Stop Giving Food So Much Power

Halloween is just a few days away! We’ve got our candy and are ready for the onslaught of adorable trick or treaters.  

Looking at our Halloween candy bowl pictured here, I remembered a conversation with a friend recently when she came to visit. She noticed a candy bowl we have sitting on our coffee table. She asked “What’s this??” while grabbing a piece and happily unwrapping it. What she was actually asking was WHY I had a candy bowl. I was confused and said, “I don’t know, it’s just something we always have.” She quickly stated “Ugh, there’s no way I could have this in my house; I’d eat every piece.”

It got me thinking, this candy bowl is just a part of our home, and every now and again, my husband and I might grab something out of it if we are feeling like it. But mostly it just sits there.  We cycle through the candies of the year: Christmas candy, Easter candy, Halloween candy and so on. And the funny thing is, many times when we go to add to it, there’s always leftover candy in it from the last holiday.

We do the same thing with baked goods we buy or make.  At some point, I am throwing something out because we just didn’t eat it before it went bad.

Restriction and deprivation of certain foods lead to preoccupation of those foods. Diet mentality tells us not to eat Halloween candy so it becomes forbidden fruit; it suddenly has power over us. It may even lead to binge-ing on those foods. Intuitive eating tells us to eat the Halloween candy and move on…you can have more later if you want…or not, depending on how you feel.

Although it may feel like you won’t have control over “treats”, the good news is once you start to allow yourself food freedom, to enjoy the things you want, at any time you want, they truly do lose their power.

It takes practice, especially if you have been restricting for a long time, but you have the power to break free.

Eat and enjoy the candy, friends, and move on.  Stop giving that candy so much power.