Friday, October 24, 2008

Mondays Tip-- Halloween Control

Halloween is a great time for the kids, but it can be a very tough time if you are trying to stick with a diet or trying to keep your kids eating healthy. With candy everywhere. Sticking with a healthy diet can be next to impossible. So what can we do? Does anyone have the willpower to resist all that candy?




The first step is to stop and realize something—even if you eat a ton of candy on Halloween and through the Halloween weekend- that doesn’t mean your healthy lifestyle is over. The key here is to remember- you don’t have to be perfect you just need to do the right action more days than not. A splurge is fine as long as it has a beginning and an end.



Next, the key to staying in control is to have a plan. Having a plan of action before the candy gets there will save you.



So here is a Halloween game plan:



1. Today- set some sort of limit on what you will allow yourself to eat. So maybe its no more than 5 pieces a day for through the weekend. Or maybe a piece a day for a week. Committing to a limit by writing it down will put some boundaries on your behavior.



2. Set up your house so the candy isn’t in every corner. Help your kids divide the candy into keep pile for them, give away pile and mommy and daddy pile. Don’t leave it sitting out and around.



3. Get everyone in the house on board- tell your kids, spouse, or whoever is at home with you what your plan is and give them permission to check up on you.



4. Cut yourself some slack—if you enjoy candy- allow yourself to eat – set a limit that gives you a bit of indulgence. As long as you put a time frame on it you’ll find that the permission to indulge is a reward in itself.



The take home message is be realistic, cut yourself some slack and plan.  And always remember that one splurge, one slip in no way means you have blown it for good.



Happy Halloween

1 comment:

Biggest Halloween » Blog Archive » Mondays Tip– Halloween Control said...

[...] dr. josh klapow wrote an interesting post today onMondays Tipâ?? Halloween ControlHere’s a quick excerptHalloween is a great time for the kids, but it can be a very tough time if you are trying to stick with a diet or trying to keep your kids eating healthy. With candy everywhere. Sticking with a healthy diet can be next to impossible. … [...]