Eat This, Not That: Halloween Candy Edition

When we think of Halloween, we think of candy. Halloween is the one time of year where collegiates across the nation can binge on sweets, all in the spirit of the holiday, of course. While we love filling our trick-or-treat buckets with a vast assortment of candy, we don’t always love the feeling of crashing from an excessive sugar high on the morning of November 1.  Are you an airhead for eating Air Heads? How fun are ‘Fun Size’ candy bars, anyway? HC Bucknell investigates the scary myths behind Halloween candy and their sweeter (and healthier) alternatives.

Chocolate Candy

Don’t Get Your Chocolate Fix from a Twix

Twix bars are notoriously full of high amounts of fat, calories and carbohydrates. Nearly 20% of your daily intake for saturated fat is in one serving size of this candy.

Instead, Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth with a Tootsie Roll

Tootsie Rolls contain half the calories of Twix bars and a quarter of the amount of fat. They also dissolve at a slower rate, meaning that you can get your chocolate fix for a longer span of time!

Fruity Candy

Don’t be an Airhead…

As far as fruity candies go, Airheads are among the worst. They contain lots of scary filler carbohydrates and artificial ingredients that give them their unnatural color and super-sweet taste. The spookiest ingredients in Airheads are partially hydrogenated oils that come from trans fats.

…Be smart and eat a Dum Dum!

These Halloween (and everyday) classics are the smarter, lower calorie, non-fat alternative to most fruity candies. They contain nearly half of the calories of the Airheads for three yummy pops and have 0 grams of saturated fats. Dum Dums are also a hard candy, allowing them to dissolve slowly on your tongue for an extra-long sweet fix!

Chewy Candy

Mind Your Milk Maids

This chewy candy is hardly made from milk. Nearly 90% of the fat in these treats are saturated, which can lead to heart problems and weight gain.

Eat These Now and Later:

For a healthier alternative, suck on Now and Laters. These candies do not contain any saturated fats and contain 100 fewer calories than Milk Maids.

Fun Size Bars

The Not-So-Fun Butterfinger Bar

Do not be fooled by the original Butterfinger’s smaller cousin – ‘Fun Size’ is just a marketing strategy that candy vendors use to lead us to assume that this is a healthier alternative to the original.  Unfortunately, these bars still include high amounts of saturated fats and sugars.

3 Musketeers Bar

Half the fat of this bar, nearly half the calories and the same amount of sugar, so you’ll still get that sugar rush. It’s a chocolaty alternative.

Halloween-Themed Treats!

Reese’s Pumpkin

Although these peanut-y pumpkins might have a delicious and festive-looking package, they have a scary amount of calories and fat inside of them. Reese’s pumpkins have almost 60% more calories than the original peanut butter cup and 10 grams of fat.

Stick to Candy Corn

Although it mostly contains artificial ingredients, candy corn is usually the best alternative for super sweet candies because it is fat-free and contains about 140 calories per handful. While you shouldn’t excessively eat candy corn, it is one of the best options to prevent post-Halloween weight gain.

Save your sugar headache and chocolate bloating for a rainy day and celebrate Halloween by choosing the healthier candy options! Halloween comes once a year, so it is important to remember that it’s okay to go candy-crazy!

For more information, check out:

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slide/3-worst-miniature-candy-bars?slideshow=185599#sharetagsfocus

http://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/First-Snowfall-Chicago-Area-228792941.html