Halloween is here. Whether you dress up and parade around the neighborhood or stay at home to greet spooky visitors, you will find plenty of candy—piles and piles of it. The temptation to have just one or two, or oh, well let’s just have 9 pieces of candy, may be difficult to deal with. They’re just “Fun Size” right?

Remember that you don’t have to eat it just because it’s there. This time of the year, candy is especially tempting because it’s everywhere. On Oct. 28, more candy is sold than any other day of the year. And of the 365 days in the year, the top five candy-selling days are all in October. Americans purchase nearly 600 million pounds of candy a year for Halloween. The top sellers are Candy Corn, Snickers, Reese’s, Kit-Kat, and M&Ms. An incredible 90 million pounds of chocolate is sold during Halloween week.

If you’re following The Simple 9, or even if you’re not, you know that none of this candy is good for you. At the same time, it’s very tempting, and it fills bowls on almost every reception desk and kitchen counter in America right now with bright, attractive colors that say, “Eat me.”

Here are a few practical tips to help you survive the late-October candy bombardment.

1. Eat 2 to 3 servings of fruit and 4 or more servings of vegetables a day (even on holidays). We can’t say this enough. Fruits and vegetables are full of water and fiber. They will help you feel full and satisfied on a fraction of the calories in the average serving of candy. Remember, we stop eating based on the volume of food we eat, not the number of calories.

2. Buy Simple Snacks. Instead of passing out tons of “Fun Size” candy at Halloween, buy some Simple snacks to hand out. Snack size bags of nuts, dried fruit, seeds or trail mix are great to hand out to trick-or-treaters. Don’t be surprised if you find out your kids prefer a snack like this to their Kit-Kat bars.

3. Buy Healthy Chocolate. I just learned Ghirardelli makes 86% and 92% cacao dark chocolate squares. You could be sharing serious antioxidant bliss with all the kids in your neighborhood. Who knew?

4. Throw the Crap Away. So, you really think you should be like everyone else and pass out Snickers, Reese’s, Kit-Kat’s and M&Ms. I get it. And since you’re passing out the stuff, well it’s only one day so you have a few left over. You give yourself a one-day pass. When you wake up on November 1, THROW EVERYTHING YOU HAVE LEFT IN THE TRASH. It’s not food. Get rid of it.

5. Sell Your Candy. Last year my kids trick-or-treated with a vengeance because they knew the end result would be money. At the end of the night, they all poured their candy out, selected a few pieces to enjoy over the next couple of days, then bagged the rest up to sell for $1 a pound at a local Candy Buy Back. Check social media for buy back opportunities in your area.

Have a happy Halloween everyone!

Stay Strong,

Bo Railey