This Halloween, it might be tempting to munch on all that candy. Word to the wise, it might be worth thinking about what being put in your body.
Top five healthiest chocolate bars (according to livestrong.com.)
York Peppermint Patties – Just 140 calories each with only 2.5 grams of fat. There are no trans fats, and the small size stops you from over-indulging.
M&M Minis – Only 150 calories, and seven grams of fat per tube. Still better than traditional candy bars filled with caramel and fudge.
Lindt Chocolate Bars – Not only decently priced, this bar has a healthy dose of cocoa to give you those antioxidants. A 250 calorie serving is four squares with 12 grams of sugar and three grams of dietary fibre, so two squares makes a relatively healthy chocolate fix.
Dove Silky Smooth Bar – Only 190 calories and 12 grams of fat (six unsaturated), the almonds in the bar provide healthy monosaturated fat and decreases the bar’s sugar content.
Hershey’s Special Dark – With a higher sugar concentration, this one comes in last. However, 195 calories with 12.5 grams of fat per serving isn’t too bad.
To give you an idea, 200 calories in food is about half a burger, six slices of honeydew, a plate of baby carrots, or three heads of broccoli, according to dose.com.
Other tasty treats (according to sugarstacks.com.)
Reese Cups
Surprisingly, a traditional candy bar like Reese’s has less sugar than most. In one two-piece package (42 g), the sugar content is 20 grams. Total calories are 230 however, only 80 of those come from sugar.
To avoid:
Skittles – Also popular during Halloween, a regular bag of Skittles (2.6 oz) has 47 grams of sugar. Total calories are 250, with 188 coming from the sugar.
Starburst Fruit Chews – One package has a total of 34 grams of sugar out of the 59 gram pack. With a total of 240 calories, 188 of them come from sugar. That’s almost one sugar cube a piece.
Feeling guilty?
Here are a few ways to burn off those extra calories (according to health.com.):
- Have a 37-minute dance party
- Weightlift for an hour
- Rearrange your furniture for 30 minutes
- Play a game of darts for one hour and 10 minutes
- Buy groceries (pushing cart for 45 minutes = 117 calories burned, bringing them up the steps = 43 calories, put them away = 40 calories in 14 minutes)
- Friendly game of badminton (40 minutes)
- An hour of charades
- Watch favourite Glee episode (Singing along burns 136 cal/hour, and 20 minutes of laugher burns 67)
- Play a two-hour game of Scrabble
- Play an hour game of mini golf
- Do some yoga: 25 minutes of standing poses, like the Triangle pose, burns about 200 calories
- Wash your car (40 mins)
- Give your significant other a 42-minute massage (make sure you get one in return)