“Trick-or-Treat!  Give me something good to eat!” is a familiar song to many of us and our childhood days of dressing up in costumes and searching for our favorite candy and goodies! But watch out as some of these candies and bite-size treats can add up to extra calories quickly if we fall into some common Halloween Pitfalls. It’s not to say you cannot have a treat, but make sure you have yourself in check with these 5 things:

1. Halloween Candy Baskets: If you are like my mom, she has multiple decorative and festive baskets full of candy this time of year. The pretty burnt orange and gold wrappers just sparkle from the basket. But wait! Often times, these pretty little baskets with bite-size goodies can kill our waistline as they aren’t just there Halloween day; they are out all month! A bite of chocolate is not a bad thing, but a bite every time you pass the basket can be! 50 calories often can be 500 calories if you don’t watch out. 
2. Keeping the Candy: Once Halloween is over, ditch the candy. Maybe nibble it over the weekend for a sweet treat, but then THROW IT AWAY or give it away. If candy is there, most of us will eat it. So, do yourself a favor and get rid of it as if it is not there, then you can’t eat it. Plus, with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, more candy and baked goods will be making its way into your house. So, don’t keep the candy for a rainy day…you will likely eat it!
3. “It’s small so I can have two…or three”: Our brains are tricky little things and often when we eat small things, the brain does not register it as a whole. For instance, most of us would eat one sandwich, but cut that bad body in fourths and have it out for snack food at a shower or party and it’s easy to eat 8 fourths! Well, that is two sandwiches! Same with bite-size candy. Many bite-size candy bars have 60-80 calories so that is great if you eat one, but if you eat three you have 200 or more calories and you don’t feel like you ate anything. The best rule of thumb is grab one and walk away from the candy jar, basket or pile!
4. Finishing off what your kids left: Lots of parents finish off with their child did not eat.  Whether it be fish sticks, macaroni and cheese left on a plate, or the remainder of their bite-size candy bar or bag, it adds up! So, try to break the habit of eating the rest of what your child or spouse did not eat as you clean up and you will save yourself some extra calories!
5. BLTs (Bites, Licks, and Tastes): BLTs get many people in trouble calorically. We typically don’t nibble on broccoli; nope we nibble on high calorie foods. A lick of the cookie batter here, a bite of a Halloween ghost cookie there, or a taste of your child’s trick-or-treat goodies can add up! BLTs, like small bite-size foods, don’t always register eating a whole or creating fullness. I am not saying it is easy to avoid these, but Halloween kicks off the holiday season of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s parties, family gatherings and delicious comfort foods and desserts and if you are not careful, it will add an inch to your hips. So as you cook, bake, and attend parties this holiday season, put some gum in your mouth to keep you from nibbling your way to extra pounds!