We LOVE Halloween. What we don’t love is all that leftover Halloween candy staring us down every day, begging us to finish it all! Treating yourself is 100% okay every once in a while, but too much of a good thing is bad. This is especially true if your regular diet is low in sugar. Consuming too much sugar might make you feel tired, upset your stomach, or make you feel guilty. We’ve all been there. The good news is if all of those leftover sweets are getting the best of you, you don’t have to toss it! And by the way, it probably isn’t your fault you gave in in the first place!
First, if you find yourself over-indulging on that leftover candy, it’s probably not a willpower problem, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for it. Your urge to finish that whole bowl of candy is probably a product of your environment. If you’ve found yourself feeling a little ill after consuming too many sweets and you start to feel like you lack the willpower to say no, consider this: during the times in which you have met your dietary goals, did you have this much candy lying around the house? Were you able to just reach across the table whenever you wanted and grab a sweet treat? If the answer is no (and it probably is), then you haven’t really done anything wrong now, you just set yourself up for success before.
The trick with remaining steadfast in your goals, at least for a lot of us, is planning for that success. Meal planning, buying healthy snack options, and not keeping a lot of “junk foods” around the house is often the only way to not give in to temptation. Of course, there are folks out there who have super-human willpower, and no matter what environment they are in, they won’t give in. And if that sounds like you, we commend you! But at the end of the day, most of us aren’t like that. And that’s ok because there are ways around it. One such way is just not to have things that tempt us lying around. So, what do you do with all that leftover candy?
You’ve got some options! The first thing we suggest, if there is a drop-off location near you, is to donate it to the troops! The Treats for Troops program will send your uneaten candy to soldiers for you. Visit their website- https://soldiersangels.org/volunteer/special-campaigns/treats-for-troops/treats-for-troops-dropoff-locations/ to find the closest dropoff location near you. You could also call up your local homeless shelters and see if they are accepting candy donations. Either way, you’re sure to bring a smile to someone’s face!
If you can’t make it out to a donation center, you could always bring it to work or share it with friends and family. That way, everyone gets a few mini candy bars, you get to share your newfound candy wealth, and no one over-indulges, including you! No matter if you donate or give away your candy, just make sure that they are in the original wrapper. This isn’t just for germy reasons; this is also to make sure that anyone who grabs a piece can check to make sure they don’t have a possible allergic reaction!
If you can’t part with your beloved candy (I mean, for some of us, this is the only time of the year we even get candy), you can also freeze it. Freezing it and stashing it in the back of your freezer keeps it “out of sight, out of mind.” Plus, if you freeze it, you know it won’t go bad, which allows you to make more conscious decisions about when to have a little treat! This also ensures that your candy will still be good during the holidays, and who doesn’t like baking with some candy?
Whatever you do with your Halloween leftovers, we hope you have a sweet (literally or not) weekend!