Here are 5 easy tips to help manage candy leftovers:

1. The introduction of Halloween sweets starts with the adults. Rethink how much candy you are buying. We often purchase giant bags, afraid that there will not be enough to feed the masses. More often than not, this leaves you with weeks’ worth of sweets. Estimate how many children typically visit your neighborhood and let that determine how many bags to purchase. Choose miniature-sized candies (suggestion: mini individually wrapped dark chocolate squares). Rather than allowing kids to grab candy by the handful themselves, try handing out two small candies per child. When you run out, simply turn off your house light. This is an accepted rule by all.
2. Have a non-food treat option. Kids will accept whatever is offered to them, but some may especially appreciate the choice of a fun toy instead of candy. This is also a welcome alternative for kids with food allergies. Examples are colorful stickers, pencil toppers, key chains, or friendship bracelets.
3. Consider attending a Halloween party instead of collecting candy door-to-door. Parties offered at schools and by neighbors are a great way to show off creative costumes and celebrate the holiday with your community without bringing home the dilemma of what to do with massive candy leftovers.
4. If you go door-to-door, you may wish to limit the amount of houses your child visits to avoid collecting excessive amounts of candy. Rather than having the focus be just on collecting candy, you might offer additional activities to create a whole evening of fun. Examples are to eat dinner with fall-themed recipes before heading out, and then watching a fun “spooky” film after returning home. Looking for festive dinner ideas? Try our Butternut Squash Soup or Farro with Confetti Vegetables.
5. Although it is a common practice, reconsider donating leftover candy. Excess candy often ends up at your workplace or child’s school or dentist who may then donate the leftovers to sick patients or senior community centers. If you do not need or want the candy, do your coworkers and other recipients really need them? An option is to simply throw them out. While contributing to food waste is never a good solution, no one gains health-wise by polishing off excessive leftover candy (especially as we approach the holiday season where sweets are often plentiful). If you find yourself repeatedly dealing with unwanted extra bags of candy after Halloween, seriously consider point number one above next Halloween onward!

Here are some strategies for prioritizing health when you’re cooped-up indoors during the cold weather.

8 ways to prioritize health instead of hibernating

1. Make some soup

Instead of a snow day baking sweet treats, try making a big batch of soup. You can experiment with different ingredients all winter long, providing you with a healthy distraction from the cold and an endless source of nutritious, warm meals.

Want to increase the fun factor? Try a “Soup Swap” with friends, where everyone makes a different type and divides it into batches for easy sharing.

2. Meditate

Chances are you’re already spending a lot of time sitting indoors in the winter months, so why not take advantage of your downtime to try meditating? Research shows it can have positive effects on the mind and body, all without having to leave your home or buy special equipment.

3. Stream and sweat

When it’s so cold outside that you don’t want to leave the house to work out, consider turning to digital streaming services instead. Not to binge-watch videos or TV shows, but to exercise! Scroll through the variety of workout offerings and choose an exercise or two – or a full workout. Remember to check with your doctor before beginning a new exercise routine.

4. Calisthenics

Missing the gym? Skip the barbells and use your own body weight to become stronger. Common exercises include squats, lunges, push-ups, and crunches. Again, be sure to check with your doctor before making any changes to your exercise program.

5. Get your steps in on the stairs

Step counts often dwindle in winter, when walking outdoors is at a minimum. Take advantage of indoor time by walking up and down your building’s stairs, if your building has them. Just be sure to watch for ice and slippery spots.

6. Try tea

Being stuck inside can encourage snacking, and chilly weather can lead to comfort food cravings. Before reaching for a plate, though, pour yourself a mug of warm tea. You’ll find it often lasts longer than a quick snack, and it can be surprisingly satiating.

7. Stand up for your health

“Sit time” peaks during winter, when we want to stay at home and avoid the outdoors. It’s easy to while away the time watching movies, reading, or browsing online, but remember to set a timer on your phone that reminds you to walk around every hour – even just a few trips back and forth to the other side of your home.

8. Read an inspiring book

Another great way to prioritize health – even when low temperatures have you feeling sluggish – is to turn to a book for a major dose of motivation. Find a health or nutrition book online, at a bookstore, or your local library, and use it as a source of inspiration to get you through winter. You could even start a “healthy book club” with friends and instead of reading the same book, assign different titles so everyone can share notes and maximize motivation!

1. Start with a salad

Begin your meal with a simple salad, and you can increase your veggie intake for the day as well as keep your appetite in check. By choosing to fill up on nutritious foods first, you may be less inclined to overeat later. This means eating fewer empty calories and reducing food waste, making it a win-win for both your health and the environment.

2. Step it up

You’ve heard it before – park further away so that you can squeeze in some extra steps. Why not start this habit during the holidays, and skip out on the competition for close parking spots? Better yet, if you can walk to the store instead of driving, that doesn’t just up your step count, it also saves on gas and reduces your carbon footprint.

3. Wow with water

Make your own infused water to serve guests during the holidays – try adding orange, cucumber or mint for a refreshing burst of flavor. Skip buying beverages in plastic bottles or cans, which are often sugar-laden drinks anyway, and offer your guests a refreshing “homemade” beverage instead!

4. Beware the buffet

Don’t let the multitude of holiday meal food choices trick you into over-serving yourself – that can lead to either eating when you’re no longer hungry or throwing food away. Instead, learn to start small with portions and don’t feel that you have to try everything – you may want to focus on your top 3-4 favorite dishes. Then, if you’re still hungry after finishing your plate, take time to pause and digest before going back for seconds.

5. Showcase simplicity

Move away from the “more” mentality by keeping holiday meals simple. Focus on cooking fewer dishes, and fill them with nutritious ingredients that help people feel nourished and satisfied – not stuffed – after eating. Another bonus? Upping the quality & reducing the number of dishes could mean less energy spent cooking, and you also save time and effort, as well as water, when doing the dishes.

6. Redefine dessert

We’ve all come to think of dessert as cakes, cookies, pies and other baked goods – especially during the holidays. Instead, consider omitting the oven and offering foods that are both better for you, and that require much less energy to prepare. One idea? A simple spread of fruit arranged in a festive bowl or platter. For more variety, consider some artfully arranged fruit, nuts and dark chocolate, with a small glass of liquor as an optional add-on.

Updated December 2019.

Consider that, for example, livestock production – which includes meat, milk and eggs – contributes
40 percent of global agricultural gross domestic product, and uses one-third of the world’s fresh water (1). As one article put it, “There may be no other single human activity that has a bigger impact on the planet than the raising of livestock.” (1)

It’s clear that what we put on our plates has a big impact on the environment. Eating more healthfully and more sustainably go hand-in-hand, meaning we can develop sustainable eating practices that improve our own health while also benefiting the health of the planet.

5 tips for sustainable eating

1. Prioritize plants

The Healthy Eating Plate suggests filling half your plate with vegetables and fruits as part of an optimal diet, but planning our meals around produce benefits the planet as well. Shifting to a more plant-based way of eating will help reduce freshwater withdrawals and deforestation (2) —a win-win for both our personal health and the environment.

2. Minimize meat

The Healthy Eating Plate already suggests reducing red meat, and now there’s another reason to treat it more as a condiment than a main dish. Meat production is a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions – beef production especially – and the environmental burden deepens, as raising and transporting livestock also requires more food, water, land, and energy than plants (3). To eat for our own health as well as that of the planet, we should consider picking non-meat proteins such as nuts and legumes.

3. Select new seafood

Fish can be a healthy choice if part of an overall healthy dietary style, but some species are at risk of being overfished, or produced in ways that harm the marine environment. If your go-to variety of fish is on the “avoid” list, consider trying some new seafood.

4. Look local

Exploring farmers markets helps you find fresh produce grown locally, but equally important, you can meet the people who produce your food. Such relationships are opportunities for education: you can learn how your food was grown, when it was harvested, and even how to prepare it.

5. Eat mindfully

One of the simplest things you can do to eat more sustainably is to practice mindful eating. Focusing on what you’re eating allows you to reflect on where your food came from and how it is nourishing your body. Additionally, by tuning in to your hunger signals you may learn that you don’t need as much food as you thought, and resize your meals accordingly. By paying more attention to how we eat and thinking about the “bigger picture,” we may alter our food consumption and reduce food waste, as well as become encouraged to seek out more sustainable food sources.

References

1. Walsh, B. The Triple Whopper Environmental Impact of Global Meat Production. Time. December 16, 2013.
2. Rockström J, Willett W, Stordalen GA. An American Plate That Is Palatable for Human and Planetary Health. Huffington Post. March 26, 2015.
3. Barclay E. A Nation of Meat Eaters: See How It All Adds Up. NPR. June 27, 2012.

1.  Initiating an eating episode when there is no physiological need
2. Eating too much during an eating episode

We live in an environment filled with food messages – often designed to make us eat more – and places that sell food are everywhere. Food advertising, super-sized meals, commercials, and colorful packaging at the grocery store are designed to entice us, and as a result we end up eating when we’re not hungry, or eating far beyond our actual appetites. Additionally, many commercially prepared foods are highly processed, high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fat which can trick our taste buds into wanting more.

Despite the fact that food is everywhere, and that we’ve grown accustomed to “cleaning our plates,” snacking all day long, and eating highly processed foods that may affect satiety signals and promote further eating, you can adopt strategies to tune out the messages, and tune in to your own nutrition needs.

3 strategies to prevent overeating

1. Look at your food

Pay attention to the food you’re about to put in your mouth. Stop everything else you’re doing, and when you’re eating, just eat. Enjoy the food and the eating experience. This is a moment for you to relax and recharge.

Research shows that removing visual information about how much you’ve eaten during a meal increased the amount of food eaten. Eating attentively can influence food intake, and is one of the simplest approaches one can take to prevent overeating. Remember: We eat with our eyes, too. (1)

2. Beware the S’s: Sugar and salt

Sugar and salt are taste bud tantalizers, and as such, it’s easy to overeat sweet and salty food products – which are often highly processed. As you cut down on highly processed foods, your palate will adjust so that over time, you’re satisfied with far lower amounts of sugar and salt.

• If you really want a sweet treat, take a small piece of your favorite and eat slowly, savoring every bite.
• For savory snacks, opt for lower-sodium options like lightly roasted, unsalted nuts – try roasting them with herbs for a delicious flavor boost — or dip raw veggies in hummus. Note that some commercially prepared dips are high in sodium, so you need to read the nutrition label carefully. You can even make your own hummus, bean dips and guacamole to have more control over the salt factor.

3. Change your response to comfort-food cravings

“Eat when you’re truly hungry” sounds like common sense, but the truth is that many people eat for reasons other than hunger – including when bored, anxious, stressed or angry. Let meal time be a way to honor real hunger, not a way to soothe your feelings. For food-free ways to handle emotional ups and downs, consider going for a walk, meditating, talking to a friend, writing in a journal, or listening to music.

In a study of 30 women, researchers explored the impact of chronic stress on eating behavior. (3)

• Women with higher stress levels responded differently to pictures of high-calorie foods than women with lower stress levels. Specifically, there was greater activity in the areas of the brain involving reward, motivation, and habitual decision-making. At the same time, those women with higher stress levels showed less activity in the regions of the brain linked to strategic planning and emotional control.
• These results suggest that exposure to persistent stress may alter the brain’s response to food in ways that can lead to poor eating habits.

References

1. Robinson et al, eating attentively: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of food intake memory and awareness on eating. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Apr;97(4):728-42

2. Hạnh, Nhất, and Lilian W. Y. Cheung. Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life. New York: HarperOne, 2010. Print.

3. Tryon, MS, Carter, CS, Decant, R, Laugero, KD. (2013).  Chronic stress exposure may affect the brain’s response to high calorie food cues and predispose to obesogenic eating habits. Physiol Behav. 2013 Aug 15;120:233-42.

1. Use liquid vegetable oils for cooking and baking.

2. Avoid trans fat. Read labels to find foods without trans fats. You should also scan the ingredient list to make sure it does not contain partially hydrogenated oils.

In restaurants that don’t have nutrition information readily available, avoid fried foods, biscuits, and other baked goods.

Or, you may have the good fortune to be eating in a city like New York, Boston, or San Francisco, where trans fats have been banned (do keep in mind, just being trans free does not mean these are all healthy foods).

3. Eat at least one good source of omega-3 fats each day. Fatty fish (such as salmon and tuna), walnuts, and canola oil all provide omega-3 fatty acids, essential fats that our bodies cannot make.

4. Cut back on red meat and dairy foods. Try replacing red meat with beans, nuts, poultry, and fish whenever possible, and try reducing portion sizes of dairy products.

1.

For example, try a turkey or black bean burger instead of a traditional beef burger. Or slice up a fresh-roasted chicken breast or salmon for your sandwich instead of using processed high-sodium lunch meat.

2. Don’t stress too much about protein quantity. Most reasonable diets provide plenty of protein for healthy people. Eating a variety of healthy protein-rich foods—for example an egg with breakfast, some turkey or beans on your salad for lunch, and a piece of salmon or tofu with a whole grain side dish for dinner—will ensure that you get all the protein and protein building-blocks (amino acids) you need. Choose higher-protein foods instead of bulking up with pricey protein shakes or powders, since some of these are loaded with sugar or other additives.

3. Try a meatless Monday—or more. Diets high in plant-based proteins and fats can provide health benefits, so try mixing some  into your meals. Going meatless can be good for your wallet as well as your health, since beans, nuts and seeds, and other minimally-processed plant-based protein sources are often less expensive than meat. Eating plant protein in place of meat is also good for the planet, as it takes a lot of energy to raise and process animals for meat.

4. Consider tofu or other soy foods. In some cultures, tofu and soy foods are a protein staple. But in the U.S., many have not grown up eating soy foods, and conflicting headlines about the health effects of soy may have discouraged people from trying it.  However, results of recent population studies suggest that soy has either a beneficial or neutral effect on various health conditions. Soy is a nutrient-dense source of protein that can safely be consumed several times a week, and probably more often, and is likely to provide health benefits—especially when eaten as an alternative to red and processed meat.

5. Shift the balance of carbs and protein. Cutting back on highly processed carbohydrates and increasing protein improves levels of triglycerides and protective high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in the bloodstream, and so may reduce your chances of having a heart attack, stroke, or other type of cardiovascular disease. This shift may also make you feel full longer, and stave off hunger pangs.

• Interestingly, results showed that much healthier diets cost, on average, only $1.50 more per day – a small price in comparison to both the health benefits and the savings in health costs.

This is an average price difference, however. Unhealthy diets can still be expensive, and you can create healthier diets that are quite affordable. Here are a few ways to do just that.

Eating well for your waistline and wallet

1. Cooking makes cents

The first rule for saving is to prepare your own food – for all meals – rather than eating at restaurants (including fast-food restaurants). Self–prepared meals are almost always far less expensive, and for added convenience, try cooking larger quantities so you can make meals from leftovers later in the week.

• Another way to stretch your budget? Look into food coops in your area; becoming a member may help you get healthier foods at a lower price.

2. Minimize meat

Plant-based diets are not only considered optimal for health, they also tend to be more affordable. Animal proteins usually cost more, so rather than build a meal around meat, switch it up: Pick a plant for your main meal, and incorporate meat sparingly. You’ll still get to experience both, but in a proportion that is healthier for you and your budget.

• An additional advantage? Plant-based items like nuts and whole grains have a longer shelf life than meat, which tends to perish more quickly.

3. Pay more attention, pay less money

When eating mindfully, many people find they are satisfied with less food. Eating less, in turn, can translate into buying less. So while mindfulness is excellent for health, it has an added budget benefit, too.

In a meta-analysis (2) of 24 studies about of the effect of food intake memory and awareness on eating, evidence showed that attentive eating is likely to influence food intake.

• Eating when distracted produced a moderate increase in immediate intake, but increased later intake even more.
• The more you pay attention, the less you eat – both in that moment as well as later.

Practice eating mindfully, and see if minimizing distractions saves you dollars.

4. The paradox of processed

Fats, such as nuts, and protein sources, like fish and chicken, tend to cost more, but oftentimes you can be satisfied eating less of these “higher quality” foods. A simpler way to state it is that the higher the quality, the less it takes to satisfy your appetite. Fats and proteins tend to be more satiating, so it takes less of them to feel full.

• Highly processed foods, on the other hand, tend to make you hungrier. Typically full of sugar and refined carbohydrates, highly refined foods like cereals, cakes, cookies and chips send your blood sugar spiking and subsequently crashing, leading to increased appetite even after you’ve eaten.

So be wise when deciding what to eat. A bag of nuts may appear costly, but it could easily last a week or more. A bag of chips can have a lower price, but it could be gone in an hour! Processed foods may appear to be less expensive, but you’ll likely eat them faster – and eat more of them.

5. Examine how you calculate costs

Most people think of food costs as simply the amount you pay at the store. However, it’s a more complex equation. The cost of your food isn’t determined in the checkout line – the real cost of your food is calculated much later, when you examine its impact on your health. Paying more now may save you money later, in health care costs.

• Stay tuned for meal ideas that are both healthy & affordable.

References

1. Rao, M., Afshin, A., Singh, G., Mozaffarian, D. (2013). Do healthier foods and diet patterns cost more than less healthy options? A systematic review and meta-analysis. British Medical Journal Open 3(12): e004277.

2. Robinson, E., Aveyard, P., Daley, A., Jolly, K., Lewis, A., Lycett, D., Higgs, S. (2013). Eating attentively: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of food intake memory and awareness on eating. Am J Clin Nutr 97(4): 728-42.

• Need some holiday eating tips? Develop a “sugar strategy” to tackle sweets.

For many people, the new year means a new diet in hopes of achieving a healthy weight. January 1 could be renamed Diet Day given how many people wake up thinking about which foods they “can” and “can’t” eat. While some diet strategies can be effective, The Healthy Eating Plate is an easy-to-follow, science-based guide to help you create healthy & balanced meals in the new year.

• Remember to fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables, and divide the remaining half between healthy whole grains and healthy protein. Add in some good fat (like olive oil), and make sure you drink wisely (skip the sugar-sweetened beverages!) and your year will be full of healthy, flavorful meals.

Aside from what you eat, though, we suggest focusing equally on how you eat. In the new year, in addition to thinking about your nutrition needs, pay the same attention to how you’re eating.

• Are you sitting down to eat with minimal distractions, and truly enjoying your meals?
• Are you paying attention to your food, noticing tastes and textures, savoring each bite, chewing it well, and stopping when you’re no longer hungry?
• Are you allowing yourself to enjoy treats in moderate amounts, realizing that oftentimes you’re satisfied with a few bites instead of an entire dessert?

These are just some ways of becoming a more mindful eater. While eating nutritious foods is a big part of becoming healthier, the other — often overlooked — half of the equation is developing healthy eating habits, and eating more mindfully. This year, don’t resolve to follow a diet, resolve to nourish both your body and mind with each meal by slowing down, paying attention, and truly savoring your food.

Updated January 2019