How To Recover From Halloween Binge

Couldn’t Resist The Halloween Binge last night?

You did everything you could to resist the urge to over-indulge in Halloween candy, right?. You made a plan, avoided keeping candy in your house before necessary and bought candy that you didn’t like to pass out to kids on Halloween. Yet… somehow around this magical time, you found yourself snacking less and less on fruits, nuts and veggies and more and more on candy and other sweets. Now what?

Facing your real fear on Halloween

The most frightening thing for many health conscious people around Halloween is not the haunted houses, costumes or scary movies, but the dreaded Halloween candy over-indulgence. The first thing you need to realize is that you’re not alone in your struggle. Many people buy Halloween candy intending to pass it out to kids as they come by, but they slowly (and unintentionally) end up polishing off a bag or two of treats before Halloween even begins. There are plenty of pitfalls that lead to overeating during Halloween time, but luckily for all of us, there are more than a few ways to get back on track before those bags of candy become pounds on the scale.

You won’t do yourself any good by beating yourself up for overeating. On the contrary, you will do more harm than good if you focus on feeling guilty because you ate more than you intended. A better way to handle the fact that you slipped up on your healthy eating habits is to realize that everyday is a new day. Because you binged on candy last week or even yesterday, doesn’t mean that you have to continue on with unhealthy eating habits. Resist the temptation to throw in the towel and begin a slow slide into overeating for the rest of the year. With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, a person can really do some damage to their diet if they don’t make a conscious effort to eat right everyday.

Getting back on track

If you have kids, then don’t keep holiday treats and their leftover Halloween candy in plain sight. If you don’t have kids, throw away any remaining candy you have. A few extra ways to get back on the right track after a Halloween candy coma include:

• Drink plenty of water and other low calorie drinks in order keep yourself hydrated. The more hydrated you are, the less likely you are to mistake thirst for hunger. Also, be sure to flush your system out with water or green tea if you have taken in too many sweets.
• Load up on protein packed foods so you can be full and satisfied longer with each meal (reducing your cravings for sweets or other empty calorie snacks).
• Eat as you normally would after your Halloween candy coma. Don’t try to skip a meal or two in order to “balance” your over-indulgence. That is a bad way to manage your eating habits during the holiday season. Just eat as you would normally and, if you just have to replace anything, Wreplace a few starches or carbs with more fruits and veggies.
• Work out! Don’t slack on your workouts during the beginning of the holiday season. There will be plenty of opportunities to rest during time with family and friends during the upcoming holidays. Besides, if you ate too much candy, working out will aid your body in flushing out the excess sugar you consumed.
• Make vitamin C your friend this holiday season. Vitamin C can help reduce cravings for sweets and just a little bit goes a long way (to reduce cravings and get your daily allowance).

Over-doing it on Halloween is not a cause to skip out on the rest of the year and vow to begin anew on New Year’s Eve. Don’t let one day or a series of days ruin all the effort and time your spend this year making progress in your diet and exercise regimen. Everyday is a new day. Make today one that you’ll commit to eating right and exercising.