Everyone loves Halloween, and why shouldn’t they?  Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than a holiday designated to vivid imaginations, fishnet tights (optional, but why not?) and lots of people looking for fun, all sans family drama. Gotta love it!

However there is one little snafu when it comes to fully enjoying the raucous nature of All Hallows’ Eve.  You guessed it…candy!  The sweet stuff flows as freely as the alcohol (also loaded with sugar) on this wild holiday, which at first tastes great then leaves you in a guilt-tinged, sugar coma.

So how can you enjoying your Halloween festivities without paying for it with a tummy ache the next day?  Here are my 3 tasty tips on how to avoid the Halloween candy conundrum!

1. Do not buy candy.  I know it seems easy enough but seriously, don’t buy it.  If you are wondering what to give the trick-or-treaters, let me quickly enlighten you.  There is no law stating you must give out tooth-corroding candy however you also don’t want to be that girl who hands out cans of tuna fish or toothbrushes.  Pick up some tasty Lara Bars, Clif Z bars, or Trader Joe’s almond packets as easy and tasty candy alternatives.
2. Truffles to the rescue.  Throwing a Halloween party and need a sweet treat to serve?  Make these chocolate blueberry truffles.  These truffles are completely sugar and guilt free and after one bite no one will miss the crap-tastic mini butterfingers.  If anything they will praise you for being such a food goddess!
3. Bring your own.  If you are heading out and just know you will get sucked into something sweet and unhealthy, bring your tasty treats with you!  That’s right.  Who says you can’t show up with your own delicious truffles or peanut butter filled dates (I swear they taste like a snickers bar)?  In fact, I promise your friends will want a nibble of your goodies over all the other junky candy.

So there you have it.  Stick to these three tricks and all your candy concerns will vanish!

In the comments below I’d love to hear how you avoid the Halloween candy conundrum.  Come on ladies, sharing is caring! (And it feels good too.)

Jamie G. Dougherty, founder of JamieLiving.com, gives women the secrets to feel amazing in their bodies and create the balance they crave between their busy schedules and eating well. Jamie believes that though kale and brown rice are good foods to put on your plate, until we truly learn HOW to eat rather than just WHAT to eat we will continue to be carb-craving, super-frazzled, stress-out ladies. If you ever feel hungry, stuck and unsatisfied with your food be sure to visit Jamie’s website to get her FREE 5-Step Guide to Fabulous.  Seriously ladies, get ready for Jamie to rock your world!

Please welcome our newest guest columnist: Candy Silvasy, Spa Expert and CEO of Art of the Spa (also the co-founder of #SpaWeekGossip)

Let’s clear the air.  Think you have to live a la Paris or Martha to savor a stylish, sumptuous, spa inspired home?. . . Not!  No matter where you flop from fancy to farmhouse or how much (or little for lots of us these days) money you have – you can Pamper Your Palace and thanks to Spa Week, we’re here every week to rescue your retreat.  And I’m christening our column with something so element-ary that everyone does it all day everyday – breathing!

Loving our lungs by deeply breathing air is not only the simplest way to relax – it nixes nasty toxins.  Many spas even distinguish themselves based on the luxuriousness of their air like the Rio Mar Resort & Mar which has supersonic air filtration systems in the spa and every guest room.

BUT chances are in your own palace dust, pet dander, allergens and/or mold are lurking – sending noxious to your nostrils.  The solution? A few simple Spa ways to Detox Your Ox:

Suck it Up – Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter so dust doesn’t get ejected into the air.  Electrolux’s Sanitaire HEPA Vacuum does it in cheery fire engine red too.

Turn Japanese – Remove and have guests remove their shoes when entering your lair.  (I have cute slippers for mine to wear & this Shoe Pad by the door to gently remind them.)   Oh, and if they’re Manolos put them somewhere safe (nod to Carrie Bradshaw).

Defeat Dust -  Clean with lint free cloths like these from Caldrea – so air tight that surgeons use them.  Green alert – They attract and hold the dust and you don’t have to use chemicals.

Wash the Air – Filter driven air cleaners are so passe.  Perk up your pad with an air washer like the Plaston.  It  draws air through water instead of a mucked up filter.  Beauty Bonus – it humidifies the air keeping your skin moist & glowy.

Purify with Plants – Space isn’t the only thing that NASA is up to.  Their Sick Building study proves many plants suck in harmful gases and clean the air.  The classic book How to Grow Fresh Air gives how-to’s and 50 plants (many super low maintenance) for irritant free inhales.

Listen Up – Check out this airy concoction of inspiring tunes! (Click here for all the other Spa Week Daily playlists)

Now just breathe. . .  ahh.

Live, Love and Lounge,

Candy

Candy Silvasy is CEO of Art of the Spa (www.spaaroundtheworld.com), a spacentric brand that delivers home decor, beauty, cooking, style and living advice with a Martha Stewartesque flair.  An internationally recognized spa expert, her latest book SpaHome: Makeover Your Maison from Blah to Ahhhhh will be released in February 2011.  Is your pad more stress than sanctuary?  Pick her spa brain at candace@artofthespa.com

From the ministry of obscure and unnecessary holidays, happy National Chocolate Mint Day!

To reflect upon the day, here are the three best pairings of chocolate and mint, in no particular order. Enjoy one of these (or all three!) today, in solemn observance.

1. Peppermint patties. Classic does not mean boring in this fine interpretation of flavors. Light mint cream enrobed in dark chocolate is always tasty and never cloying in the way that other candy bars can be.
2. Chocolate mint plants. Yes, you read that right–there is a variety of the mint plant that has been cultivated to taste exactly like a Thin Mint cookie. You can use it anywhere you might use regular mint: in tea, desserts, as a garnish for soups, and more. Or you can gobble it by the handful if you’re a sad weirdo.
3. Chocolate mint spa treatments. Indulge in a topical application of chocolatey mint goodness. Try the chocolate mint manicure and pedicure at Deva Spa in New York, or the Chocolate Mint Decadence Wrap at Naya Fresh in LA.

The Queen of Candyland... or Glut?

As if this time of year isn’t tempting enough… I decided to invite dozens of bags of candy and chocolate into my home for the purpose of designing a Halloween costume entirely out of sweets. The candy bra inspired the ensemble – it was a birthday gift from a friend last year that I simply HAD to incorporate into a costume. And voila!

From head (a 2,280-calorie cotton candy headpiece) to toe (896-calorie candy button legwarmers) I fully embraced my sweet side… and my sweet tooth. I was seriously kidding myself to think I could maintain any level of self-control while taping, stringing, melding and wearing my sugary masterpiece. After calculating, I estimate the consumption of no fewer than 4000 calories throughout the process. Yikes!

When Halloween was over I promptly cut my way out of the dress and – after a few last goodbye bites – discarded my diet’s biggest enemy thinking: why couldn’t I have gotten a broccoli bra?

This is clearly an extreme case, but the subject of self-control is one that so many of us deal with each and every day. Does your ability to resist temptation change with the season? Your emotions? The people you’re with? I’m constantly trying to crack the code! Do you have any self-control tricks – or solace – to share with me and the rest of us?

And one last question… was it worth it?