Halloween is next week. I know…it seems impossible because it’s 90 degrees outside and feels like you should be getting the boat ready for a weekend at the lake. Forget vampires, ghouls, and demons – when it’s so hot that Halloween is still swimsuit season – that’s the stuff of nightmares.
Lucky for us, I already have some recipes locked and loaded for healthy, lower calorie options for Halloween treats so you can have your chocolate fix without packing on all the weight you worked so hard to lose over the summer.
Who doesn’t love chocolate peanut butter cups? I mean, besides people that would die from touching one, of course. Here’s a link on how to make your own. Not only do they taste the same, but they actually are healthy and will save you some calories:
https://www.mysaline.com/jason-pb-cups-11042022/
Want an even easier way to get your chocolate and peanut butter fix? Ask and you shall receive. These truffles are as easy to make as they are to eat:
https://www.mysaline.com/jason-murphy-banana-peanut-butter-chocolate-truffles/
This chocolate bark packs plenty of nutrition in disguise:
https://www.mysaline.com/jason-chocolate-bark-03102023/
I thought for sure that I had posted my homemade Almond Joy recipe, but I didn’t see it in the shirtless chef/trust the process archives. That gives me a good excuse to make those this weekend and have them on hand for Halloween week, and then share it with you next time. I think it’s my favorite of all the homemade Halloween candy overhauls that I make.
Even though all these recipes are much better for you than the store bought option, odds are they still will be adding extra calories into your daily intake. If you are like me, you suffer from “zombie snacking” where you aren’t hungry, yet due to stress or boredom, you find yourself eating a handful of whatever you have on hand and don’t even realize you have done it. Do that a few times a day and it can completely wreck your calorie goals.
I’ve developed some tricks to combat zombie snacking. Try to put these delicious treats out of sight and where you really have to be deliberate about getting them out of a cabinet and into your face. When you feel anger or stress, try doing an exercise snack first. Do ten air squats, lunges, or push-ups, anything to give yourself a buffer between your idiot co-worker that caused you extra work and the pantry shelves. Go outside and let the sunshine hit your face and just…stop for five minutes. Don’t look at your phone, don’t listen to headphones, don’t think about anything.
You might find those steps stop you from a quick binge eat that usually just leads to more eating. And if you do some stress eating, at least it will be the healthiest version of these treats you can get. Enjoy.
See the list of all the Shirtless Chef recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.