Best and Worst Halloween Candies
With many places trying to get back to normal, your area might be trick or treating again. Since it’s coming up at that time of year, we wanted to share with you some of the best and worst Halloween candies for your kids.
Taking care of their immune systems while COVID-19 is still a very real threat to their health, makes it important when deciding what kind of foods you’re allowing them to eat. Candy can be one of those foods that pose a threat to your child’s health.
Why Candy Choices are Important
High levels of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fat, food dye, and other additives can affect the immune system. High quantities of these unhealthy products can cause inflammation in the body kicking on the immune system. If the body is busy fighting off high levels of sugar and other candy additives, it’ll struggle when it comes into contact with a real threat like bacterial or viral infections.
Talking with your kids about what is inside of these foods can help them to understand why it’s important for them to be mindful when eating them. Take the time to sit down and show them the different ingredients and nutritional facts on the packaging. The earlier you start teaching your child about nutrition, the better their long-term health can be. This is important with the rising obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease rates.
Teach your children to opt for candies that contain nuts, dried fruits, and high levels of dark cocoa (70%+ is optimal). These foods can provide them with antioxidants, polyphenols, fiber, protein, and other great nutrients that can actually help their bodies rather than harm them.
Also, a quick side note if you’re handing out candies this year instead of trick-or-treating, studies have shown that children are just as likely to grab small toys even when candy options are present. Grabbing a bag of small toys at the dollar store might be a way for you to help kids make healthier choices this year for Halloween.
So without further delay, let’s get down to the lists of best and worst Halloween candies. Starting with…
10 of the Least Healthy Halloween Candy Options
The worst candy options are going to be high in additives, sugars, and fats and devoid of really any nutritional value.
1. Gummies and Sour Candies
Gummy worms (or bears), sour patch kids, sour watermelons, and any other candies like these are pretty much just sacks of sugar, dyes, and additives. They don’t offer any nutritional value whatsoever and really just add more fat to your diet than you should have.
2. Jaw Breakers
Since jawbreakers stay in your mouth for so long they have the potential to erode your teeth. They’ve been shown to lower the pH of your saliva which has drastic effects on your teeth and digestive system.
3. White Chocolate
White chocolate isn’t chocolate at all. It’s essentially fat and oil mixed together to create that chocolate texture. Chocolate has cocoa powder in it to give it some sort of health benefits, but the white version has zero nutritional value. So white chocolate Kit Kats, M&Ms, or truffles should be off the table when looking for healthy chocolate options.
4. Candy Corn
Candy corn is another candy that has zero nutritional value. Lots of sugar, oils, and additives create these little staples of the Halloween season. Whether you love or hate them, there’s no denying their status as an unhealthy Halloween candy.
5. Reese’s Cups
Reese’s cups are some of the secret unhealthy candies. We think they might be a little bit healthy with their peanut butter puree filling. However, the filling has a very little nut and a whole lot of sugar.
6. Twizzler’s
While they’re marketed as a ‘low fat’ snack, Twizzler’s can be a true Halloween nightmare. The ingredients being white flour, sugar, and corn starch make them extremely unhealthy candy options for you and your kid.
7. Sweetarts
High in calories, fat, and sugar and with no nutritional content, Sweetarts are one of the worst candies you can let your kids eat.
8. Milky Way
Really any candy with milk chocolate, caramel, and nougat isn’t going to be a healthy option. Caramel is straight sugar on top of the rest of the sugar, fats, and oils in a Milky Way bar.
9. Butterfinger
Butterfingers are one of the highest in sugar and fat making them one of the worst chocolate bars you can get.
10. Nestle Crunch Bar
Crisped rice and milk chocolate make for an unhealthy candy bar. The crisped rice is made by “popping” the rice in oil. This is an extra oily, sugary candy bar, that you should try to avoid this Halloween.
And now for…
10 of the Healthiest Halloween Candy Options
The healthiest options will contain nuts (not a fake peanut butter sugar filling), fruits, or dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.
1. Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate
Any dark chocolate candies are going to be the best bet when trying to stay on the healthy train. The darker the chocolate the more benefits it will provide.
2. Dum Dum Lollipops
Dum Dum lollipops are some of the best lollipops since they’re small and don’t have any fillings inside them to add to the sugar. Lollipops are great in a general way since they take longer to eat so they can satisfy your candy craving faster than other options.
3. Mr. Goodbar
Mr. Goodbars are great because they have actual peanuts which makes them superior to candies like Reese’s. The protein from the real peanuts helps to keep you feeling full and satisfied after eating the candies as opposed to peanut-less options.
Studies have shown that peanuts are a superior snack since they have less sugar than other snack options which helps avoid disease.
4. Caramel Apple Lollipops
Caramel apple lollipops are created by using heavy cream and skim milk which helps to avoid the excess sugar that most candies contain.
5. York Peppermint Patties
If you like mint chocolate candies, York’s Peppermint patties are the way to go. Compared to other options like Junior Mints they have much fewer calories.
6. Peanut M&Ms
Peanut M&Ms are better than regular M&Ms since they give you the protein from the peanuts. There’s slightly less off the milk chocolate to lower your sugar intake too.
7. M&M Minis
M&M minis are also better than their regular-sized counterparts since they’re packaged for the perfect serving amount. That means fewer calories and fat.
8. Almond Joy
Almond Joys are good because they have coconut and almonds providing some healthy fats to the unhealthy ones along with protein. Just don’t go too overboard since they do have a lot of unhealthy fats too.
9. Mounds Bars
Mounds Bars may not bring almonds to the table the way Almond Joys do, but the dark chocolate makes it just as healthy of an option.
10. Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
Jelly Belly is a company that uses real juice to flavor its products. This makes them the better choice if jelly beans are a favorite in your house. Jelly Belly also makes nice small packaged options for a small dose of sweetness without the chance to overeat.
All candies will have high quantities of sugar and fats in them, but if you eat them in moderation they won’t have as harmful effects on your children’s (or your) health. Let us know what your favorite candy is during Halloween in the comments below. Do you see it on this list, and if you did, is it good or bad news for you?