Halloween, sugar, and a little perspective
How to deal when you occasionally overindulge—without guilt, punishment, or a shame spiral.
Hi friends,
I’m currently recovering from sinus surgery (fun times), so I’m bringing back an oldie but goodie from the archives, just in time for Halloween.
I’m now three years into intuitive eating, and while there’s still some leftover baggage (because, hello, decades of diet culture), food no longer feels like the enemy. No, I’m not dieting, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring about health, just that I’ve let go of the judgment and the all-or-nothing mindset.
Halloween used to be a loaded event. I’d stress over how much candy I might eat, how to “be good,” or how to undo it all the next day. Now? I’ve had three mini Kit Kats as of this writing, but honestly, who’s counting? The bags I bought to hand out are available year-round at any grocery store. I have full permission to eat them whenever I want, which makes it a lot easier not to overdo it. And even if I did? Compassion would be right there beside me.
This piece, originally written two years ago, reflects what freedom from food rules looked like for me then. My relationship with food has only gotten more peaceful since, but the message still feels just as relevant, especially since we’re heading into the holidays, when food guilt tends to spike.
If you’re exploring intuitive eating or just trying to make peace with food, I hope this piece helps you feel less alone.
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Now back to Halloween, sugar, and a little perspective…
Oops, I did it again. I overate the Halloween candy.
To be clear, this could just as easily have been the mac ’n’ cheese at Thanksgiving or the chocolate anything at Christmas.
Objectively, as someone who no longer diets and is learning not to assign moral value to food, that feels a little judgy.
Gummy candy and overeating: A case study
I dipped into the stash of assorted goodies (but mostly Jolly Rancher gummies), right there in the bowl next to me on the kitchen table, on Halloween afternoon as I attempted to power through work before picking up my daughter early for a nutritionist appointment. When I looked up, there were wads of empty wrappers surrounding my laptop.
How did this happen? What had possessed me? I contemplated my life decisions and came up with a few answers, which I’ll get to in a few, but first…here’s how the old me used to handle this.
I would have…
1. Beaten myself up with a barrage of vitriol and self-loathing and negative self-talk.
“There goes all the good eating you did this week.”
“This is why you can’t keep this kind of food around—you eat everything!”
“This is why you look the way you do despite all of the exercise.”
2. Felt guilty and “off” from all the sugar and corn syrup yet also strangely empty.
3. Vowed to restrict all of tomorrow and add in an extra long workout. If I’d been off the wagon for a while, this would’ve been the “rock bottom” that triggered a new diet … starting tomorrow, of course, because today was already “ruined.”
And since the day was ruined, I would have kept going. More food, more discomfort, more disconnection from my body’s actual cues.
The old mindset: Might as well keep going now. Diet starts tomorrow.
This kind of black-and-white thinking is exactly what keeps so many of us stuck on the diet/binge/restrict hamster wheel.
How I handle it now
Thanks to intuitive eating, the new me tackles these situations soooo differently. But let me be clear, my first reaction wasn’t positive.
My brain went: “You know better than this.”
And then: “All it took was a little Halloween candy and you blew your shot at proving you’ve got this intuitive eating thing down.”
Yikes.
But then I took a breath. And on the drive to pick up my daughter, I put on what I like to call my neutral detective hat.
What’s the Neutral Detective?
The Neutral Detective is my version of the Food Anthropologist, a persona Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch describe in their book “Intuitive Eating.” She’s calm, curious, and judgment-free. Her job isn’t to assign blame; it’s to gather clues and understand what happened.
Here are the facts:
I overate candy. I wasn’t mindful about it.
I was distracted. Sitting at the kitchen table, trying to finish work, I absentmindedly inhaled all the Jolly Rancher gummies I could easily access (and a few packets of cherry Twizzlers) without dumping out the bowl.
I didn’t eat all or even most of the candy. But I ate enough that it felt like too much.
It didn’t satisfy me. I knew this wasn’t going to nourish or fill me, and it didn’t.
So … why did I overeat?
I didn’t have a big enough lunch. A small bowl of leftover beef stew wasn’t enough, and I never followed up with something more satisfying.
It was right there. That bowl on the kitchen table was an easy grab.
It felt “special.” I cringe at admitting this, but I fell for the “specialness” of it. Because I rarely buy this kind of candy, I ate it like it would be gone tomorrow and not available again for another year (even though we still have half a bag in the pantry). I unintentionally set up a deprivation situation, and the gummies seduced me.
When I look at it that way, it makes sense. It wasn’t about willpower; it was about environment, hunger, and mindset.
What I did next
I didn’t jump on the Peloton.
I didn’t skip dinner.
I didn’t vow to “start fresh” tomorrow.
I made chicken alfredo for the family and ate until I was satisfied. We picked out a scary movie, watched it with the girls while they did homework, and yes, I had a few more pieces of candy.
Then I went to bed, woke up, and ate like normal.
The point is…
We can cultivate a better relationship with ourselves and our eating habits. Instead of defaulting to shame, we can take a more measured, compassionate approach when we’ve overeaten. It doesn’t have to be a crisis. It doesn’t have to mean anything deeper.
Unlike diets, intuitive eating isn’t punitive. This wasn’t a failure, it was a moment in time. I learned from it, and I moved on.
Here’s how to handle it when you overeat
First, it’s important to recognize that we all do it. A bag of chips after a stressful day. Going past fullness at Thanksgiving. It happens. Here’s how to respond without spiraling:
Take a deep breath. Literally.
Let the negative thoughts come, but don’t cling to them. You don’t need to fix or fight them. Just observe.
Give yourself space. Take a walk, read a book, pet your dog. Get out of the kitchen.
When calm, put on your detective hat. Ask: What actually caused the overeating? Common causes: Hunger, emotional restriction, boredom, sadness, celebration, scarcity mindset.
Show compassion. You’re not a failure. You’re human.
Eat your next meal as usual. Restriction only fuels the cycle.
Avoid “all or nothing” thinking. A single moment doesn’t define your progress.
Zoom out. One day, one snack, or one bag of gummies isn’t your whole story.
Final thoughts
Occasional overeating is normal. Diet culture teaches us to treat food as a moral issue, but intuitive eating offers something better: a long-term, flexible, and kind relationship with food.
Play the long game. Trust yourself. And when the candy calls…let curiosity answer.
Let me know what you think…
Have you had a Halloween (or holiday) eating moment like this?
Hit reply or drop a comment. I’d love to hear how you’re navigating these tricky situations.