Halloween Candy

[icemanjs4]

Hi all, I'm going to make this post - and I mean this in a nice way - so I hope noone gets angry with me.

I just don't understand the Halloween Candy problem. So many people have posted that they've gone astray these past weeks because of Halloween Candy. I guess I just don't get it. :q: Since I've been on SBD, I know what I can and can't have. And If I were to pick up a piece of candy - I know - deep down inside - that I cannot eat it. And so I don't. I don't even give it a 2nd thought.

How can any of you pick up a piece, knowing how bad it is, and say "well.... just one" or... "well i mean, it's halloween - how can you not eat candy", or something else?

Believe me, I'm no perfect angel - but this cheating thing - what's the thought process here? Please don't hate me for asking htis- I just really want to understand this.

[seakay219]

IMHO...I think maybe having the candy within sight/reach may have something to do with it??? I purposely bought candy that I did not like (picked up little boxes of "Nerds"). The kids love them tho!! This helped me stay away from the temptation of eating any.

Cheating with foods is a natural response. Take the temptations away and the feeling that "Just one bite" will go away with it. Some people have a stronger will power than others. This is true with me. Since being on SBD; when the urge to eat something I shouldn't I will think of my hard work so far and then really think before I eat. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose.

[Charran]

Iceman- the best way I can explain this whole problem for myself is this...for me chocolate is an addiction. It is one of those foods that I CANNOT have in the house, because I will hunt it down and eat it. There usually is no thought process there for me. It's mindless, uncontrolled eating. If I know it's in the house somewhere, I will sit and think about it. I will crave it and then I will go looking for it. I imagine it would be similar to someone who is addicted to any substance.The thought of it just consumes you. There is no other food I have this problem with. I can have candy, chips, ice cream etc in the house and there is no worry, but don't even mention the word chocolate!
I did the same as seakay. I bought things that I don't like...this year it was some kind of chewy, gummy things.

[spiritof72]

One of Dr. Phil's mantras for weight control is to clean up your environment. The reasoning behind this is very simple: if it's not in your fridge or pantry, chances are far better that you won't eat it.

I took all my kids' Halloween candy and stuck it up in a cabinet that's hard to get into (over my fridge, you have to get a stool or climb on the counter to get it out). It's helped to have it somewhere out of sight and hard to reach. If it was in a bowl on the kitchen table, I'd snag something every time I walked by. Since it's hard to get to, I have some extra thought to put into whether I REALLY want to go there or not.

[fluffybear]

Hi all, I'm going to make this post - and I mean this in a nice way - so I hope noone gets angry with me.

I just don't understand the Halloween Candy problem. So many people have posted that they've gone astray these past weeks because of Halloween Candy. I guess I just don't get it. :q: Since I've been on SBD, I know what I can and can't have. And If I were to pick up a piece of candy - I know - deep down inside - that I cannot eat it. And so I don't. I don't even give it a 2nd thought.

How can any of you pick up a piece, knowing how bad it is, and say "well.... just one" or... "well i mean, it's halloween - how can you not eat candy", or something else?

Believe me, I'm no perfect angel - but this cheating thing - what's the thought process here? Please don't hate me for asking htis- I just really want to understand this.

IMO sweets taste better than anything. Taste is probably the biggest factor for why I fail at diets. I have heard that there is some type of scientific studies that tell all about the different flavors and how they affect a persons tastebud's. While it is true that you can't taste stuff until its in your mouth, if you've tasted certain types of candy, etc. before, then your mind remembers exactly how it tastes. So just LOOKING at candy makes me remember how it tastes. OK, that is no excuse, but that is the way it works for me. I never eat because I am hungry. That is why the Atkin's diet didn't work for me. It cut my appetite, but it wasn't appetite that was fueling my desire to eat. It was TASTE and believe me eating mostly meat all the time got very very boring. I have to have sweets in my diet or at least I crave them and nothing has ever curbed that craving because it is a mental thing, not a physical thing. I have come to the conclusion (and I know some people will disagree with me) that it is not a carbohydrate addiction per say, put just liking the taste of sweet things that causes some people like myself to slip up and eat candy and other sweet things. I get a psychological satisfaction from eating sweet things.

[fluffybear]

Iceman- the best way I can explain this whole problem for myself is this...for me chocolate is an addiction. It is one of those foods that I CANNOT have in the house, because I will hunt it down and eat it. There usually is no thought process there for me. It's mindless, uncontrolled eating. If I know it's in the house somewhere, I will sit and think about it. I will crave it and then I will go looking for it. I imagine it would be similar to someone who is addicted to any substance.The thought of it just consumes you. There is no other food I have this problem with. I can have candy, chips, ice cream etc in the house and there is no worry, but don't even mention the word chocolate!
I did the same as seakay. I bought things that I don't like...this year it was some kind of chewy, gummy things.

Yep that is the best strategy. My downfalls are not simply any sweet things, but chocolatly crunchy things. Take away the chocolate & crunch and I probably wouldn't eat it. For instance I hate Sweet Tarts. Yuck! I also hate gummy bears, etc. My problem is that I buy the Halloween candy I like because I assume the kiddies will like it too. However this year it rained on Halloween night leaving me with a ton of leftover candy--all chocolatey and crunchy of course!

[Judynyc]

For me.......just talking about a food triggers my mind to start to want it....and reading about a food does the same thing to me.

I now keep dark chocolate in my freezer and allow myself to have a bit each night...it does satisfy!!

I saw tons of Halloween crap all over ther place the days before, during and after. I decided to allow myself to have 1 mini snickers. I do not allow that kind of food into my home...not ever!!

Now that Halloweens over, how about we think of ways to deal with all the upcoming holidays and how we are going to manage our food, eating and not eat all the crap thats around.

This will be my 3rd holiday season eating this way.....I've not gone off plan and did manage to lose weight 2 yrs ago...this last year I hit my goal weight the week before Christmas.

When you really accept this as your new way of eating for life aka WOE...then it is no longer an issue. :agree: :D

[Judynyc]

Yep that is the best strategy. My downfalls are not simply any sweet things, but chocolatly crunchy things. Take away the chocolate & crunch and I probably wouldn't eat it. For instance I hate Sweet Tarts. Yuck! I also hate gummy bears, etc. My problem is that I buy the Halloween candy I like because I assume the kiddies will like it too. However this year it rained on Halloween night leaving me with a ton of leftover candy--all chocolatey and crunchy of course!


Hey Fluffy, have you thought about donating all that candy to a local shelter to get it out of your house and not have to throw it in the garbage? :idea:

[fluffybear]

I sent most of it to work with my husband to put in the office break room but saved some for myself. I have a tendancy to just keep eating it until its gone. I am terrible!

[icemanjs4]

I know how you all feel. I've been through the same thing. The worst is sweets for sure. The worst case was buying a box of krispy Kreme doughnuts. I just kept going back for more until I couldn't eat anymore without getting sick.

But at this point, I'm more than 40 lbs into the weight loss. Even if I see a food that I love - I look at it and just say "NO". "I can't eat this now". And then I don't and it sucks. But then I walk on.

I've even set myself up with a constant temptation. A friend of mine gave me a month or two ago a Ferro Rochere (sp?) - a single one. I told myself - I can't eat this until I hit 50 lbs down. It sits there on my kitchen counter off to the side - I see it almost every day. It's almost like a game I play against myself - and the best part is - since it's only 1 piece - I can avoid it - and I always win.

It's not truly a way of life until you can see food without eating it. Until then it's just a diet no? I like Judy's way of thinking. I'm trying to build myself to that point - which means it's more than just dieting.

[Judynyc]

I'm trying to build myself to that point - which means it's more than just dieting.

You are not just "trying"...you are actually training your mind to think this way. :thup: It is a switch that occurs and I know that being on this board helped me to see it this way.

When I first started in april 2004, I kept coming here and reading each and every day....the more I read "WOE for life"...the more that I knew that I had to make that mental switch.....its not just another diet then. :agree:

[Charran]

Judy- It's good that you have been able to make that switch. I am not in that position yet. It is a place that I hope to be in one day, but for now it is a daily struggle. I only know of 2 people who have been successful losing weight and keeping it off and in talking to them, neither has yet made that switch. They still say it's a struggle for them...the thinking about food. I often wonder about the difference between people who are of "normal" weight and those who are overweight. I see my family and how they deal with food and is totally opposite from me. I don't know if it is a learned behaviour or an inherited one. I will be interested to see what happens with my thought processes as I lose weight, whether I will continue thinking the way I do now and it will always be hard, or if it somehow reverts into the whole "food is just not an issue" thing! I'm hoping for the latter, but I'm preparing myself to deal with the former.

[icemanjs4]

I think food will always be in your mind. There's a reason we all got here - we love food. Maybe it's more than just that. The difference is - up until now we never knew how to deal with it.

Learning a new WOE doesnt' mean we stop loving food or give up the struggle. It means we have the tools to deal with the problem. If you know what foods you can eat on a normal basis - you can surmount temptation. And then on occasion you can let yourself enjoy something you like. But you'll know better than to completely let yourself go. You will now what it takes to drop not just 5 lbs - but 50lbs or 150lbs. So if you see yourself slip by 5lbs - it won't be a problem - you know you can live without food again.

[Judynyc]

Judy- It's good that you have been able to make that switch. I am not in that position yet. It is a place that I hope to be in one day, but for now it is a daily struggle. I only know of 2 people who have been successful losing weight and keeping it off and in talking to them, neither has yet made that switch. They still say it's a struggle for them...the thinking about food. I often wonder about the difference between people who are of "normal" weight and those who are overweight. I see my family and how they deal with food and is totally opposite from me. I don't know if it is a learned behaviour or an inherited one. I will be interested to see what happens with my thought processes as I lose weight, whether I will continue thinking the way I do now and it will always be hard, or if it somehow reverts into the whole "food is just not an issue" thing! I'm hoping for the latter, but I'm preparing myself to deal with the former.


I don't want anyone to think that I do not think about food!! I think about it all the time!! But now I am thinking about foods than I now eat...not food that I no longer eat. I do not obsess about the crap that I've given up eating...that is the basic difference for me now.

Also, because I was in phase II for something like 1 1/2 ys total and I logged my food each and every day of that time, I feel that I really did learn how to eat this way permanently. THis is a process and a big change like this does not happen overnight...but I was intent on making this happen and so I found a way to get off the dieting merry-go-round by accepting this as my way of eating for life. That did not happen over night either...but it has happened over time.

I still struggle with my emotional need to eat at stressful or angry times of my life. The time I had spent in OA meeting has taught me techniques that I now use to deal with my tendency to want to overeat at those times. This has been a very big deal because it also entails being aware of my emotional state and much of my overeating had been totally mindless. Its sure been a consciousness raising exercise too. :agree:

When you want to make a change like this, its possible but it does require effort and committment. Old habits die hard......and I think that how we approach and feel about food is a very old habit. ;)

[nikkil]

I do the same thing when I buy candy to give out at Halloween - I buy licorice or suckers because I hate them, always have.

One issue that I didn't see mentioned is the stress of Halloween. I was trucking along fine on LC (losing and feeling good) but then on Halloween afternoon DH and I had a meeting with our middle son's health care professionals (he's been in hospital for over a month now) and I was crying so much when we left the meeting that I was mentally and emotionally drained. Rushed to pick up younger son, had an argument with older son over fireworks (he wanted them, I was saying no) then rush, rush, rush to get out the door to go trick-or-treating with our youngest son.... no dinner for me, feeling drained and stressed..... reached into a candy bag and....ate some.

No I wasn't happy about it, yes I knew that it wasn't on plan and I'd pay for it later... did I care at that particular moment? No - I was grasping for anything to make me feel a little better, to be comforted I guess and sugar/chocolate is still in my arsenal for doing that. Someday that won't be the case but on that particular night, it was.

Did I learn from this? Yes, I sure did. Next time I won't schedule a stressful meeting so late in the day, I'll have a meal in the crock pot and hopefully DS1 will remember my views on the fireworks and not even ask (hey, I can hope). Most importantly, maybe I'll have internalised the knowledge that food is not comfort :)