do, but truly and honestly, saying no to candy won’t kill you and won’t make you depressed. By saying no, you can rest assured that later on you won’t need to fight to burn that extra weight. When someone offers you candy during the Halloween season, you really don’t have to say “yes” each time it’s offered to you!