Halloween is almost here and it will have your kids trick or treating with both them and you possibly overeating! There are some things that you can do to prepare yourself for this pound-packed holiday. For one, don’t buy your candy until that day and only buy enough to give out and not to pig out. Choose wisely when purchasing candy. Raisins, craisins and small bags of trail mix are excellent candy alternatives. You may also want to buy mini granola bars in bulk at your favorite oversized superstore.
Stay away from sugary candies and ones that are primarily milk chocolate. For example, a Dove dark chocolate miniature and milk chocolate both equal 210 calories, but the dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants. I like to keep Godiva Dark Chocolate Pearls on hand for a quick chocolate fix. One serving which is eight pearls is only 25 calories, 1.5 grams of fat and three grams of carbs. If you must buy the staples, consider Tootsie Rolls, with 12 pieces weighing in at 130 calories. A Hershey Kiss with almonds has 23 calories and two grams of carbs.
If you must buy those miniature, snack size bars keep it to a miniature portion. Each one of them weighs in at approximately 38 calories and five grams of carbs. When you go from miniature to fun or snack size, which is the Halloween staple for many families, the calories definitely go up. One of these sized Snickers bars has about 80 calories and ten grams of carbs. A fun size Kit Kat has 73 calories and nine grams of carbs, while a Milky Way has 75 calories and 12 grams of carbs. Keep your fingers off of those Butterfingers at 100 calories and 13 grams of carbs.
I am not sure why anyone would pass on chocolate for the fruity, sugary candies, but there are some like my little brother whose palate prefers to be a non-chocoholic. He once poured two containers of orange Tic Tacs into his mouth at once. Skittles, which fall into this category have 80 calories and 18 grams of carbs per twenty grams. Two Starburst have 40 calories and ten grams of carbs. The nine gram size of Strawberry Twizzlers have 32 calories and seven grams of carbs.
My advice is to limit the amount of candy both you and your kids get each day. Freeze some of it and take it out only on Sundays as a treat. You may also want to donate or give some of it away.
Joanne Sgro is a Television Fitness Expert, Certified Personal Trainer and Sport Nutritionist. She is Certified in Pilates, Pre-natal/Post-Partum, Yoga and Senior Fitness. She specializes in Weight Loss, Post-Rehab and Post Cancer Training. Joanne's fitness plans and recipes are available globally on her website www.fitnessanswer.com. She resides in the Phoenix, AZ area where she runs her personal training business, Fitness Answer, LLC.