Halloween Candy: Making Mindful Choices
All that Halloween candy doesn't have to be so scary!
Mindfulness brings with it a plethora of health benefits. It’s a real treat! But can it help families when it comes to the influx of Halloween candy we all this time of year? Here are some tricks to help.
For many of us, Halloween can be described in three words: So. Much. Candy. Kids bring back the candy they collect, and adults bring in candy to hand out. Both supplies add extra dynamics to home food levels and put stress on diets, appetites and food choices.
Of course, there are other choices, and eatright.org offers some candy alternatives. But dealing with Halloween candy doesn’t have to be so scary. You can apply many of the principles of mindfulness to help your kids (and you) make better choices.
See also: Food Swaps for a Healthy Holiday
Top 10 Halloween Candy Mindfulness Tips:
- Set a limit on the number of treats at one time.
- Set aside a time to eat the candy. During this time, kids should put their full attention on the treats. The idea is to eat the candy mindfully and with undivided attention. Get the children away from the television and structure a candy-eating time. This is the most important strategy of all, because it takes away the mindless eating of candy, when they may eat huge quantities without any thought.
- Ask the kids to select the number they plan to eat at a particular time. How much candy can you eat and not feel uncomfortable? This may involve a little negotiation, but let the children be invested in the amount chosen.
- Have them count the number of chews and find out how many it takes to chew it up completely. Each candy or treat will have its own unique number of chews. With another bite, have the kids predict how many chews it will take to eat the candy before they start. Then let them see how close they could guess.
- How long can it last? No chewing allowed. With two or more, this can be competitive—whose candy can last longest?
- How do candies taste in combination? With this bite, pick two candies and chew them slowly together. Can you taste each candy? What is the combined taste like? This activity can be repeated many times with different candies. Find the most delicious new taste sensation!
- Can you tell what the candy is if you don’t see it before you eat it? With this bite, the child closes his eyes and another person puts the food in the child’s mouth, asking, “What candy is this?” This exercise promotes deep sensing of tastes and textures.
- Can you tell the candy by smell? With this bite, the child closes his eyes and another person brings one of the treats to the child’s nose, asking, “What candy is this?” This exercise promotes deep sensing of aromas.
- Does candy change its tastes as you chew it? Ask the child to pay attention to the taste of the candy from the first chew to the last. What can you taste at first that you can’t taste later? What can you taste later that you couldn’t taste at first?
- With larger candies, such as a candy bar, ask the child into how many pieces the candy could be cut up. Then, the rule is that each piece must be completely chewed and swallowed before the next piece can be eaten.
Sweet Results
As time goes on, let the children eat an item or so any way they would like.
Ask them if they’d like to stop and have the rest of the candy they’ve chosen to eat later on. Just because they picked 10 pieces or so doesn’t mean that they can’t change their minds and stop before they eat all of them. If they know the rules that every time they have Halloween candy they’re going to use these exercises, they will begin to make their own choices about how often they set aside special time for eating these treats.
And most important: They will be developing special eating skills that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.