How to Stop Overeating Halloween Candy

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Readable Version:

How to Stop Overeating Halloween Candy (Without Hiding It or Avoiding Your Favorites)

You stop overeating Halloween candy by moving past workarounds like hiding it or buying candy you don’t like, and addressing what’s driving you to reach for it in the first place. Rearranging your cabinet helps this week, and learning to trust yourself around candy is what makes it last long after Halloween.

It’s the time of year when you start hitting the store for trick-or-treat candy, and you might feel a little fear, dread, or anxiety because you know you’re going to want some.

Or maybe it’s the flip side, where you’re kind of excited because now you get to have some, and you’re wondering how to stop overeating Halloween candy once it’s actually in the house.

I’m a former Physician Assistant with 15 years of clinical experience, and for the past 5 years as a full-time Eating Habits and Weight Loss Coach, I’ve coached many high-achieving, capable, successful women through my 1:1 program, Lighter.

I’ve watched this exact challenge with Halloween candy play out over and over, so let me walk you through what’s really going on and what to do about it.

Why is it so hard to stop eating Halloween candy?

It’s hard because candy in the house is a constant trigger, and most of us are also using food to handle a stressful moment, a tired evening, or a break we never actually took.

Plus, the sugar activates the reward pathway in our brain, making us want more.

That was me, by the way… I never even got trick-or-treaters, but I would still buy Twix “just to have on hand” and end up eating them all myself.

Here’s what it can look like:

• You feel dread or anxiety walking into the candy aisle
• You buy the candy and fight cravings the whole time
• You give in and overeat it, then feel guilty
• You only buy candy you don’t love, but still end up eating it after a rough day
• You feel excited to buy it because now you have an excuse to eat it

Do the common strategies for Halloween candy cravings actually work?

They help a little, but they fall short because they’re workarounds rather than solutions.

Behavioral researchers have found that if you decrease the trigger and make the behavior harder to do, it can help prevent the behavior from happening, and the 2 strategies I hear about most use exactly that idea.

The first is not buying your favorites, which is better than buying no candy at all, but you never get to enjoy the candy you love and you can still overeat the not-favorites.

And those not-favorites probably aren’t disgusting, right? It’s still candy, so on a rough day at work it can still be tempting to eat some to “take the edge off.”

The second is having a family member hide the candy, which has the same problem, because you can’t enjoy it and it doesn’t touch the reason you wanted it.

Feeling in control around candy you don’t even like isn’t self-trust… it’s a workaround. And a workaround only works for as long as you keep it in place.

How do you have Halloween candy in the house without overeating it?

You buy the candy you actually want, set up your space so it isn’t the first thing you see, and add a small pause before you eat it.

Here’s what I’d do this week:

1. Buy the candy if you want to buy the candy, including your favorites.
2. Put it behind other items in the cabinet so it’s not front and center, and you still know exactly where it is.
3. If you want a piece or 2, sit down to eat it rather than popping it in your mouth at the counter.
4. Before you unwrap it, take 1 breath and ask yourself, “What do I need right now?”
5. Notice your answer without judging it, whether it’s candy, a break, a hug, or 10 minutes of quiet.

Sometimes the answer is the candy, and that’s completely fine, because at least you’re pausing and choosing it on purpose.

And sitting down matters more than it seems, since eating standing up at the counter is more mindless, whereas sitting down brings in the same intention you’d give any other food.

What’s really underneath the urge to eat Halloween candy?

Most of the time it’s what’s happening in your day, rather than anything about the candy itself.

Think about when you reach for a piece, and you’ll probably notice it’s one of these:

• After a stressful day
• After a difficult conversation
• When you need a break from work
• When you’re bored, frustrated, or tired

No cabinet arrangement is going to touch any of those, right?

When I work with clients, we get to what’s underneath the urge to eat, whether that’s Halloween candy or any food at all.

If it’s emotions, you learn how to feel them rather than eat to cope with them, and if it’s a certain situation, we pick it apart and change what we need to so you can respond differently.

Why haven’t the things I’ve tried worked?

Because most of them work on the food, and the food was never the part that needed fixing.

If you’re thinking “I’ve tried so many things already,” I get it, and so have most of my clients, who have counted, restricted, and leaned on willpower.

Many of them come to me convinced they’re addicted to sugar or that something is chemically wrong with them, and they’re amazed to find they can completely break those habits.

What’s different is that we’re not working on the food, we’re working on what’s driving you to the food… and that’s why this works when the other stuff didn’t.

Quick answers to what you’re probably wondering

Is it okay to buy my favorite Halloween candy?
Yes. Buying what you actually like and learning to trust yourself around it works better than buying candy you don’t like and hoping you won’t eat it.

Should I hide the candy from myself?
Hiding it isn’t the best fix. Putting it behind other items in the cabinet gives you the same benefit of not seeing it first, while you still know exactly where it is.

How do I stop stress eating candy at work?
Take 1 breath before you unwrap anything and ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” Sometimes it’s the candy, and sometimes it’s a break, and noticing which one starts building trust with yourself.

What would it feel like to trust yourself around candy?

Think about your favorite Halloween candy, and imagine you’re the woman in the yogurt commercial, savoring every bite, stopping when you want to stop, and moving on with your day without remorse or guilt.

That’s possible for you, and it’s exactly what I help women do in Lighter, where you’re not white-knuckling it through Halloween, the holidays, weekends, or tough days at work.

You have me in your corner week after week while you practice in real life, on the stressful days, the tired days, and the days the candy is right there… and that’s how the trust becomes real rather than something you hope for.

If you’re ready to finally be free from the frustration and shame around your eating habits and weight, free from food noise, and feel calm, confident, and in control around food and in your body, book your free consult at katemjohnston.com/consult.

We’ll map out exactly how to get you from where you are now to where you want to be with your eating habits, plus weight if that’s a goal too, so book this week and you’re not white-knuckling it through Halloween.

Kate Johnston is an Eating Habits and Weight Loss Coach, host of the Eating Habits for Life podcast, and a former Physician Assistant with 15 years of clinical experience.

She specializes in helping high-achieving women break overeating and emotional eating habits, build healthy eating habits, and lose weight sustainably through mindset and strategy coaching in her 1:1 program, Lighter.