Almost every single one of us will have some type of Halloween treat this season. Some much more than others, but even if you are determined to stick with your diet plan for muscle building or fat loss, if you choose wisely, you can give in without too much damage.
The key is portion control and then understanding which types of candy will be your best options in terms of overall nutrition as well as the calorie content they provide.
Let's go through a quick run-down on the various types of Halloween candy that are available so you can see which are diet-friendly and which should scare you away.
Halloween Candy
Mini Reese's Pieces
Chocolate-addicts will love this time of the year as they can get their favorite type of chocolate bars in conveniently size-reduced packages making calorie control that much easier. That is, if you can stick to just one.
Many people who always find they have a craving for chocolate bars will purchase extra bars at Halloween and store them in the freezer to take out periodically throughout the year to kill a craving. This is a good idea if you are able to have one and stop there, but if you're someone who tends to eat until the food is out of the house, this is one technique you'll want to stay away from.
Nevertheless, one of the top choices to kill your chocolate craving is Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, which come in at only 80 calories for two, or 40 calories each.
A Snickers bar is another decent choice with a pint-sized bar containing 90 calories. As an added benefit you'll also get nuts in the Snickers bar which is a healthy source of dietary fat.
Tootsie Pops
If you're the hard candy type, a Tootsie Pop is a smart low cal choice as each fruit-flavored lollypop contains just 60 calories and is fat free.
On one hand though, if you're deciding between a chocolate based candy or one that's made up of 100% sugar, you may want to lean towards the chocolate-based option.
The primary reason being that the fat content will help to slow down the digestion process, making it less likely that you get that rebound sugar crash from a very large dose of sugar at once. Chocolate candy, while also high in sugar, is slightly more balanced than their 100% sugar-filled counterparts.
If your main objective is to keep calories down though, then these are a perfect treat to do so. As an added advantage hard candy takes longer to eat, so you'll consume fewer calories over time than soft candies, which you can easily down in a minute.
If instead of a Tootsie Pop you decide to go for a Tootsie Roll, it'll be an even lighter choice coming in at only 13 calories.
Gummy Bears
If hard candy won't do, one soft candy that's a hot choice for Halloween and slightly lower in calories due to its size is gummy bears.
Each gummy bear will contain just ten calories, while most gummy candies range from 15-20. Again with this though, if you eat just as much raw weight of gummy bears as you would another candy, then you'll be no further ahead. Gummy Bears, being 100% sugar, are also entirely fat free.
The yellow, orange, and white candy corn that is the true emblem of the season is another lower calorie option, piece-for-piece, as each candy corn piece will contain just five calories.
Twizzlers
Twizzlers are another lighter option on Halloween. One treat-sized package of these hollow sticks contains just 45 calories and again will be entirely fat free.
Many adults prefer the taste of liquorice over other gummy candies such as Cherry Blasters, Gummy Bears, or Peaches, making this a popular and smart option.
More Candies Calories
- Candy Corn: 100
- Brachs Caramels: 80
- Hershey's Kisses: 25 each
- Mini tootsie roll: 13
- Fun size M&M package: 90
- Reeces Pieces Cups: 40 each
- Mini snickers: 70
- Tootsie Pop: 60
- 10 gummie bears: 60
- Fun Size Musketeer: 70
- Fun Size Almond Joy: 100
- Twizzlers: 45
- Fun size Milky way: 75
- Fun size Butterfinger: 100
- Fun size Kit Kat: 52
- Skittles (small pk): 80
- Fun size M&M peanuts: 110
- Mini York peppermint Patties: 53
Conclusion
So this coming Halloween, make your choices wisely. If there are a few particular treats that you always find yourself craving, set a limit that you will have one or two of these and then be done with it.
If you can keep the total volume of candy you eat down, chances are you'll only take in an additional 300-400 calories over the course of the night (equivalent to 4-8 candy pieces depending on choice), which is easily accommodated by most diets.