Top 11 Tips to Survive Halloween in a Healthy Way and Head Into the Holiday With a Better Start.

Hackettstown, NJ., Oct 24, 2006 - Arnel Ricafranca, fitness boot camp coach, blames Halloween for holiday weight gain. The majority of people believe that feasting from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day is what is responsible for their extra baggage when in fact it all starts during the Halloween season.

Halloween is all about a spooky good time; however, it also means extra sugar intake from candy and chocolate. When you consume too much simple sugar from your Halloween candy/chocolate, your body's ability to burn fat is crippled. A combination of excess sugar consumption in your diet and a lack of exercise is enough to destroy your metabolism that contributes to the increase weight gain by the end of the New Years holiday.

"I am concerned about the holiday weight gain so many of the people have succumbed to," explains Mr. Ricafranca. "I'm on a mission to promote health and fitness and help my community residents to appreciate their health.
Here are 11 tips to survive Halloween in a healthy way and head into the holiday with a better start.

* Limit yourself to only one candy/chocolate or none at all. A 3.14-ounce bag of milk chocolate M&M's contains 440 calories, 19 grams of fat, and 56.5 grams of sugar. What does that mean to your body? To make it easier for you to understand, 56.5 grams of sugar is equivalent to almost 12 teaspoons of sugar. That is enough to really mess up your metabolism. When you consume too much sugar, a production of hormones called glucagons is shut down. Glucagon is responsible for releasing body fat to be use as energy. Therefore, consuming too much sugar shuts down your ability to burn fat.

* Eat lean proteins such as protein and complex carbohydrates such as brown rice before eating some sweets to decrease the blood sugar spike. Eating a lean protein or complex carbohydrates will help slow down the absorption of the sugar (your favorite chocolate bar) to your blood stream. In order for you to lose weight, you must keep your blood sugar level steady to allow your body to burn fat.

* Choose hard candies such as lollipops over chocolate bars such as snickers. In general, hard candies have fewer calories that chocolate. For example, 2.1 oz of a snickers bar has 280 calories compared to a lollipop with only 22 calories. That means, a snickers bar has over 12x more calories than a piece of a lollipop.

* Choose plain dark chocolate over light chocolate for extra heart health benefits. Dark chocolate contains a compound called flavonoids that are known to lower blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease. However, it does not give you a license to go on a chocolate binge.

* Feed your kids a healthy meal before trick or treating. Make sure that your kids have a healthy meal before going around to the neighbors for sugar. This will prevent your kids from over eating their candy while trick or treating. Eating a healthy meal will also reduce the sugar elevation when they do eat candy.

* Eat a healthy snack or a small meal before going to a Halloween party, so you will be less tempted by the unhealthy party food. Make sure to eat a small healthy meal before going to a Halloween party (or any party). The less hungry you are, the less likely you will over eat at the party.

* Exercise before attending a Halloween party. If you currently exercise, try adding 15 more minutes to your workout. You are more likely to consume more calories when you go to a party than when you eat from home. Why not exercise to burn calories to allow yourself to indulge a little bit at the party.

* Get the healthiest (or least unhealthy) Halloween treats such as Jelly belly, pretzels, trail mix, applesauce packs, raisin boxes, and or popcorn balls. These snacks can be low in calories and low in fat. The increase in weight gain before you can even say "Happy New Year" is the cause of consuming too many calories during the Holiday season.

* Buy your candy at the last minute to avoid eating the candy ahead of time. By buying your Halloween treats two days before the Halloween rather than 2 weeks before, you are less likely to eat those treats before Halloween. Remember, if chocolates/candies are not present in your house, you cannot eat it. The saying "Out of sight, Out of mind" also applies to your Halloween treats.

* Consider buying a candy that you don't like to avoid the temptation of eating it
when handing out candy to trick or treaters. Instead of buying your favorite candy for the trick or treaters, buy things that you don't like. This will prevent you from eating your own candy before the first trick or treaters come to your house.

* Join your Holiday Weight Gain Rehab Center at www.fitbootcamp.com to not only prevent the holiday weight gain but to also be in better shape by the New Year's holiday. You can also purchase The Ultimate Weight Loss Success Strategies For Busy Men and Women Over 40 at http://www.elitefitnessexperts.com to discover how thirteen of America's leading fitness experts reveal their jealously guarded top weight loss secrets.

Arnel Ricafranca is the owner of Fitness Boot Camp. He is the author of The Ultimate Weight Loss Success Strategies For Busy Men and Women Over 40 and Discover 175+ Easy Ways to Maximize Fat Loss and has been featured as a fitness expert on numerous websites such as NBC WALB 10 News, NBC, KPLC, 7 News, and KTRE ABC 9 news. For more information, please visit http://www.fitbootcamp.com