The Best and Worst Halloween Candy
It’s Halloween night. The goblins have been fed, the ghouls have been tricked and/or treated, and at least a half dozen obnoxious teenagers dressed as “Ebola” have rung your door. Now the house is finally quiet, and…wait. What’s that sound? It’s a tiny voice, squeaking out of your kids’ Halloween basket, saying “Eat me! Eat me! The kids will never know!” Or maybe its from inside the extra bag of sweets you bought in case there was a run on your house by zombies or cast members from Game of Thrones. Just a little cheat tonight—and maybe another cheat each night until all the candy’s gone. What’s the harm?
Halloween may be for kids, but the calorie consequences are for you and me. Consider these numbers: Three miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups fill your belly with more sugar than a glazed doughnut; half a pack of Skittles has more sugar than a scoop of Haagen-Dazs Cookies and Cream Ice Cream; nine Twizzlers carry as many calories as a Wendy’s Double Stack Burger.
That’s scary! Make every Eat This, Not That! swap outlined here just once and you’ll save nearly 400 calories. Do them multiple times and keep yourself out of the fat-man suit this Halloween.
WORST “FUN SIZE” CANDY BAR: Butterfinger
100 calories, 4 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 10 g sugar
MORE CALORIES THAN TWO BREYERS PURE FRUIT BERRY SWIRL POPSICLES!
Many candy bars are high in sugar. Many are high in fat. But Butterfinger has magical ability to be high in both. Adding even one “fun size” Butterfinger to your food intake every day is enough to add more than 10 pounds to your body in the next year. There’s nothing fun about that.
Eat This Instead:
3 Musketeers
63 calories, 2 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 10 g sugar
WORST CLASSIC FRUIT CANDY: Brach’s Airheads (3)
140 calories, 1.5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 19 g sugar
MORE SUGAR AND CALORIES THAN ½ CUP OF EDY’S SLOW CHURNED MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP!
Here’s the basic formula for an Airhead: Sugar and filler carbohydrates, artificial colors and flavors, and partially hydrogenated oils—the source of trans fat. Dum Dums might not be nutritional paragons, but they do have two noteworthy advantages over Airheads: 1. No heart-wrecking oils, and 2. They’re made from hard candy. That means they dissolve slowly on your tongue, letting you enjoy the sweetness over time and preventing you from feverishly tearing through Airheads. Cool Dum Dum Halloween trick: Wrap each in a white tissue, secure with a small rubber band, and have the kids draw faces on these “ghosts” to hand out to the neighborhood trick or treaters.
Eat This Instead:
Spangler Dum Dum Pops (3)
60 calories, 0 g fat, 11 g sugar
WORST MINIATURE CANDY BARS: Twix Miniatures (3)
150 calories, 7 g fat, 4 g saturated, 15 g sugar
MORE CALORIES THAN TWO FUDGSICLE ORIGINAL FUDGE POPS!
Twix has the worst saturated fat profile of any candy in your kid’s trick-or-treat bag. Think about it like this: Each serving of these bite-sized candies carries 20 percent of the saturated fat you should consume in an entire day. Switch to Tootsie Rolls and you’ll cut your calories by more than half and trim your total fat intake by a whopping 79 percent. (Better yet, treat yourself to some quality dark chocolate. It’s one of 8 Fatty Foods That Actually Make You Skinny and the intense flavor will give you your chocolate fix in fewer calories.)
Eat This Instead:
Tootsie Rolls (3)
70 calories, 1.5 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 9.5 g sugar
WORST CHEWY CANDY: Brach’s Milk Maid Caramels (4)
160 calories, 4.5 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 16 g sugar
MORE CALORIES THAN ½ CUP OF HAAGEN-DAZS CHOCOLATE SORBET!
Doesn’t Milk “Maid” sound a lot like Milk “Made”? But rest assured—they’re not the same. This candy contains a couple milk derivatives (whey and “lipolyzed butter fat”), but it hardly constitutes a dairy product. Plus, 90 percent of the fat is saturated. That’s bad news for your heart. If you enjoy the challenge of fighting chewy candy out of your teeth, switch over to Now and Laters and save more than 100 calories per serving.
Eat This Instead:
Now and Later (4)
53 calories, 0.5 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 10 g sugar
WORST SEASONALLY THEMED CANDY: Reese’s Pumpkin
170 calories, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 16 g sugar
MORE CALORIES AND SUGAR THAN FIVE NABISCO GINGER SNAPS!
This one should send your gimmick radar into the red zone. If it were flavored with pumpkin puree that would be one thing, but it’s not. It’s an oversized peanut butter cup shaped in a pumpkin-like mold. And what price do you pay for such fanciful novelty? Nearly two-thirds more calories than a regular Reese’s peanut butter cup. If you want to create a festive atmosphere, stick with Candy Corn and you’ll save yourself the calorie hangover.
Eat This Instead:
Brach’s Candy Corn (11)
81 calories, 0 g fat, 16 g sugar
WORST MINT CANDY: Junior Mints (1 fun size box)
76.5 calories, 1.35 g fat, 1.13 g saturated fat, 14.4 g sugar
AS MUCH SUGAR AS 3 CHIPS AHOY! CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!
Junior Mints are hard to resist because they’re poppable; you feel like you’re getting a lot because you get to enjoy them over and over until the box is gone. What you’re actually getting more of, though, is calories and sugar. Stick with Charlie Brown’s ambiguously gendered girlfriend, Peppermint Pattie, and cut your calories by a third. (Thirty calories may not seem like a lot, but that’s enough to add more than 3 pounds of flab every year to your fine frame.)
Eat This Instead:
York Peppermint Pattie (1 snack size piece)
60 calories, 1 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 11 g sugar
WORST CRUNCHY CANDY: M&Ms Peanut (1 fun size bag)
90 calories, 5 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 9 g sugar
MORE SUGAR AND CALORIES THAN A CUP OF HONEYCOMB CEREAL!
Wait a minute, you might be saying—aren’t peanuts good for me? Not when they’re wearing a spooky costume of fat and sugar. You can satisfy your desire for chocolately crunch, and save sugar, fat and calories, with the pretzel version. The salty-sweet combo will also make them more satisfying. (If you’re genuinely hungry, turn to one of the 50 Best Snack Foods in America rather than filling up on candy.)
Eat This Instead:
M&Ms Pretzel (1 fun size bag)
60 calories, 2 g fat, 1.2 g saturated fat, 7 g sugar
WORST LOLLIPOP: Blow Pop (1 regular)
70 calories, 0 g fat, 13 g sugar
AS MUCH SUGAR AS 5 CUPS OF KIX CEREAL!
Blow Pops are a pure rush, but not the good kind. If you’re looking for a great seasonal option to handout on Halloween, grab a box of Caramel Apple pops. The combination celebrates the season at less of a caloric cost than a Blow Pop. Plus, we all know the gum is a throw away since the flavor is gone in minutes. The caramel on the outside of these pops make them last longer, keeping you from diving into the rest of your candy stash.
Eat This Instead:
Caramel Apple Pop (1 regular)
60 calories, 0.5 g fat, 10 g sugar
WORST CHEWY FRUITY CANDY: Skittles (fun size package)
60 calories, 0.6 g fat, 0.1 g saturated fat, 11.3 g sugar
MORE SUGAR THAN 3 KEEBLER SANDIES SIMPLY SHORTBREAD COOKIES!
Repeat after me: If it’s your waist you want to whittle, keep your fingers off the Skittles. Sugar, corn syrup and food dye—that’s all you’re getting from a package of Skittles. Starburst cuts the sugar nearly in half by using apple juice concentrate to add extra sweetness and cut down on the corn. (Don’t get us started on food dyes. Red dye comes from one of the 9 Bugs You Don’t Know You’re Eating.)
Eat This Instead:
Starburst (fun size w/ 2 pieces)
40 calories, 0.8 g fat, 0.1 g saturated fat, 6.7 g sugar
WORST PEANUT BUTTER CANDY: Reese’s miniatures (5)
220 calories, 13 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 23 g sugar
AS MANY CALORIES AS TWO CANS OF RED BULL—AND NEARLY SIX SUGAR PACKETS WORTH OF SUGAR!
The American Heart Association says an adult woman should have no more than 25 grams of added sugar a day. Reese’s manages to pack almost that much into one serving of these miniatures. Maybe they should be called “maxiatures”? (Why not ditch the candy altogether and treat yourself to a dessert you’ll actually savor from our list of 10 Restaurant Desserts Under 400 Calories?)
Eat This Instead:
M&Ms Peanut Butter (2 packages)
190 calories, 11 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 17 g sugar
WORST JELLY CANDY: Mike & Ike (1 small box)
80 calories, 0 g fat, 14 g sugar
MORE SUGAR THAN ½ CUP OF TURKEY HILL LIGHT RECIPE MOOSE TRACKS
Tell Mike and Ike to take a hike. Those high-flavor Jelly Belly beans pack a much lower sugar punch.
Eat This Instead:
Jelly Belly Jelly Beans (mini pack)
35 calories, 0 g fat, 7 g sugar
SAVE $$$ AND CALORIES NOW! For the latest food swaps and weight-loss tips, visit the all-new Eat This, Not That! and sign up for our free newsletter full of diet tricks, menu hacks, and easy ways to a healthier, happier you.
More from Eat This, Not That
The 10 Saltiest Foods in America
