Halloween is the one day of the year that I allow my daughter to go hog wild when it comes to candy consumption. After watching her schlep ten blocks to gather 100 pounds of treats she ought to be able to choose whatever piece of sugary goodness she desires, regardless of whether I think her choice is disgustingly gross.
Cough, cough… Laffy Taffy… ahem, cough… Circus Peanuts… ahem, cough, cough… Wax Bottle candy.
I examine her trick-or-treat loot for broken packaging and stray needles, but I certainly don’t waste time reading the nutrition labels on each piece of candy before allowing her to devour it.
Don’t tell David Zinczenko, the infamous “Eat This, Not That” guy from Men’s Health magazine, who also makes regular appearance on the “Today Show.” The guy has good intentions, but I tell you he is a candy Nazi around in the weeks before Halloween.
Recently, he unveiled his list of the 5 Worst Halloween Candies. And by worst he means nutritionally bad, not bad tasting.
In fact, his list actually features some of my daughter’s favorite candy.
Each parent deals with their child’s Halloween candy consumption on their own terms. If you worry about whether the candy your son or daughter is chowing down on is going to build strong bones and muscles, you might want to reconsider the idea behind trick-or-treating… or you could simply eliminate the candies listed below courtesy of Zinczenko’s Men’s Health article:
Worst “Fun Size” Candy Bar: Butterfinger
Zinczenko says, “There’s no quicker way to swallow 100 calories.”
100 calories
4 g fat (2 g saturated)
10 g sugars
Worst Fruity Candy: Brach’s Airheads
According to Zinczenko, they’re made of excessive amounts of sugar, artificial flavors and colors, fillers, and trans fat.
140 calories
1.5 g fat (1 g saturated)
19 g sugars
Worst Miniature Candy Bars: Twix Miniatures
According to Zinczenko, just one of these candies has 10% of the saturated fat recommended for an entire day.
150 calories
8 g fat (6 g saturated)
15 g sugars
Worst Chewy Candy: Brach’s Milk Maid Caramels
They kill your teeth!
160 calories
4.5 g fat (3.5 g saturated)
16 g sugars
Worst Novelty Candy: Reese’s Pumpkin
Zinczenko says the pumpkin shape version has nearly 2/3 more calories than a traditional Reese’s peanut butter cup.
170 calories
10 g fat (3 g saturated)
16 g sugars
What do you make of Zinczenko’s list?
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