I'm allergic to peanuts, so "the best" Halloween candy is anything with peanuts ... Snickers bars, Reeses, etc.

Every year I face this challenge, last year I bought chocolate bars early because they were on sale....by Hallowe'en I had eaten nearly an entire box!  I am a very fair chocolate bar eater...I don't discriminate between them....lol! This year I have made huge strides in setting weight loss and health goals and I don't want to fall into that same pattern. This year I have bought some candies that I know I won't crave and in genral won't satisfy any craving I may have. So I should stay away from it. Luckily I don't have kids living at my house, so any extras I can just ship home with them!

I love the idea of asking children to share with you.  Like the others above,  I do is to buy candy that I do not like and know will not eat.  This also works nicely for holidays and other events that I attend.  That way I am assured that there will always be ONE thing that I will not eat.

1) buy candy I can't stand; 2) keep it in a closet so I don't even see that there's candy around; 3) take leftovers to the office stash the next morning; 4) plan on a big, healthy snack before the tricksters arrive; 5) have another fun snack planned out for when the evening is done (my own halloween treat - usually a piece of pumpkin bread!)

If possible, I eat the candy right before exercise, the high sugar rush makes for great fuel before exercise.  Just one mini bar is plenty to fuel a whole workout.   

My next door neighbor is a counselor at a youth center so each year we give her all of the leftover candy on November 1st and she takes it to her kids. It helps to immediately get it out of our house!

I don't give candy out to trick or treaters.  My kiddo is young enough to still go out trick-or-treating herself, so I take her instead.  I ask her for one or two choice pieces that are old favs of mine, then I encourage her to take the rest of hers to school, keep it in her locker, and dig into it to pass and share amongst her friends.  That way it isn't in the house, I'm not tempted to eat any of it, and she gets rid of it faster, herself.

I love to bake treats and make candies and such, but it is hard having them around the house because I have no willpower.  So, I'll bake or make, have one or two, then bring the rest to work, giving them out as treats to my students, leaving them with admin in the front office and a big plate in the teacher's lounge.   That way I get to satisfy my craving and then I just share the love!

Thanks for the link to fearless eating. That was a very helpful article. :)

As far as Halloween candy goes, I just buy the type of candy I don't care about. I try to take the kids to Halloween and fall activities that are less candy oriented than trick-or-treating. My community has many activities to choose from. The local college puts on a communtiy carnival, and the city does a fall festival. This provides the kids with an opportunity to dress up and go out to have fun, but the focus is not on candy (so, we get less of it at home!)

Original Post by: pushbuttonkitty

I don't give candy out to trick or treaters.  My kiddo is young enough to still go out trick-or-treating herself, so I take her instead.  I ask her for one or two choice pieces that are old favs of mine, then I encourage her to take the rest of hers to school, keep it in her locker, and dig into it to pass and share amongst her friends.  That way it isn't in the house, I'm not tempted to eat any of it, and she gets rid of it faster, herself.

I love to bake treats and make candies and such, but it is hard having them around the house because I have no willpower.  So, I'll bake or make, have one or two, then bring the rest to work, giving them out as treats to my students, leaving them with admin in the front office and a big plate in the teacher's lounge.   That way I get to satisfy my craving and then I just share the love!

I do the same thing!!!  I come from a long line of food pushers--we love to cook and bake and see other people enjoy it too so I'll make whatever, take it to work or to my sister's house, get to enjoy a few pieces of it and see others enjoy it as well.  Or another option is to make something, divide it in half and freeze half and then I get to enjoy it twice.  I find home made is much more satisfying anyway than candy or store-bought treats. 

Luckily for me, I live in a rural area and get NO trick-or-treaters.  Can't even get my niece to bring her kids by <(

I have to avoid the Halloween candy.  It's a total trigger for me to poor eating.  My boss's wife puts out my favourite Halloween treats (it's just a coincidence, isn't it?) but I've been ignoring them this year.  Last year I gained 5 pounds during October :/  

And excuse me for disagreeing, but it is EVIL and a big excuse for many people to overindulge. 

My solution is to not like the candy!  Seriously.  About a year ago I decided to stop fighting myself, and to maximize my enjoyment of chocolate by eating only the good stuff.   I buy two of the 100 gram size  Lindt 85% chocolate bars and eat a square whenever I want.  I now find most candy bars not only unappealing but actually repulsive.  Who would eat tasteless crappy salt and filler when they can get real magnificent chocolate? Over time, with other changes, my 200 grams is lasting longer than a week.

I am a classic Eat-Repent-Repeater. Just last night I had like 7 Halloween cookies, and the night before I got into the Halloween candy and vowed I wouldn't do it the next day. And today I am thinking the same thing! I think that not feeling guilty would be a good idea for me. I should just set aside a certain amount that I want to have that night, make sure I adjust my calories for it throughout the day, and enjoy it. Now if I can just beat the night cravings......

We don't have any kids (although I'm cooking one right now!), so we're not buying Hallowe'en candy until the day prior to keep me out of the bowl o' goodies.  Although being pregnant, I usually can't stand the smell of candy or chocolate.  My husband had pretzel M&M's the other day, and the smell almost made me barf...

So maybe that's a good thing.  :D

I'm enjoying all your great tips and strategies! The point is to have a plan so you can avoid mindlessly consuming stuff you won't even fully enjoy.

Keep 'em coming!

this year, I am just biting the bullet and i go ahead and eat it and log it- right away....it is amazing what putting it down "on paper" does to the rest of the day's eating and workout....and makes me think twice about overindulging on one hand, and if I played my cards right - I got a much needed treat and still maintained my desired deficit for the day....radical thinking coming from someone that is "sneaker and taster"!!!

Original Post by: abulizsuyito

this year, I am just biting the bullet and i go ahead and eat it and log it- right away....it is amazing what putting it down "on paper" does to the rest of the day's eating and workout....and makes me think twice about overindulging on one hand, and if I played my cards right - I got a much needed treat and still maintained my desired deficit for the day....radical thinking coming from someone that is "sneaker and taster"!!!

I'm a horrible 'sneaker and taster'!  I could get a third of a serving in me before ever fixing my plate just by tasting for seasonings or picking at things or licking mixing spoons before putting them in the sink- I'm horrible about it!  Now I keep a plate of veggies or cut fruit out while I'm cooking and if I feel the need to pinch I take off that.  I pre-weigh it and log it so I know what I'm taking in.  If I need to taste for seasonings I'll get a spoon, have my daughter taste, and then I'll put the spoon in my mouth just to get the aftertaste and see if the spices seem right.  Plus, she'll tell me if something tastes really off or bland and she likes being my taste tester.