Episode 31 is a Halloween Spooktacular, with plenty of frights and sights to feast your eyes upon. We’re talking about the COVID-19 impact on Halloween, new costumes in 2020, some Halloween history, and 8 tips for you to enjoy a healthy and safe holiday this year. Happy Halloween!

Episode Timestamps

• Wise-Eats.com/Episode31 for the show notes, YouTube video, and more! (0:00)
• Despite COVID-19, Halloween is still a go for 2020! (0:20)
• You can’t just cancel Halloween! (0:45)
• Origins of Halloween (1:00)
• New, popular Halloween costumes in 2020 (2:20)
• Plague doctor, inspired by the pandemic (2:45)
• Life-size white claw costume (3:00)
• Mullet man, inspired by Joe Exotic (3:30)
• Fortnight Costumes, inflatables, shout out to the squatty potty (3:45)
• Horror villain costumes (4:00)
• Tips to enjoy the holiday but still make some healthy choices (4:45)
• Tip #1: Choose homemade treats whenever possible. Wise Eats Coco Cups! (5:00)
• Wise-Eats.com/Recipes: Chocolate shake, peanut butter power bombs, nutter butter, and more! (6:00)
• Tip #2: Try to find organic, limited ingredient candies (6:40)
• Tip #3: Stay extra hydrated (7:15)
• Tip #4: Plan your junk food meal ahead of time (7:45)
• Tip #5: Lift some weights before you treat yourself (8:00)
• Tip #6: Portion control (8:30)
• Tip #7: Stay active (8:50)
• Tip #8: Don’t fall asleep! (9:15)
• A Halloween poem from FamilyFriendPoems.com (9:45)
• Wise-Eats.com/Episode31 for show notes, YouTube video, pictures, transcript, and more! (10:45)
• Booper Reel / Outtakes (11:00)

• Website Link: Wise-Eats.com/Episode31
• YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/b_3MtgT3Fzs
• Audio Link:  https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/wiseeats/Episode_31.mp3
• Podcast Webpage: Wise-Eats.com/Podcast
• Instagram: @weswisefitness
• E-Mail: wiseeatspodcast@gmail.com
• Facebook.com/wiseeatspodcast

Recipes Mentioned in This Episode:

• Wise Eats Nutter Butter Bars
• Piledriver Protein Pudding
• Peanut Butter Power Bombs
• Blueberry Yogurt Bowl (BYB Bowl)
• Wise Eats Muscle Milk – Chocolate Blast (Workout Recovery Shake)
• Wise Eats Muscle Milk – Berry Vanilla (Workout Recovery Shake)
• Coconut Oil Chocolates – Clothesline Coco Cups
• Complete Recipe List: Wise-Eats.com/Recipes

Articles/Brands/Products Mentioned in This Episode:

• Mystic Magination Night! https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/mystic-magination-night

Music Used/Mentioned in This Episode

• Free Halloween (1978) Style Music – No Copyright – The Shape: https://youtu.be/eiMyxZlkQ8s
• Toilet Flush Sound Effect In High Quality: https://youtu.be/HpA4ldGoHRQ

Movie Clips

• Stephen King’s IT (1990) – Georgie’s Death Scene: https://youtu.be/CDho77vuNqo
• Matt Foley: A Scary Story on Halloween – SNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyqPdZjQTY
• Joe Rogan – Wesley Hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_7s1EKhSwo
• Joe Rogan – Post Malone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G42RJ4mKj1k
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
• Scream (1996)
• Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
• Top 10 Freddy Krueger Kills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj7RgxSk0hc
• Hocus Pocus – The Sanderson Sisters Hanged: https://youtu.be/c5jLSt2R1rQ
• The Model Health Show #437 Buying Science, Healthwashing Labels, & Sparking Real Change – With Guest Vani Hari: https://themodelhealthshow.com/healthwashing-labels/

Website Design Thank You: DoeringDesign.com

Logo Design Thank You’s: @this_show, MGSignsDesign.com

Editing Animations Thank You: Darin Roberts aka Misteredit1 on YouTube

The Wise Eats Podcast is written, filmed, edited, and produced by Wesley Wise, and shared by YOU. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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

Episode 31

Well, hello again, wise guys and GHOULS, and welcome to another fright-filled edition of the Wise Eats Podcast. It’s Halloween, and you know we’re celebrating in style.

COVID Impact on Halloween

I know there’s been some uncertainty about the holiday this year due to the pandemic, but I’m pleased to report that Halloween is a go for 2020! It’s estimated that 80% of the general public still plans to celebrate this year (New survey, 2020). It might look a little different this year. Virtual parties, more home celebrations. Reverse trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treating. But it’s definitely still a go.

“There will be regional differences across the country in terms of how communities choose to celebrate the holiday, but one thing is for sure – Halloween is happening,”. – John Downs, president & CEO of the National Confectioners Association

It’s crazy to think that some people were trying to just cancel Halloween. That’s like trying to cancel America. You can’t just cancel fun! You can’t just cancel freedom! So, before we take part in all the terrifying festivities, let’s take a step back as we like to do here and reflect on a few fun facts about why we celebrate Halloween in the first place:

Fun Facts from AlwaysaTreat.com

• The celebration of Halloween started in the United States as an autumn harvest festival. During early Halloween festivities, some Americans celebrated Halloween with corn-popping parties, taffy pulls and hayrides.
• Trick-or-treating wasn’t popularized in America until the 1950s by the Baby Boomer generation. Its roots stem from 9th or 10th century Gaelic Ireland and other Celtic regions where disguises were worn to hide from spirits passing from one world to the next on All Hallows’ Eve (“A Halloween,” 2020).
• The popularity of Halloween grew with the large influx of Irish immigrants into the U.S. in the nineteenth century, and eventually became associated with ghosts, goblins and witches. Over time, it grew into the fun, playful holiday we all know and love today.

Most Popular Halloween Costumes 2020

Now, one of the best parts about Halloween is dressing up in cool costumes. While we may have to flaunt our costumes on social media this year instead of in person, costumes are still a thing during COVID, so I wanted to run down some of the most popular options for 2020 according to Spirit Halloween:

The Plague Doctor: Obvously, COVID is the hottest topic in the world right now, so one new popular costume that is flying off the shelves this year is the plague doctor. It’s thought that these beaked masks were worn by physicians throughout the 14^th century to prevent the spread of the plague.

The Mullet Man: Another popular costume this year will be the “mullet-man”, inspired by The Tiger King Joe Exotic.

Life-sized White Claw: I gave up booze at the beginning of 2020, so I missed the cut on White Claws. I heard they’re pretty good though and I like that the market is leaning toward listing ingredients on the can!

Fortnite Drift & Fishstick: Not much of a gamer anymore but the look pretty cool!

Inflatable Toilet Bowl & Spongebob: Of course, we can’t forget about the inflatables. Won’t be dressing up as a toilet this year, but I have been known to travel with my squatty potty.

Horror Villains: Of course, these cannot be forgotten. Scary clowns, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Chucky are popular with costume stores each year. As a kid, I loved shopping at the mask store, they were always so expensive, dressed up as my good buddies Michael Myers, Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees.

Lastly, since most normal people plan to celebrate Halloween this year, I thought I’d share a few tips on how do enjoy Halloween but also make some wise choices! Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be well on your way toward a guilt-free holiday that gets you closer to your fitness goals.

Healthy Tips for Halloween

• Choose homemade treats whenever possible, as covered in the last candy episode. Try the Wise Eats Coco Cups. Takes the place of Snickers, Reese’s, Mounds. You can make them however you want! The perfect chocolate fix. Google some other healthy recipes using real ingredients like honey, maple syrup, stevia, natural fruit juice, and other organic ingredients. When I’m craving something sweet, I’ll turn to one of these Wise Eats Recipes:
  • Chocolate Blast Shake Wise-Eats.com/MuscleMilkChocolate
  • Berry-Vanilla Shake Wise-Eats.com/MuscleMilkBerry
  • Peanut Butter Power Bombs http://wise-eats.com/powerbombs/
  • Wise Eats Coco Cups http://wise-eats.com/coco/
  • Piledriver Protein Pudding http://wise-eats.com/piledriver/
  • Wise Eats Nutter Butter http://wise-eats.com/nutterbutter/

More treats available at Wise-Eats.com/Recipes. But you don’t have to make up some crazy concoction. It came be as simple as snacking on some:

• Apples and other fresh fruit
  • Dates
  • Frozen bananas w/ almond butter
  • Greek Yogurt with frozen BOOberries

• Look to find organic, limited ingredient candies as much as possible.
  • I know these are few and far between in the candy aisle, but you really want to avoid candy with low-quality ingredients and tons of added sugar. If you’re wanting to enjoy any of the mainstream candies, choosing healthy options will be next to impossible. Personally, I avoid the candy aisle entirely, but when I buy it for Gio, I always go for 70% or higher cacao chocolate bars.
• Stay extra hydrated.
  • Lots of purified water, green tea, coffee. If you’re going overboard on caffeine like me, switch to decaf, especially after noon, so it doesn’t interfere with sleep. Also, ice water and tea in between meals is a great hunger suppressant. Most of the time, you’re hungry is mostly psychological. When you’re dehydrated, those hunger cravings hit you like a mack truck.
  • Another thing I like to do is drink ice water from my favorite mug (a Yeti) so it makes it easier to slam the water down more automatically.
• If you are going to have some junk food, decide what you’re going to have and how much ahead of time. Prioritize your favorites and skip anything that’s not worth it. If I am going to splurge and have some candy, which I’m not going to, I’d be picking one of my favorites like Reese’s or Kit Kat and skipping on any gross stuff like those black and orange candies.
• Get a good lift session in before you treat yourself. A good weight training session can help your body put some of those extra calories to good use.
• Portion control. Have a couple pieces, not the entire bag like Fat Wes used to do. Treat yourself in moderation and do it thoughtfully. Go in with a plan and with a goal in mind. If you go too overboard, you might wake up feeling like you’ve fallen deep into the dark depths.
• Stay active. Go for walks, play active games, keep your body moving. My wife and I love to walk around and check out the local Halloween decorations. The perfect way to celebrate and burn some extra calories!
• Lastly, and most importantly, no matter what you do for Halloween this year, DON’T…FALL…ASLEEP!

Halloween Jokes!

• Why do ghosts go on diets? So they can keep their ghoulish figures
• What’s a ghost’s favorite dessert? I-Scream!
• Why did the ghost go into the bar? For the Boos.
• Where does a ghost go on vacation? Mali-boo.
• What is in a ghost’s nose? Boo-gers.
• Why did the policeman ticket the ghost on Halloween? It didn’t have a haunting license.
• Why don’t mummies take time off? They’re afraid to unwind.
• Why did the headless horseman go into business? He wanted to get ahead in life.
• Why don’t mummies have friends? Because they’re too wrapped up in themselves.
• What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman? Frostbite.
• Why do skeletons have low self-esteem? They have no body to love.
• Know why skeletons are so calm? Because nothing gets under their skin.
• What kind of food would you find on a haunted beach? A sand-witch! (Ludlam, 2020).

Close

That’s a wrap for this Halloween edition of Wise Eats. You can find all the recipes, links, and all the other haunts mentioned in this episode over at Wise-Eats.com/Episode31. I’ll leave you with a Halloween poem from FamilyFriendPoems.com:

Mystic Magination Night! by Patricia L. Cisco

On one mystic, magic night,
Jack O Lanterns glowing bright,
kids with bags of candy sweet,
roam door to door and street to street,
all dressed up for trick or treat!

Wizards with wands, pirates with hooks,
monsters and clowns with spooky looks,
kings and queens with capes and crowns,
a princess in her royal gown,

Witches with warts and fairies with wings
movies stars with sparkling rings,
vampires with fangs that bite,
ghost that boo all dressed in white.

Imaginations taken flight,
on that one mystic, magic night.
Oh, the fun of Halloween,
be young or old or in between! (Cisco, 2018).

Have a frightful holiday, friends and freaks, and, as always, make terrifying choices.

References

A Halloween History Story. (2020, October 11). Always a Treat. Retrieved from

Gutoskey, E. (2020, October 16). Plague doctors, tiger kings, and clowns, oh my: These are Spirit Halloween’s hottest costumers of 2020. Mental Floss. Retrieved from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/633093/spirit-halloween-most-popular-costumes-2020

Kiner, D. (2020, October 6). Almost 80 percent of parents do this after trick or treat on Halloween. Penn Live. Retrieved from https://www.pennlive.com/life/2020/10/almost-80-percent-of-parents-do-this-after-trick-or-treat-on-halloween.html

Ludlam, J. (2020, September 23). 30 laugh-out loud Halloween jokes that’ll tickle a skeleton’s funny bone. Country Living. Retrieved from https://www.countryliving.com/entertaining/a32963261/halloween-jokes/

Cisco, Patricia L. (2018, July). Mystic Magination Night! Family Friend Poems. Retrieved from https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/mystic-magination-night

New survey data: Halloween is happening and Americans are ready to celebrate creatively and safely throughout October. (2020, August 7). National Confectioners Association. Retrieved from https://candyusa.com/news/halloween-is-happening/