Six Secrets to Survive Halloween at the Office
By Laura Kalehoff | 10/30/2006


If you're trying to stick to a sensible diet, the Halloween season can feel like a house of horrors. As if it weren't hard enough to avoid your kids' bulging treat bags at home, at work you have to contend with your coworkers overflowing jars of temptations. The occasional indulgence is okay, but eating too many of these little treats can add up to weight gain. Try our tips for celebrating at the office without packing on the pounds.

Everything in moderation.
A snack or fun-size chocolate bar (the usual trick-or-treat booty) typically has about 100 calories which is a sensible treat. However, eating multiple fun-size bars on a regular basis can lead to lots of extra calories. It's up to you to watch your portions and not overdo it.



Keep count.
Studies show that diners at barbecue joints tend to eat more wings when waitresses continually take away their bones, says Dawn Jackson, RD, Nutrition and Exercise Specialist for The Wellness Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There's no reason to think that those mini-Butterfingers are any different. So while it's tempting to toss the wrapper as soon as you pop one in your mouth, keep the evidence on your desk as a visual tally.

Make a smarter choice.
If you know that there's no chance you'll nibble a couple of Starbursts without tearing through the whole pack, it may be best to avoid them altogether. Steel yourself against temptation by pulling out a guilt-free snack you brought from home while everyone's flocking to the treat table, says Leslie Bonci, nutritionist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Fruit cups, Jell-O cups, meringue cookies and light hot chocolate are all satisfying alternatives.

Don't throw in the towel.
We've all been there. You started the workday with a virtuous egg-white-and-veggie omelet and maintained monk-like self-control until your office manager took a meat-cleaver to your diet by bringing out a small truckload of mini-Mars bars at 4 p.m. You figure your diet is ruined for the day, and next thing you know you're in a booth at Taco Bell inhaling a double Gordita dinner. Not so fast, señorita. "The all-or-nothing mentality is what hurts people the most," says Jackson. "If I buy a dozen eggs and I break one, I clean the broken egg up and get on with my day. I don't break the 11 other eggs!"

Are you hungry, or are you just tense or tired?
"At 3 p.m., often we don't really want to eat, we just need a drink of water and a breath of fresh air," says Jackson. Listen to your body, and then follow its prompts. If all you want is a little reward for finally finishing the report you've been slaving over, instead of making a self-congratulatory trip to the treat table, go for the grown-up equivalent of a "gold star" and splurge on a new CD, book or DVD. Find something you can look forward to enjoying after work.

It takes a village.
"No man or woman is an island," says Jackson. So decide with your coworkers to put the candy in an opaque container in the kitchenette this year — out of sight, out of mind. Or, Bonci suggests, rally the team to pool a couple of bucks a week from everyone for the month of October. Invest in fresh flowers or a Halloween happy hour instead of candy. (You'll stick to low-calorie light beer, of course.)