Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

For me, Halloween is the most important holiday of the year. My Halloween party is more important than Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas combined. It’s hard for me to stop bingeing when I place so much emphasis on one holiday, but after years of practice, I’m able to do it.

• Bring something healthy: Our party is potluck, so I have no control over what food is going to show up at my door. I can only control what I bring, so I make sure that there is a vegetable tray so I can nosh on veggies when I’m nervous.

• Let yourself try the food: I also found that I would feel deprived if I didn’t eat anything that was brought to the party. Last year, I tried a very small taste of almost everything that was brought (except the purple glop that looked like it had a million eyeballs floating in it). I estimated the tastes at about 25 calories a bite. That way I was able to satisfy my curiosity without ruining my eating plan.

• Remember that you’ll get another chance: The biggest mistakes I have made is when I have told myself that I’ll never get another chance to eat that food again. Someone would bring something delicious to the party and I would eat large quantities of it just because I thought I would never see it again. I can prevent this by telling myself to ask them to make it for me (or bring it to the party next year). For some, I suppose that asking for the recipe would be enough to prevent the binge.

• Plan ahead: Decide what you’re going to do if you feel tempted to eat. Two years ago I decided to scan the room and talk to anyone who looked like they were lonely or neglected. Sometimes I talked to them for awhile, other times I introduced them to other people. Either way, I was able to head off bingeing before I even got close to the buffet table.

• Avoid Alcohol: I don’t know about everyone else, but when I get a little tipsy, I throw my diet out the window. Plus, alcohol has a lot of calories. Double-plus, you might have to be sober to drive home guests. Better to just avoid it altogether.

My Halloween party is the only big event I plan all year long. I want it to be fun, but I have finally learned that having fun doesn’t mean gorging myself on food. Sure, food is part of the joy of my party, but if I plan ahead, I can have fun, food and a healthy evening that I don’t have to regret at the scale.