Halloween Diet Culture: How It Can Harm Recovery
“That has too much sugar in it.” “Sorry, I am on a diet.” “I could not possibly eat that!” These are just a few of the phrases that we frequently hear in the lead-up to Halloween. These comments are harmful for those in recovery in a multitude of ways, in addition to being harmful for children, teenagers, and the general public. The negative commentary surrounding the Halloween season and Halloween diet culture demonizes the consumption of candy and sweet treats, reinforces food guilt, and capitalizes on the anxieties of individuals concerning body image, size, and weight.
Here are four ways that Halloween diet culture messaging is harmful for those in eating disorder recovery.
Perpetuates Food Morality Messages in Halloween Diet Culture
Halloween diet culture portrays candy and sweets as “bad” for you and “toxic” for your body, creating an immense amount of shame for those who do eat them. This dichotomy contributes to an unhealthy, judgmental, and fear-based relationship with sweets, which can be incredibly harmful for those who are in recovery and already struggling to make peace with all foods.
Increases Body Image Concerns Around Costumes
Holidays like Halloween and the messages reinforced by Halloween diet culture may unintentionally focus on wearing and fitting into costumes, which can create a pressure to conform to beauty standards that are often very unrealistic and unattainable. Not fitting into or looking a certain way in the costume of your choosing can be harmful to your mental health and increase concerns around body image, size, and shape.
Promotes Shame and Guilt Around Enjoying Candy
Not only does the “good” versus “bad” foods rhetoric create fear around candy and sweet treats, but it also contributes to a perpetuating cycle of guilt and shame. Each time you eat Halloween sweets, you are ingrained to feel guilty. You may even struggle with the need to “make up for the calories” via exercise or restriction. Companies perpetuate this mindset by introducing “guilt-free” alternatives to sweets, inherently implying that consuming candy and treats is something to feel ashamed of. Halloween diet culture implies that you have done something “wrong” and committed some sort of crime by enjoying sweets, when the reality is that you have not done anything wrong by eating Halloween candy.
Triggers a Binge-Restrict Cycle
Halloween candy and sweets are often seen as the “forbidden fruit,” and for those struggling with an eating disorder, it can activate a binge-restrict cycle. Restrictive mindsets, fueled by Halloween diet culture, can psychologically lead to stronger cravings for certain foods, like Halloween candy.
Once consumed, it can lead to all-or-nothing thinking and begin the binge-restrict cycle. Additionally, this cycle often causes feelings of guilt and shame to bubble up, tying together these multifaceted points of how Halloween diet culture messages are so harmful for those in eating disorder recovery.
Get Support During Halloween and the Holiday Season
The BALANCE team invites you to watch our Unmasking Fear Foods: A Halloween Recovery Webinar as we approach Halloween. Available on our YouTube channel, this webinar will help you identify fear foods and food anxieties, understand how they impact your life, practice strategies to overcome food-related anxiety, unpack diet culture’s role in amplifying stress around eating, and learn when and how to reach out for help.
BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, located in New York City, offers free consultation calls to help you explore next steps. We provide in-person programming seven days a week and are in-network with UnitedHealthcare (UHC), Cigna, Emblem, and Oscar, with Aetna coverage coming soon. Support is available, and recovery is possible. Schedule a free consultation call with our admissions team here and stay connected with BALANCE on Instagram here.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Tori Barkosky (she/her).
Tori is a graduate of St. Catherine University, having earned a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Nutrition Science. Tori is passionate about all things related to intuitive eating, HAES, mental health, body respect, eating disorders, and disordered eating. Tori currently works as a Mental Health Practitioner at an eating disorder clinic and teaches yoga. Outside of work, Tori enjoys finding new coffee shops, exploring nature, and spending time with family and loved ones. She is also a self-published author of a memoir, Release, concerning her recovery from anorexia nervosa.
