Eating Season is almost here!

we get over 400 kids at our house. kids come from other areas because our neighborhood is safe and well lit. I invite friends over for a soup supper and then we take turns passing out candy. I always buy the kinds I HATE like sweet tarts and skittles. no chocolate. also, at the dollar store you can get bags of little plastic bat and spider rings and they like those too. come to think of it, maybe I will just get nothing but those little plastic things, diane

I live in a busy neighborhood and we love the kids in our area, so we buy candy. But, we have always bought candy that we don't like (almond joy & milkyways). Whatever is left over, my husband takes it to work. This is the beginning of the wonderful food season! We just have to remember to make healthy choices and remember why we had WLS in the first place. We can do this.

I bought a bunch of glow in the dark spider rings from Oriental Trading Company one year and gave the kids a choice between chocolate and a ring, and almost all chose the rings. They were a lot cheaper than candy too. I have since moved and don't have any trick or treaters, but if I did, I would just get more of the rings and give them out.

I could have bags and bags of Candy Corn around and they'd go dried, cracked, shrunken and spoiled before I ate them.

Guess what the little darlings are getting from me?

Ah, the Triple Crown of Eating is upon us! We get around 200 kids on our street every year. My husband wants the good stuff. I wouldn't be able to get away with the yucky stuff, though, in my eating days, if that was all there was, I'd eat that too! The first year was easy, as I was only two months out and on a pink cloud. Other times, I've gone out with my youngest and let my husband give the candy out, but as my knee got worse, I couldn't. We get so busy, for about an hour or two, that there's no time to really dive into the bowl. Luckily, everyone gets home from their trick or treating before the down time hits. I also give handfuls toward the end so there's little or no left overs.

My surgeon, the first year, asked me what my holiday plans were to keep my eating in check, and that's stayed with me. Having a plan, beforehand really does help!

For Thanksgiving and Christmas, I make a yummy sugar free dessert for myself, whether we're at home or to take to where we're going. So far, doing this has satisfied me when everyone is eating their desserts, and it has gotten me through. I have also stopped the cookie factory - making dozens and dozens of cookies for teachers, after school program staff, etc., and now give them gift cards, to minimize the temptation. However, I always breathe a big sigh of relief when it's all over and life gets back to normal.

Good luck to all of us! Mary

The worst is when, by mistake, you find yourself in a store the day after Halloween, when the junk is on sale at 50 off. I live in a condo so I buy for the front desk to give out and don't bring it into my house. If I bring it into the house, there is no fooling myself about who it is for.