The cool fall weather, Halloween and candy. This time of year all comes together quite nicely for anyone addicted to junk food. Not only can you justify eating bags of snickers bars by saying it’s part of the holiday, but now that summer is over you can hide the extra weight under a sweatshirt! Sounds like a good plan for anyone who isn’t struggling to stick with a healthy weight loss program!

It’s interesting that Americans have turned every single holiday into a junk food fest. Everything revolves around some type of food, and it gets worse each year. We all know that Halloween is all about the candy, but adding insult to injury is the fact that the cool weather leaves us wanting hot cider donuts, latte’s, hot chocolate and other fatty foods that we don’t normally eat on a regular basis.

If you are on a healthy weight loss program, you should not have to avoid all of the fun things other people are eating to celebrate this fun time of year. Listed below are 5 tricks to keep you on track with your weight loss efforts without feeling you are missing out on the things you love about Autumn. You say you don’t believe you can lose weight and still eat candy? Well keep reading. You’re in for a treat!

Halloween Trick To Lose Weight #1: Green Tea
Most people don’t know it, but drinking one cup of green tea every morning speeds up your metabolism so you can literally cheat on your diet and get away with it. It comes in all kinds of flavors, and you can even make it taste like hot cider with cinnamon if you want. I have kept an ideal weight after losing 70 pounds 15 years ago, and one thing I do that most people don’t is drink green tea.

Green tea has so many vitamins and antioxidants that you will instantly feel the rush of natural energy, which is another benefit that will help you achieve a healthy weight loss. How do you feel after one of those expensive, fatty lattes from Starbucks? I don’t know about you, but after I drink about half of it, it feels like I’m drinking a liquid candy bar, and that is never good for anyone who is trying to lose weight. Save your money and make an intelligent switch to green tea.

Halloween Trick To Lose Weight #2: Moderation
So you decided to switch to green tea, good for you! Does that mean you can never enjoy a fatty latte or hot cider again? Absolutely not! The biggest misconception people have with healthy weight loss is they think they have to forever be on a diet of bland salads. When you are making healthy choices on a daily basis to stick to your healthy weight loss plan, you can fall off the wagon every once in a while and not even notice a difference.

I love to visit Vermont in the fall. The changing leaves are spectacular. One year I was staying at a bed and breakfast and the host offered every guest a breakfast of home-made pumpkin pancakes with Vermont maple syrup. One woman declined because she was on a diet. Excuse me, but this is a life worth living and enjoying. Allow yourself to splurge on occasion. It is not every day you are offered something like that. If you are eating healthy and staying active on a daily basis, one plate of pancakes will not harm you.

Halloween Trick To Lose Weight #3: Exercise
No, I’m not talking about signing up for a gym membership. I’m talking about getting outside and experiencing this special time of year. Don’t hire the children down the street to rake your leaves for you. Get out there and do it yourself. Go for walks through wooded parks with your friends and pets. Autumn is famous for outdoor walking activities like public tent markets and haunted tours.

Any extra exercise off a treadmill will accelerate your weight loss and allow you to splurge more often. Since you are drinking more green tea, you will have more energy to do these kinds of things. Just remember not to eat a dozen cider donuts every time you stop and walk through a fall festival. One or two every other day will not hurt, as long as you are not eating candy apples on your days off donuts!

Keep these three Halloween tricks in mind and you won’t have to sit around and watch everyone else enjoy the culinary treats of the Halloween season. It’s easy to justify that box of donuts by thinking you have all winter to get in shape, but what what happens after Halloween? Thanksgiving, Christmas, New years, Valentines Day, Easter, etc. That sweatshirt is not going to solve any problems come summer time next year. Trust me, that’s not a treat you want to indulge in.

Halloween in Austin, Texas is one of the most popular nights of the year for revelers in the downtown area, especially 6th Street. Every year, throngs of people, old and young alike, dress up in their scariest, wackiest, or most unusual costumes, some home-made, some from expensive costume shops, and parade down 6th Street, enjoying the party atmosphere.

6th Street promises a wild night for those who attend, and there is usually a great deal of consumption of alcoholic beverages and subsequent inebriation. Most people claim to have a great time, even though there are the usual numerous arrests of those intoxicated or rowdy, but there are also more sedate, sober activities around town, many of which are family oriented.

This year promises to be no different from years past on Halloween in Austin, and some of the activities offered by the City of Austin sound almost as much fun as 6th Street, or possibly more fun. Halloween falls on a Friday this year, but many of the city-sponsored events take place a few days prior to the actual date of Halloween, which is the 31st of October.

For example, there is the annual Halloween Trick or Treat Trail under the moonlight tower in Zilker Park on the 26th of October from 2:00pm until 5:00pm, and this events offers a variety of activities, including carnival booths, entertainment, and concessions. Admission is free but participants are encouraged to bring two items of non-perishable food for the food bank to help feed the needy in and around Austin. A live music sing along is on tap as well as the annual Halloween costume contest, and this event promises to be both fun and safe.

Another city sponsored event the same day is the Spooky Science Extravaganza at the Mexican American Cultural Center, and this event involves examination of many Halloween “mysteries” and explaining them in scientific ways. The event’s hours are also 2:00pm to 5:00pm and the event offers an educational experience for children that’s also fun.

Another educational event is being held Tuesday through Sunday, October 21st through November 2nd at the Beverly Sheffield Education Center in Zilker Park, and the event is called the “Haunted Cave”. The hours of this event are 10:00am to 5:00pm, except Sunday, when the event’s hours are 12:00pm to 5:00pm, and this event offers interactive games, a movie about the Edwards Aquifer, and a recreated cave for children to walk through and observe the salamanders in their natural habitat.

On October 30th, a Halloween Carnival is being held from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Pan Am Recreation Center, and this carnival also includes a costume contest for the kids and games with prizes. This event will offer a safe place for the kids to wear their costumes and have fun while their parents relax and let the kids spend very little money for a safe night out. All game booths are .25 cents at the event, and food and drinks are .75 cents, and the carnival includes a Halloween Dance so parents can have some fun too. The Halloween Carnival promises fun for the whole family.

Two options for adults or families who don’t choose to hit 6th Street include the Austin Ghost Tour, which is a guided tour of downtown Austin with stops at all of the scariest haunted places in the downtown area. Another possibility is the Mansion of Terror, which is a pitch black labyrinth behind the Walgreens on I.H. 35 at the intersection with 281, and the labyrinth will be full of scary spooks, but since the proceeds go to charity, the event offers a way to help the community while having a good time.

Halloween in Austin will surely be as exciting this year as it has been in years past, and as long as revelers remember to remain sober and observe the laws, everyone should have a great time, so make a plan now, get a costume, and start looking forward to one of Austin’s most celebrated yearly events!

Most of parents, are concerned about the safety of your children on holidays like Halloween, know that there are many

different ideas you can implement to provide a safe, viable, fun alternative to traditional Halloween trick or treating. All

you need to do is use a little imagination and effort, and your Halloween celebration will be even more memorable than

traipsing around the neighborhood trolling for candy. Let’s look at some creative ideas to come with an alternate Halloween

activity.

Many shopping malls make a big deal out of Halloween, for obvious reasons. You don’t have to make this a shopping excursion,

but it can be a fun easy alternative to traditional trick or treating. It’s a fairly safe venue, and the treats will most

likely be safe. Be sure to accompany your children and watch out for the traffic!

Many malls now sponsor kid-safe Halloween alternatives, many times eschewing Halloween altogether with a Harvest Festival.

Games, rides, candy, costumes and fun are the hallmarks of these Halloween night activities at your place of worship.

Celebration – If you’re a family that would rather not celebrate Halloween at all, either in its present form or with an

alternative, then create your own traditions! Make this night a special night that your family chooses to do something

special together on its own. This can be a great way to create memories and new family traditions.

Party – Another very cool idea I heard of was to organize a floating Halloween party. The idea behind this is to involve

several families, each hosting a segment of the night’s activities. You might limit the number of houses to four or five,

depending on the distance between them and number of children involved.

While not entirely original, this one has the advantage of keeping you completely in control. You control the guest list, the

treats, the games, you-name-it! Ideas for Halloween themed parties abound, and a great deal of fun can be had by making it a

specific theme. Take care not to make it a too-expensive proposition for the parents to get their kids into the chosen theme,

but for instance a Superhero party could be a lot of fun, with appropriate Superhero activities!

If you have many children, you might want to split them up into groups and have them take their turns at each home. You can

have a scary haunted house, a Halloween craft house, maybe a contest at another, and of course lots of treats available at

each home. This kind of activity creates loads of fun and a sense of community, and also keeps a tight lid on things!