For Halloween Treats - Don't Be Tricked!
Who doesn't love a holiday where you get to dress up and get free candy? As a nutritionist, I think candy definitely has a place in the food supply - when looked at as a fun treat in controlled portions. In other words, a little goes a long way. There are some surprising "candy facts" that I'd like to share with you. That's the topic of my Today Show segment.
Watch the segment from TODAY
Candy is made of one or two ingredients - either sugar alone or a mix of sugar and fat. That's it. So, how much caloric damage can candy do? Plenty, if you look at these numbers:
A small plastic pumpkin filled to the top contains about 5600 calories. That's equivalent to 3/4 cup of oil and 4 cups of sugar! It's the size a young elementary schooler might carry. Older kids go to the linen closet and look for one of Mom's pillow cases. That pillow case our children are lugging around - even filled up half way - contains a whopping 22,400 calories. That's about 3 cups of oil and 16 cups of sugar.
Now you understand why I am an advocate of downsizing candy bars, and firm portion control.
Here are a few of my top tips for a fun Halloween - that both you and your kids can enjoy, without a candy overload:
1. Think small, so you can eat the whole thing. A "fun size" candy bar is a good choice. Most weigh in at around 80-100 calories per piece. Set the limit at 2 (or 3, if they're bite size).
2. Read the labels. Don't assume a non-chocolate candy, like licorice, is a lower calorie choice than chocolate. In fact, a regular size pack of red licorice has the same calories as a full size pack of M&Ms (240 cal).
3. Buy candy that's fun to play with, but much less interesting to finish. Candy necklaces and bracelets, PEZ, ring pops, or lollypop whistles are all things that kids start eating and then turn into more of a playtoy.
4. Skip the sugar free candy, unless you are a diabetic and can't consume table sugar (sucrose). "Sugar Free" candy is not calorie free and has about the same calories are regular candy. It is just made with another kind of sugar (sugar alcohols, like sorbitol), which is digested differently by the body. The packages all say "not a low calorie food" but many people are not reading the package closely.
5. Try something new if you do not want to give out candy. Try small bottles of water (kids are always thirsty and sweating a lot under their costumes). Individual bags of pretzels or chips are also popular. A word of caution - most granola bars and processed "fruit" products are not nutritionally superior to candy.
What are some of your own Halloween favorites? Leave a comment below.
Happy Halloween to All!!
Related from iVillage:
A small plastic pumpkin filled to the top contains about 5600 calories. That's equivalent to 3/4 cup of oil and 4 cups of sugar! It's the size a young elementary schooler might carry. Older kids go to the linen closet and look for one of Mom's pillow cases. That pillow case our children are lugging around - even filled up half way - contains a whopping 22,400 calories. That's about 3 cups of oil and 16 cups of sugar.Now you understand why I am an advocate of downsizing candy bars, and firm portion control.
Here are a few of my top tips for a fun Halloween - that both you and your kids can enjoy, without a candy overload:
1. Think small, so you can eat the whole thing. A "fun size" candy bar is a good choice. Most weigh in at around 80-100 calories per piece. Set the limit at 2 (or 3, if they're bite size).
2. Read the labels. Don't assume a non-chocolate candy, like licorice, is a lower calorie choice than chocolate. In fact, a regular size pack of red licorice has the same calories as a full size pack of M&Ms (240 cal).
3. Buy candy that's fun to play with, but much less interesting to finish. Candy necklaces and bracelets, PEZ, ring pops, or lollypop whistles are all things that kids start eating and then turn into more of a playtoy.
4. Skip the sugar free candy, unless you are a diabetic and can't consume table sugar (sucrose). "Sugar Free" candy is not calorie free and has about the same calories are regular candy. It is just made with another kind of sugar (sugar alcohols, like sorbitol), which is digested differently by the body. The packages all say "not a low calorie food" but many people are not reading the package closely.
5. Try something new if you do not want to give out candy. Try small bottles of water (kids are always thirsty and sweating a lot under their costumes). Individual bags of pretzels or chips are also popular. A word of caution - most granola bars and processed "fruit" products are not nutritionally superior to candy.
What are some of your own Halloween favorites? Leave a comment below.
Happy Halloween to All!!
Related from iVillage:
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: For Halloween Treats - Don't Be Tricked!.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://madelynfernstrom.ivillage.com/system/mt-tb.cgi/36524
After my daughter's first halloween, we had so much candy. I put it in the big candy jar and there is sat. Then at Christmas we decided to make our first Gingerbread House. All that left over candy made great house decorations. We removed the Halloween Wrappers and went to town. It is now a family tradition. We are not in any way ready for a contest, but we have fun and use the leftovers - saving money and the calories...
The last time my family celebrated Halloween, I was 3 years old and in a Miss Piggy outfit. If you want to skip the candy, but make a family fun night, get a pumpkin, have the kids help make the shape to draw on the outside, have dad carve it out, and clean the seeds and mom can bake the seeds. We used to do this when I was a kid. Listening to early Michael Jackson and eating home-made pumpkin seeds with my parents is one of my fondest childhood memories!
my mom used to put the chocolates in a freezer and we'd get one or 2 per day for months.... and the non chocolates in a cookie jar, and the same thing, dole it out and see how long it could last.
we also used to make all of our own costumes. That was the most fun.