Trick or Sweet

Halloween marks the beginning of the 3 biggest holidays of the year.  These holidays are filled with fun, family and food.  The real scary part is how much food is consumed over the next two months!
There are “fun” sized Halloween treats which are perfect for calorie control- unless you eat too many.  But beyond that most Halloween treats are no treat for your waistline. Chocolate candies can average 100 calories a pop. But do you really eat just one?  Six unassuming little chocolates can add up to 600 calories in a matter of seconds. If you are not paying close attention to how many goodies you are eating those calories can really add up. Some better alternatives are Twizzlers or small peppermint patties.  They have half the calories as their “fun friends”.

Here are some better bad choices:
 Musketeers Bar – fun size 1 piece –> 70 calories, 2 grams fat & 11 grams of sugar
 Candy Corn – 11 pieces–> 70 calories, 0g fat & 14g sugar
 Caramels – 2 small pieces–> 80 calories, 2.25g fat & 8g sugar
 Taffy- 1 piece–> 55 calories, 0.5g fat & 12g sugar
Take advantage of this time of year’s bounty.  Pumpkins are a great choice with high vitamin A and fiber but add that to sugar, butter and pie shell and you are gonna feel like you look like a pumpkin! Don’t be misled!  Those pumpkin muffins and pumpkin breads that are in the local coffee shops are high calorie foods and are far from healthy.  Read your nutritional labels to find out what the real scoop is on what you are putting into your body. 
Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin Donut is 300 calories, 16 grams of fat and 18 grams of sugar
Starbucks Pumpkin Scone is a whopping 480 calories, 17 grams of fat and 43 grams of sugar.

 A far stretch from low calorie and low fat healthy treat!
For those coffee lovers, a Starbuck medium pumpkin spice latte with whole milk is 410 calories. If you really feel the need to indulge order the smallest version of your coffee or split your donut with someone.
Healthy Treats would include apples…plain apples.  Those caramel apples are seemingly “healthy” but that caramel on top adds an extra 300 calories to this treat.

So does that mean you can’t enjoy any Halloween treats this year?  Absolutely not!  Everything in moderation. Plan ahead.  Think about all the treats you have to choose from.  Decide how many calories you want to blow on treats. Then pick the one treat that you absolutely must have this Halloween year.  Eat it. Enjoy it. Then walk away from the rest.
Have a Happy “Healthy” Halloween this weekend!

Vic & Mackenzie dressed up for Not So Scary Halloween at Disney