5 Tips for Enjoying Halloween Candy for You and Your Kids
Autumn marks the start of a very exciting time of year. The air gets cool and crisp, we get to pull out our favorite cozy sweaters, and leaves begin to change color. For many, it’s the start of the holiday season, beginning with Halloween. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays- the costumes, pumpkin carving, haunted houses, and last but not least- the candy.
We’re all too familiar with the large bags on grocery store shelves and the ones kids come home with after a night of trick or treating. If you had a history of an eating disorder, disordered eating, dieting, or just have a complicated relationship with food, Halloween can be a stressful time. If you’re a parent with young children, this may also be a stressful time for you as you navigate how to incorporate Halloween candy into your child’s eating. You may worry how that fits in, or fear your child is eating too many sweets and too few nutritious foods. And you may worry about controlling yourself around this sudden influx of candy.
Here are 5 tips for navigating Halloween candy this year:
Enjoy some candy together with your kids (or buy yourself some if you’re an adult with no kids!). Embrace that having some candy is a fun part of the holiday and is meant to be enjoyed. Modeling that there are no bad or off-limits foods for your kids helps them see that candy can be enjoyed normally just like any other food. This is a great opportunity to practice unconditional permission to eat.
Pay attention to how the candy tastes. Take the time to eat and really enjoy it. You may love Reese’s cups just as much as you always have, or you may find that your preferences have changed. Use it as an opportunity to be curious about the experience and what you enjoy.
Keep some candy around year-round. Never allowing candy in the home makes it difficult for kids to learn to regulate themselves around it. Having candy around all (or most) of the time normalizes it so it’s no longer a huge deal. Kids are natural born Intuitive Eaters. Halloween candy is certainly fun and exciting, but when the excitement wears off they will move on to something else instead of fixating on candy.
Offer Halloween candy alongside other foods. Again, this helps normalize candy so that it is no more special than any other food being served. At first, your child might eat the candy first, or only eat the candy, but ultimately when given the space to do so they will move on to other foods. For adults, eating the candy when not ravenously hungry makes it easier to regulate yourself around it so that you don’t end up eating a meal’s worth of candy and getting a belly ache.
Focus on the fun and joy of the holiday. Halloween is full of so many fun things- haunted houses, pumpkin patches, carving pumpkins, costumes, and the fun of going out to trick or treat with friends. Candy is just one aspect of the holiday. Make space for some of these other fun activities so you don’t become overly fixated on the candy. It’s ok for you and your kids to have more candy than you might normally when you’re celebrating the holiday. It’s all a part of normal eating!
To read more about navigating Halloween candy, check out our original blog post here.
Having difficulty in your relationship with food going into the holiday season? SD Nutrition Group would love to help. We are currently accepting new clients and would be glad to discuss how we can help support you. Check out our contact page here to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you!
Happy Trick or Treating,
SD Nutrition Group