How you can avoid over-eating Halloween candy

Halloween is just around the corner and you know what that means: Candy. Chocolate. Temptation. But we have some tricks on how you can avoid going overboard.

1. Don't buy more candy then you will need to hand out – then you won't have it around to snack on.
2. Don't buy candy at all – hand out little toys as an option (you can get mini tubs of Playdough)
3. Buy candy you don't love. If the candy in your pantry is stuff kids like but you don't enjoy, it will be easier to resist opening those bags and diving in.
4. Savor one piece of your favourite candy a day. Decide what time of day you most relish the sweet stuff, and save your special treat for that time. Then sit back and slowly savor the taste.
5. Chew gum. Sugarless gum gives your mouth a burst of sweet sensation for very few calories. Studies have shown that gum chewing can also help relieve stress, mentally focus on tasks, satisfy a sweet tooth, overcome the urge to eat candy, and help manage hunger pangs to hold you over until your next meal.
6. Move the candy jar or bowl. Studies have shown how frequently people eat candy when it is within reach, out of sight, or requires them to get up to reach the jar. Moving it farther away makes it less likely you'll get up to snack.

A great way to stop you from reaching for the sweets is to keep in mind what snacking on those "little" chocolate bars actually means.

Consider this:

Mini Kit Kat bars are 60 calorie each (12 g each) – OK, not so bad.

A regular size bar is 45 grams and 230 calories each, so eating 4 little bars is the about same as eating a full size bar.

Mini Arrow bars are 40 calories each (7.3 g each), with a regular size bar clocking in at 42 grams and 220 calories. So eating 6 little bars is about the same as eating a full size bar.

But, once you eat those calories, it's not so easy to burn them off.

To burn 40 calories or 1 mini Kit Kat, you'd need to walk about 20 minutes on a treadmill at 3 mph.

And to burn off that full size bar (or 4 mini bars) you'd need to run about 30 minutes (that burns approx. 2380 calories).