This time of year, when there are ghosts and goblins are trick-or-treating, the sugar monster is hiding everywhere.
Whether you are at home surrounded by your kids’ collection of candy or at the office trying to avoid seasonal treats, sugary snacks are ever-present around Halloween.
While your favorite treat might taste great, it’s probably not worth the sugar it contains, especially if you’re working on getting healthier by embracing a low-sugar lifestyle.
One way to avoid temptation is to arm yourself with knowledge. Knowing how much sugar your favorite candy contains can help you say no.
The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 25 grams of added sugar a day and men consume no more than 38 grams.
If you read the nutritional label of common Halloween candies, you’ll realize that you can hit that limit very quickly. Here’s how much sugar candy really contains: Full-sized Candies
- Almond Joy: 20 grams
- Candy Corn: 28 grams in an 11-ounce serving (one pack)
- Kit Kat: 21 grams
- Milk-chocolate M&Ms: 30 grams
- Dark-chocolate Peanut M&Ms: 20 grams
- Peanut M&Ms : 25 grams
- Milky Way: 31 grams
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (one cup): 11 grams
- Reese’s Pieces: 21 grams in 51 pieces
- Snickers: 27 grams
- Sour Patch Kids: 24 grams
- Starburst: 22 grams in eight pieces
- Three Musketeers: 36 grams
- Twizzlers: 19 grams in two pieces
Mini Portions (Fun-size) Common Around Halloween
- Almond Joy: 8 grams
- Butterfinger: 8.5 grams
- Hershey’s Kisses: 2.5 grams in one Kiss
- Hershey’s Special Dark Miniature: 4 grams
- Kit Kat: 7 grams
- M&Ms: 10 grams
- Milky Way: 10.5 grams
- Nerds: 12 grams
- Skittles: 11 grams
- Smarties: 6 grams per roll
- Snickers: 9 grams
- Three Musketeers: 10 grams
- Tootsie Pop: 11 grams per pop
- Tootsie Rolls: 17 grams in 6 mini rolls (that’s 3.4 g per mini roll)
- Twix: 8 grams
As you can see, it’s easy to exceed your recommended daily sugar intake with candy bars.
This Halloween season, make informed decisions rather than mindlessly snacking.
Although some candies claim to be healthier because they are sugar-free, artificial sugars can still trigger more sugar cravings.
If you really need a treat, have a piece of 85% cacao dark chocolate, which has just over one gram of sugar per square, then use a Sweet Defeat to stop yourself from eating more!
