Halloween is on the horizon, and for many, that means witchy costumes; scary movies; pumpkin and/or gore decor; and, of course, the goodie bags brimming with candy—and (here comes a party foul) the subsequent blood sugar spikes with each empty wrapper. 

While we generally encourage hopping off the blood sugar rollercoaster if you can, we’d never, ever, tell you to deprive yourself of holiday joy—with Halloween, that may mean you indulge in more candy than usual. And that’s fine! Just take it from Stanford-trained physician Casey Means, M.D., co-founder of Levels: “No one should ever freak out about a single glucose spike,” she asserts on the mindbodygreen podcast. “One-time exposures like that are not going to cause lasting damage. It’s the trends, the adaptations over time, that can cause problems.”

However, if you are blood sugar conscious, there are ways to mitigate the spike on days you know you’re going to indulge (like this upcoming holiday). “There are many options for people to actually minimize their glycemic variability from [sweets],” Means says. Here are her three tips to prepare your body for that inevitable surge. 

In a perfect world, you might stick to blood sugar-balancing foods rich in protein, fiber, and healthy fats, eat dinner earlier in the evening, and get plenty of high-quality sleep. Balancing blood sugar is important for metabolic health, but sometimes, well, life happens—and you may indulge in a sweet after-dinner treat or spend a late night with friends. Your mental health is a vital component of your overall well-being, so if sharing a dessert with some loved ones makes you feel good, who are we to deprive you of that joy? 

Although, if you really want to focus on avoiding glucose spikes, you could opt for protein- and fiber-rich desserts that actually have blood sugar balancing properties. For example, Stanford-trained physician and co-founder of Levels, Casey Means, M.D., has her go-to recipe: “At dinner parties, I’ll sometimes serve a really fancy chia pudding,” she shares on the mindbodygreen podcast. 

Behold: This is not your typical breakfast chia. It’s a pudding so decadent and rich, it will satisfy your sweet tooth without sending your blood sugar sky-high. 

Beans tell a trickier story. Of course, we love ‘em here at mbg—they’re full of fiber, protein, and important vitamins and minerals. But for some people, Means says they’re a sneaky spiker. “I can eat a can of beans, which is about four servings, and have no glucose response,” she says. “But there are other people who eat beans and [glucose] spikes through the roof.” 

The reason, she admits, isn’t so clear, but she thinks it has something to do with the gut microbiome. She references a 2015 study in the journal Cell that put continuous glucose monitors on 800 healthy participants and gave them the same meals, assuming they would respond exactly the same. However, they found varying responses across the board—from no spikes to colossal spikes—and they discovered that their microbiome composition seemed to dictate those responses. 

It’s not surprising, says Means: “The microbiome [does] a first pass on food,” she says. “They’re the ones who break down some of those early carbohydrates before it actually goes into the body. My co-founder David [Flinner] started eating huge amounts of chia every morning to get his fiber in, and over the course of the month after eating all this fiber day after day, he found that he no longer responded as much to beans.” 

We need more research on beans in particular, but it does make sense that the microbiome would have some skin in the game. 

While restricting carbs isn’t always the way to go, that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with alternatives to your usual complex carbs every now and then. Take your bread, for example. “Bread can have a similar effect on blood sugar as eating sugar,” explains health coach Leisa Maloney Cockayne, “but it’s such a staple in our diet.”

The key? Opting for breads that are rich in nutrients wherever possible—whether that means sticking to sourdoughs (which some people find easier to digest), picking a whole wheat or whole grain option, or making your own simple loaf at home with hand-picked ingredients.

“This nutritious recipe is a high-protein swap for other breads, and it will undoubtedly become one of your most-made recipes,” writes Cockayne in The 7-Day Sugar Cleanse. Made with a mix of almond flour, whole seeds, and eggs, it is, as she says, a high-protein swap but also offers plenty of omega-3s—which flax and chia seeds are particularly good sources of—and it’s even gluten-free too.

Though it’s a member of the cereal family, millet looks quite like a seed. Functional medicine doctor and registered dietitian Elizabeth Boham, M.D., M.S., R.D. told mindbodygreen that it offers 6 grams of protein per serving, and it’s also rich in copper, folate, magnesium, and B-complex vitamins—including vitamin B1 (thiamin) and vitamin B3 (niacin).

Plus, the recent research we mentioned found that millet’s low average glycemic index (of only 52.7) sets it lower than rice, corn, and refined wheat. The glycemic index of food refers to how much (and how quickly) it will increase blood sugar, and the study found that regardless of how the millet was prepared, blood sugar levels remained relatively low.