Monday, October 28, 2013

Healthy(ish) Halloween

Trick or Treat? Halloween will be here soon, and the whole country will be hyped up on sugar. It sounds great, doesn't it? When I was a kid, there was a man on my street who handed out apples for Halloween. He also made you do a trick before he gave you a treat, so all the kids did a little song-and-dance to then be tricked into getting an apple. No kid wants an apple for Halloween. Kids want Reese's, and Hershey's, and Twix. Thinking about this, I was curious to know which Halloween treats are really bad for you vs. the ones that are just kinda bad. Here's what I found out: 



Smarties and Starburst are the healthiest options for Halloween candy. One roll of Smarties contains about 25 calories and 0g fat. Starburst contain a little more calories, but they taste better, so it's a fair trade.



The main reason Pixie Stix are bad for kids is because they contain less than 2% artificial and natural flavors. Also, kids tend to want to snort Pixie Stix, which is never a good idea. Something interesting I learned about Pixie Stix is that they are the same basic recipe as SweeTarts. Parents didn't like the powdery mess that came with Pixie Stix, so they requested a hard candy-version of the same sweet. 



3 Musketeers, Snickers, Twix. Basically, if the wrapper is brown and/or shiny, it's code for "this is bad for you." A fun-sized Twix bar contains 10% of an average person's daily value in saturated fat. Wowzers. So, if you eat 10 fun-sized Twix (and let's face it, that's totally possible), you've eaten your full day's allowance of saturated fat. 



Your dentist probably hates candy corn. Besides the simple fact that it tastes gross (yes, that is a fact), 19 pieces of candy corn contain 28g of sugar (cavities!) and 140 calories. 



So, Smarties are the best-for-you treat and Twix are the worst-for-you chocolate. Interestingly enough, Twix taste the best. Given the choice between Smarties and Twix, I would choose Twix every time. I just won't eat 10 of them… In one sitting.


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