By SmartHealthToday Team
With all of the sugar, extra fat and calories hanging around during the Halloween season, it’s hard to call the holiday “healthy.”
If you’ll be handing out candy and want to have some “healthier” options, we found a couple of ideas.
Health.com recommends buying peanut M&M’s, Reese’s peanut butter cups or Snickers because they contain more protein (thank you, peanuts) and less fat and sugar per serving size.
Often, these Halloween candies come in individually-wrapped, fun-size packages, making it easier to control your portions.
Here are the Halloween candies Health.com suggests you skip altogether:
Gummy bears are not good for braces, and for only a few bears (admit it – no one stops at “a few”), you’re already looking at 10-20 grams of sugar depending on the brand.
Candy corn has the same sugar problem as the gummy bears (and sugary gummy worms). And, no one stops with a few pieces of candy corn – they eat a handful. Or a whole bag. Or two bags. Even though these are lower in fat, they are high in sugar, calories and high fructose corn syrup.
If you’re really ambitious, you can also try making your own vegan candy corn this year. Here’s a recipe from Chocolate-covered Katie’s Healthy Dessert blog:
Vegan Candy Corn
1/4 cup raw cashew butter (or peanut butter if you want pb-flavored candy corn. Who knows… it might be fun!) (58g)
tiny dash salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar or Sugar-Free Powdered Sugar (28g)
Either red and yellow food coloring (you can purchase natural food coloring at Whole Foods), or a tiny pinch turmeric and a few drops beet juice.
Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl until it becomes a crumbly dough. (Note: if your nut butter is from the fridge, let it sit awhile or heat it up so it’s easier to mix.) If dough is too gooey (mine wasn’t), you can add a little extra sugar/sf sugar. Taste the dough and add a little more salt if desired. Now transfer the crumbles to a plastic bag and smush very hard into a ball. Remove from the bag and form three little balls, then add a few drops yellow food coloring or the turmeric to one ball and knead until it’s all one color. Do the same with the red.
Roll balls into skinny strips—the skinnier the strips, the smaller the resulting candy corns, and press strips together. Cut into triangles or other shapes. These aren’t supposed to taste exactly like store-bought candy corn; they’re yummy in their own right. You can store in the fridge, but my roommate — the candy nut— says they taste best straight from the freezer. Or you can even bake them: 350 F for 3-5 minutes, then allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tray.
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