Halloween is a fun time of year for both kids and grownups. But with fun comes temptation, looming all around us in cute candy wrappings, beckoning us to have just.one.more.treat…You can certainly still enjoy the holiday without sabotaging your fitness and health goals. By allowing yourself a couple of small treats or finding healthier alternatives, you can lower your chances of a binge session later on.

Here are some of my best Halloween hacks:

1) Check the nutrition information before you indulge. Most nutritional information is based on more than one mini-sized bag. Read the label, know how much you are consuming, and if needed, divide your bags into serving sizes to help with portion control.

2) Choose dark chocolate over white. Dark is your healthiest option when it comes to candy and believe it or not, white chocolate is the unhealthiest option. Why? First, it does basically nothing for cravings. Secondly, white chocolate is packed with extra sugar and added fat from the extra milk products used to give it its white coloring.

3) Need a healthy party treat idea? How about Spiders On A Log! Spread any type of nut butter on some celery sticks and then press in 2 dark chocolate chips. The spider “legs” can be created with melted dark chocolate in a piping bag or you can use dark brown sprinkles.

4) Are you carving a few pumpkins this year? Don’t waste the seeds! They can be roasted in the oven with a little sprinkle of salt and pepper and make a tasty and nutritious snack.  You can also save some to throw into your morning smoothie for a little dose of healthy fat to keep you full longer.

Another thing to keep in mind if you’re having a party or trick or treaters is that the growing epidemic of potentially deadly food allergies is becoming more and more common in both children and adults. You can offer your trick or treaters stickers, stamps, bouncy balls or other small toys or crafts instead of candy.

You may notice teal pumpkins on some doorsteps in the area this year and that means that the household is participating in The Teal Pumpkin Project. This project is aimed at raising awareness of food allergies and making the Halloween season inclusive for all. Participating houses pledge to have non-food treats available for trick-or-treaters so that food allergy kids can still participate in the trick-or-treat tradition.

However it is you may be celebrating, I hope you have a happy and healthy Halloween! Feel free to share your own tips and hacks below.

This post was originally shared on TAPInto Morristown in 2017 and has since been updated.

xo,

Julia