The Trick to Managing Halloween Treats: Mindful Eating

Halloween is drawing near and candy is starting to appear everywhere! What’s more, Halloween is just the start of a two-month holiday marathon, full of parties, dinners, and cocktail hours. The constant availability of sugary food and drinks between Halloween and New Year’s intensifies cravings and can lead to overeating. How can you enjoy treats without overindulging and derailing your healthy eating habits?

The answer is mindful eating!

Mindful eating has roots in Buddhist teachings and is supported by research suggesting that it promotes healthy food choices and helps with weight loss. It is the practice of eating with the intention of caring for yourself and the awareness necessary to enjoy food and observe its effects on your body. Mindful eating is often referred to as the “anti-diet,” as it does not focus on a right or wrong way to eat, but instead on raising consciousness about what you are eating and why. Its goal is to base food consumption on physical cues of hunger and not on emotional triggers, which tend to lead to unhealthy food choices and over eating. Mindful eating can be a particularly important habit to form for individuals with diabetes, who must closely monitor their sugar intake. It can also play a role in modeling healthy food behaviors to children.

Here are some pointers for introducing mindful eating into your daily life:

Start with your shopping list. Reflect on the healthiness of every food item you add to your list and stick to it while shopping to avoid impulse buying. Ideally, most of your groceries should come from the perimeter of the store (produce, fresh meats and fish, and dairy) and, you should limit foods from the center aisles (processed foods, like chips and candy).

Remove distractions from your mealtimes. It’s not uncommon to eat in front of a screen, whether it is a T.V., computer, or smartphone. Try silencing your phone and shutting down screens during your next meal so that you can focus on listening to your body’s signals of hunger and satiety. Take a few deep breaths to clear your mind and bring your focus to the meal.

Bring all your senses to a meal. Pause for a minute or two before you being eating to observe the color, texture, aroma, and even sounds of the foods you are eating. As you chew your food, savor the flavor and see if you can identify the individual ingredients and spices.

Eat slowly. Taking small bites and chewing each bite of food 20 to 40 times helps you taste your food completely. Additionally, try putting down your utensils between bites. Eating slower helps you to recognize when you are full more quickly and prevents over eating.

This guided meditation will help you practice mindful eating and scare those Halloween cravings away! You will need a piece of chocolate, or another small treat of your preference, to carry out the exercise. Remember: developing a mindful eating practice today can help you indulge this holiday season while continuing to maintain a healthy weight!

Dr Kara

My journey to find a balanced way of living led me to a Ph.D. in Nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master’s in Public Health at the University of California-Berkeley. My studies and experiences afford me a deep understanding of diet and lifestyle factors that contribute to optimal health. I contribute to projects in the U.S. and abroad that improve the health of individuals and families through nutritious foods. I believe the foods we eat impact our lives in so many ways, ranging from nourishing our body’s cells and tissues, to supporting emotional, physical, and social wellbeing. I am thrilled to be a part of the Moxy Kitchen team and support the development of flavorful, easy-to-use food products that add a nutrient-dense punch to daily meals.