Episode 15: Halloween Special – Top 10 Horror Movies, Fun Facts, Best Candy/Costumes, A Scary Story & MORE

In a special Halloween edition of Wise Eats, we celebrate one of my favorite holidays in style! In this episode:

  • Why I love Halloween
  • Why are scary movies so appealing?
  • My top 10 favorite horror movies
  • History and fun facts about Halloween
  • Fat Guy Files: Analyzing my diet from Halloween 2010
  • Top 10 Halloween candies
  • A delicious, healthy recipe that replaces sugary Halloween candy!
  • A scary story that will chill your bones!

All that and much more with some help from my co-hosts Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, the Cryptkeeper, and more!

Episode Timestamps

  • Intro: Welcome to a special Halloween edition of Wise Eats! Head over to Wise-Eats.com/Episode15 for show notes, pictures, videos, and more! Contact me with questions at wiseeatspodcast@gmail.com and Instagram @weswisefitness. (00:00)
  • Some history and 10 fun facts about Halloween and the Cryptkeeper wishes you bad health (1:00)
  • The origins of Halloween (1:20)
  • Where Halloween ranks among other holidays in terms of revenue (1:45)
  • The largest Halloween party in the United States. The Cryptkeeper loves to party too! (2:00)
  • All kinds of fun facts about pumpkins: Is it a fruit or vegetable? Largest pumpkin, fastest carving, which state has the pumpkin as its state fruit? Record for most lit pumpkins (2:20)
  • Most popular costumes among kids, adults, and dogs (3:00)
  • The meaning of the word “witch” (3:15)
  • What Halloween meant to me as a kid and a Friday the 13th blurb (3:25)
  • Why I still love Halloween (4:00)
  • One of my favorite aspects of Halloween: SCARY MOVIES (4:10)
  • My massive horror movie figure collection! (4:30)
  • Why do we love horror movies so much? A moment of introspection (5:00)
  • Why we love horror movies according to ScienceNordic.com (5:30)
  • My thoughts on why scary movies are so appealing (6:00)
  • My top 10 favorite horror movies (7:15)
  • #1 – Halloween 4 and the history behind the Halloween mask (7:40)
  • #2 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre (8:15)
  • #3 – Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (8:40)
  • #4 – Return of the Living Dead (9:00)
  • #5 – Evil Dead (9:10)
  • #6 – Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (9:25)
  • #7 – Lost Boys (9:40)
  • #8 – Creepshow 2 (9:50)
  • #9 – Body Bags (10:05)
  • #10 – Scream (10:15)
  • Go to Wise-Eats.com/ScaryMovies for the rest of my Top 25 Horror (10:30)
  • Fat Guy Giles: Halloween 2010 (10:40)
  • My exact diet and lifestyle habits back in Halloween 2010 (11:00)
  • Costume parties and junk food! (11:30)
  • Today’s diet will be made available at Wise-Eats.com/Episode15 (12:00)
  • Why I won’t be eating any candy this Halloween and what I WILL be doing instead (12:30)
  • Top 10 most popular Halloween candies according to CandyStore.com (13:00)
  • How many calories the average bag of Halloween candy contains (14:10)
  • Recipe of the Week: Wise Eats Coconut Oil Chocolates / Clothesline Coco Cups (14:20)
  • Homemade chocolate candies make with wise choices! Wise-Eats.com/Coco (14:40)
  • The Following Announcement is back with Season 7! New episodes every Saturday over at TFAShow.com (15:30)
  • New recipes coming: Piledriver Pudding and Sharpshooter Breakfast Salad (15:30)
  • JUST DELICIOUS: A scary story from “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” (16:00)
  • Happy Halloween! Thanks for watching, listening and subscribing! (18:30)
  • BLOOPER REEL (19:00)

Recipes Mentioned in This Episode:

Brands/Products/Articles Mentioned in This Episode:

Movie Clips: Tales from the Crypt, Halloween 4, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Return of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th Part VI, Friday the 13th Part VII, Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Drag Me to Hell, Evil Dead (Remake), Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Body Bags

Special Thanks To: Darin Roberts aka Misteredit1 on YouTube, DoeringDesign.com, and MGSignsDesign.com

Submit questions, comments, feedback to WiseEatsPodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for watching, listening, reviewing, liking, subscribing, and sharing. Be good to yourself, be good to others, and make wise choices! HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween Special!

Well, hello there, Wise Guys & Ghouls, and welcome to a special Halloween edition of Wise Eats!I’m former fat guy and Halloween candy aficionado Wes Wise.Halloween has always been one of my very favorite times of year, so we’re going to celebrate in style on today’s show.We’ll be talking fitness and nutrition with frightening edition of the fat guy files, Top 10 halloween candy, my top 10 scary movies, fun facts, a recipe of the week you’re not gonna wanna miss, and plenty more extra thrills and chills, so let’s get to it.

Halloween Fun Facts Presented by Good Housekeeping & FactRetriever.com:

Let’s get the party started with some fun facts and history about Halloween. This info comes courtesy of Good Housekeeping and FactRetriever.com:

  • Halloween, also known as All Hallows’ Eve or Witches Night, goes back more than 2,000 years. It started as a pre-Christian Celtic festival called Samhain (which means “summer’s end”). It celebrated the final day of the harvest and the crossing of spirits over into the other world. People in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France would ward off ghosts by lighting sacrificial bonfires and wearing costumes, according to History.com.
  • Halloween is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas. Consumers spent about $9 billion on Halloween in 2018. The average American spends about $86.79 on Halloween every year, including decorations, costumes, candy, and cards.
  • New York City throws the biggest Halloween parade in the U.S.
  • The largest pumpkin ever measured was grown by Norm Craven, who broke the world record in 1993 with an 836 lb. pumpkin.
  • Speaking of pumpkins, they’re actually classified as a fruit, not as a vegetable. In 2006, New Hampshire actually declared that its state fruit is the pumpkin.
  • Illinois produces up to 5 times more pumpkins than any other state.
  • The record for the most lit pumpkins on display belongs to Keene, New Hampshire with 30,581.
  • The fastest pumpkin carving record belongs to Stephen Clarke, who did it in 16.47 seconds. The pumpkin was required to have a complete face, including eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
  • The most popular costumes among children are superheroes and princesses., The most popular costume for a dog in 2018 was a pumpkin, and he most popular adult costume is a witch.
  • The word “witch” comes from the Old English wicce, meaning “wise woman.”

My History with Halloween

As a kid, Halloween was easily my second favorite holiday next to Christmas. Each year, I made it a goal to stock up on as much candy as I possibly could and then hoard all of it before any of my brothers could steal it. I couldn’t wait to dress up as my favorite scary movie character and go trick-or-treating so I could get my pillowcase full of candy. Haunted houses, scary movies, you name it, if it was scary, I was all about it. These days, I don’t get to celebrate like I used to, but it’s still one of my favorites. I still love all the decorations, atmosphere, and the spirit of the holiday.

Colman St in Clinton Township, MI

Why Do We Love Scary Stuff So Much?

One of my favorite aspects of Halloween is watching scary movies. I grew up adoring horror movies and it was by far my favorite genre. I literally rented every single scary movie my local video store carried. I even started a “40-year old virgin”-style horror figure collection that I still have today.

I’m not as much of a movie buff these days, but still love the horror genre, which is funny because my wife is the total opposite. She does not like horror movies and doesn’t watch them, and can’t understand why anyone would want to put such scary or evil things in their eyes. I’ve tried to explain it to her, but it’s difficult to put into words, which got me thinking, why do we love horror movies so much? It’s a great question, so I did some searching and found this answer in an article from ScienceNordic.com:

“When we watch a horror film, we respond to the dangerous and horrifying situations that are being depicted. We identify with the fictional characters who confront terrifying threats. We feel revulsion and terror. We go through a range of emotions as we’re watching, and through that experience we learn something about our own responses. Horror provides us with insights into ourselves and into the dark corners of the world, and it lets us develop and refine coping skills that may be critical later in life.”

I think that does a good job of describing it. In a way, horror is almost a survival mechanism. By paying close attention to tragedy, we help maximize our own chance for survival. It’s the same reason we can’t help but stare when we see a car wreck on the side of the road. We’re nosy and want to know what happened. We sympathize with the victims but at the same time feel thankful we’re not in their place. But the difference with horror movies is, no one actually has to get hurt.

Colman St in Clinton Township, MI

At the end of the day, humans are curious, nosy, and we want to be entertained. We want to feel something, an emotion, whether it’s happiness, fear, or sympathy, because it energizes us. We laugh at inappropriate jokes, we cheer for our hero, and we demand justice for the villain. We find pleasure in experiencing a variety of emotions in a safe atmosphere. In that aspect, horror is just another way to experience a thrill and have a good time, but it can also train us handle negative emotions more effectively.Horror movies challenge our psychology, question our own behaviors, and allow us to feel fear and pain without actually being threatened.

The moral of the story is, scary movies just make us better people, and with that said, I’m gonna run down my Top 10 all-time horror movies:

Wise Eats Top 10 Favorite Horror Movies

These are sort of in order, but not really, I actually love them all:

  1. Halloween 4 (1988) – Any Halloween movie could be my #1 on this list, but Halloween 4 is my overall favorite in the franchise. By the way, fun fact…it took just 21 days to film the original Halloween movie. Also, the original Michael Myers mask was selected from a Hollywood Blvd magic shop. Production designers were deciding between a clown mask and William Shatner Captain Kirk mask, and obviously ended up choosing the Shatner mask. They spray painted it white, cut the eye holes bigger, and the rest is history.
  2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) – Movie literally terrified me as a child and was the subject of many nightmares in my life.
  3. Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) – Love this whole series but this particular film had the biggest impact on me.
  4. Return of the Living Dead (1985) – Must’ve watched this 100 times with my cousins…BRAINS
  5. Evil Dead (2013) – Saw this one in the theaters and man was it disturbing! Loved it.
  6. Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986) – Can’t have a Top 10 horror without Jason Voorhees. This has always been my favorite in the series.
  7. Lost Boys (1987) – Never really scared me much, just a super cool vampire movie with an amazing soundtrack.
  8. Creepshow 2 (1987) – I’m a sucker for short, scary stories. The Creepshows were always a favorite.
  9. Bodybags (1993) – Another short story horror film from master of horror John Carpenter
  10. Scream (1996) – Brought the horror genre back to life in 1996.
  11. Demons (1985) – Not sure if it holds up today but it scared the crap out of me when I was a kid
  12. Dead Alive (1992) – Cheesy/gory underrated zombie-type horror movie.
  13. Drag Me to Hell (2009) – Another over-the-top, wild, gory, scarefest that I just loved.
  14. Silver Bullet (1985) – Favorite werewolf movie from childhood
  15. Cabin in the Woods (2011) – Thought this one was really original and just a really fun time!
  16. Christine (1983) – Amazing book and movie from mastermind Stephen King
  17. The Conjuring (2013) – Just when you thought you’d seen enough exorcism-type movies, they come along with this little gem
  18. High Tension (2003) – Oddly reminiscent of one of my favorite Dean Koontz books. Very intense!
  19. Jeepers Creepers (2001) – One of the more innovative slasher icons of the 2000’s!
  20. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) – Another short story horror film that I adored growing up
  21. The Ring (2002) – One of the more genuinely terrifying films of the 21st century!
  22. Army of Darkness (1992) – One of the more iconic horror movies of all time!
  23. Witchboard (1986) – Never looked at Ouija boards the same after this!
  24. Poltergeist (1982) – Super creepy ghost/haunted house movie.
  25. Jaws : The Revenge (1987) – Probably doesn’t belong on any horror list but I loved this one growing up also.

Are there any obvious snubs? I think a couple are the Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead remakes, but I haven’t seen those enough to rank them on the list. Maybe next Halloween! But let me know your thoughts! wiseeatspodcast@gmail.com

Former Fat Guy Files

With some of the scary fun out of the way, let’s get to a special edition of The Fat Guy Files. We’re turning back the clock to Halloween of 2010. I was fresh off my 90lb weight loss, feeling confident that my health was back in order, and allowing myself to yo-yo diet to an extreme level, and here’s a perfect example of it. After recently dropping to 180lbs, I was already back up to 190+lbs.

This was an epic Halloween weekend binge. 7500 calories on Friday and Saturday. This is exactly what you should NOT be doing this Halloween. Here is the exact diet journal entry from 2010:

Shortly after this is when I got extremely ill and actually thought I might die, so you can see from my lifestyle habits why that happened. Sure, I knew how to lose a significant amount of weight through calorie restriction, but I had a long way to go as far as refining my lifestyle habits and truly achieving a state of good health.

Here is today’s diet. Much better compared to 2010!

A whole different ballgame from 2010!

As much as I love Halloween, one thing I can guarantee you that I will NOT be eating this Halloween is any candy. Those days are long behind me. I don’t even see that stuff as food anymore. When I want to treat myself, I stick to real food. If I want something chocolatey, I’ll turn to a Fully Charged Chocolate Smoothie. If I’m craving something sweet, I’ll have some Greek Yogurt Madness or some frozen fruit. As much as I used to love candy, today it’s not even an option in my mind. There’s so many other alternatives that are delicious AND healthy.

Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m a total snob. I still appreciate great candy, I just don’t eat it. And just for fun, here are America’s Top 10 Halloween Candies according to CandyStore.com:

  1. Skittles
  2. Reese’s Cups
  3. M&M’s
  4. Snickers
  5. Starburst
  6. Candy Corn
  7. Hot Tamales
  8. Tootsie Pops
  9. Sour Patch Kids
  10. Hershey’s

I think Twix and Kit Kat are obvious snubs from this list, but maybe they’re considered more of a cookie than a Halloween candy? I don’t know, but those were my favorites. And here’s a bonus fun fact: The average bag of candy that one child will collect on Halloween contains about 11,000 calories.

Recipe of the Week: Coconut Oil Chocolates / Clothesline Coco Cups

Rather than fill up on candy this Halloween, why not try our Recipe of the Week, which is the Wise Eats Coconut Oil Chocolates.  Instead of having all that processed sugar, try this recipe that’s made with real ingredients. Homemade chocolates where you control every ingredient! And the best part is, you can doctor these up to replace many of your favorite candies too! If you love Almond Joy, sprinkle some crushed almonds and coconut. If you love Snickers, add some peanuts. Reese’s? Put a dab of peanut butter in the middle. One of our personal favorites is a little bit of banana. Like a frozen chocolate covered banana. Amazing! The possibilities are endless, so check that recipe out over at Wise-Eats.com/Coco

TFASHOW.COM

The Following Announcement

Season 7 of the Following Announcement premiered on Saturday, October 26th. The new season features 6 episodes airing every Saturday on YouTube, so definitely check it out! This season also features two new recipes from Wise Eats: Piledriver Protein Pudding and the Sharpshooter Breakfast Salad.

Scary Story!

That’s gonna do it for the Special Halloween Edition of Wise Eats, but before I go, what would Halloween be without a scary story? And I’m actually going to share a short story that’s pretty fitting for Wise Eats. It comes from one of my favorite childhood books, “Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark”, which they recently made a movie about and is coming out next week on DVD. The story is called Just Delicious, and if you want to hear the chilling tale, tune into the video for this podcast at Wise-Eats.com/Episode15!

Thanks for tuning in, FRIENDS AND FIENDS, and until next time, MAKE WISE TERRIFYING CHOICES, MWAAAHAHAHAHA.

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