This week on Health Watch, we’ve been talking about gearing up for Halloween and other fall festivals. If your children go trick-or-treating or to a party or festival where candy is handed out, you may end up with a stockpile of treats. Do you really need all that candy around the house?

Bernadette Latson, a registered dietitian at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says the holiday isn’t an excuse to forget about good eating habits for weeks. Try to think of Halloween as just one day. Let children sort their loot when they get home, and then enjoy a few favorite treats on Halloween, but then get rid of the rest because neither kids nor adults need to eat a lot of candy for days on end. If the thought of dumping all that candy is too painful, sort it into smaller servings and ration it, with maybe one piece of candy in the lunch box or a piece of candy as an occasional dessert.

Visit http://www.utsouthwestern.org/nutrition to learn more about UT Southwestern’s clinical services in nutrition.