The Best Way to Handle Leftover Halloween Candy

I am in charge of feeding and nurturing seven living animals each day: myself, my husband, our three children, a dog, and a tortoise.  I am, what we say in the Freese Method Program, The Gatekeeper. 

Being the Gatekeeper means being able to say no and yes to certain foods or certain eating habits at the right time based on your health goals for you and your family. For better or worse, I am the line between chicken nuggets and ice cream for dinner every night. 

I try my best to hold the line as clearly and yet as flexibly as I need to. Not just because I’m a Registered Dietitian, but more so because I am a mom.  Yes, here in the Freese household, I still battle demands and cries for sugar and flour. I’m not raising organic, raw, whole foods purists over here.  Even my dog whines and barks for more Dingo treats! 

Sometimes, I feel like my role as the Gatekeeper is tough. Sometimes my feelings get in the way of being a logical Gatekeeper. Sometimes my thoughts and beliefs don’t match up with what I know is the right thing to do and I struggle to make the right choice.

My role as Gatekeeper is about to be pressed over the next two months.  Starting right around now with Halloween.

As the Gatekeeper, I have to make all the decisions such as:

• Should we buy candy for Halloween or give out toys?
• Should I make Halloween treats for school or not?
• What should I make for Halloween night when we have friends over?
• Should I serve alcohol on Halloween?
• Should I serve special-themed cupcakes or let the candy be dessert?
• How much candy do we let the kids eat?
• How many days do they get to eat it?
• How much candy should I have in the house?
• Should I keep the candy or throw the candy out?

Sound familiar?

Now, if I was a nutritionist robot, the answer would be easy to all these questions.  But, it turns out, I’m not. I’m a human and a mom and I have thoughts and feelings about all these issues.

I don’t want to be too strict so that my kids don’t have fun, right?

I don’t want to be too strict so that my guests don’t have fun, right?

I don’t want my kids to resent me or find me oppressive, right?

I don’t want to be the bad guy, right?!

Whenever we have to make Gatekeeper decisions about what is allowed or not allowed into our family's mouths, we are not just making logic-based decisions, we are making emotional decisions as well.

Let’s zero in on the toughest decision facing most of us right now.

What do we do with the leftover Halloween treats and candy?

The logical and I believe responsibly Gatekeeper answer is to throw it away, right? All that sugar and chemicals are toxic and can cause inflammation and make us gain weight and mess up our moods and make our skin gross and mess with our sleep.

Ah! But here we are faced with our thoughts and feelings about throwing away food!

Most of us struggle with throwing out food, even if it’s bad for us!  We hate the thought of wasting food or throwing away food, no matter what it is, because it makes us feel wasteful or irresponsible, or disrespectful.

When we talk about this issue in the program, the first thing most women say is we can give it away! But is that much better? You are just passing on the sugar problems of inflammation, addiction, and insulin resistance to the next person.  And who wants four leftover Halloween cupcakes on a paper plate?

The next solution so we don’t have to feel wasteful or bad about ourselves is to hold onto but eat small amounts of it over a longer period of time.  Think about this one.  If you had a big bad of cocaine and decided instead of wasting it, you would just take two hits of it every day for the next 2 months, does that make it any better? Um… no.

Here is what we have to believe as Gatekeepers for ourselves and our families, not just for Halloween, but for every day.

• It is not an abomination to throw away junk food that is bad for our health.
• It is ok to throw away sugar and flour and junk that is bad for us.
• It is our job to throw away junk food and get rid of things that will hurt us and our families.
• We do not have to eat everything given to us, ever.
• It is important to protect ourselves and our families from the toxic effects of sugar, unhealthy oils, chemical preservatives, and flour.

A Gatekeeper doesn’t throw away food. 

A Gatekeeper throws away junk.

Candy, cupcakes, rolls, pretzels, chips, soda, and even leftover alcohol is not food. It’s junk.  It’s not nourishing, it’s damaging.

I am not a bad guy because I limit how much candy my children get to eat from their Halloween bags.

I am not a bad guy because I limit how much candy I’m willing to buy for Halloween.

I am not a bad guy because this morning I throw out pounds and pounds of candy and dumped out leftover soda that guests brought down the sink.

I am a Gatekeeper and a darn good one.

I love my people.  I love myself, even!

I love them and myself enough to protect us and do the hard task of throwing out bad food that will hurt them.

I never waste food.

I am incredibly efficient when it comes to menu planning and using the food we have before it goes bad or we buy more and throwing just about anything into a pot of soup at the end of the week.

And I never feel bad or wasteful when I throw away Halloween candy on Nov 1st.  I never feel bad dumping sodas down the drain. Because I believe I am lovingly serving my family.

Here’s another thing, if you can’t throw it out, don’t buy it or let it in the house in the first place.  If you can’t say no to something bad for you, don’t say yes in the first place.

Today, you probably have a bowl of candy sitting somewhere in your house.  I’m here to empower you and permit you to simply throw it out.  Just do it.  Don’t make it dramatic, don’t make it about restriction, just be the Gatekeeper and throw it away and don’t look back.

Alright everyone, amazing job this week!

This week’s thought challenge is tougher than you think, but you can do hard things, right?

You have what it takes to eat well and lose weight, you just need to work on your thinking and repair your metabolism first and be the Gatekeeper!

See you next time!