Halloween used to be a night of Twix, M&M’s, and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups galore for me. The worse the candy was for me, the more likely I was to eat it. I wouldn’t even look at Twizzlers or Dum Dum Pops. Ok, I lied. I’d look at them, and THEN try and trade them for some Peppermint Patties or Snickers. Now that I’m a little older and a whole lot wiser, I’m more concerned about things like fat content, rotting teeth, and calories. That’s not to say I won’t still go for the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, but I also make sure I DON’T just eat lots of chocolaty goodness. Here are some comparisons between non-healthy candy and healthier alternatives.



Chocolate

For every Snickers bar (271 calories) you have; you can have two Twix Peanut Butter Bars (280 calories) for almost the same calories. Bart Simpson should probably lay off the Butterfingers, because one bar has 270 calories. Anything with caramel, peanut butter, or nuts will pack on the calories, so, it would be wise to choose a candy bar that doesn’t have any of that stuff. A better option is to go for something healthier, like two Hershey Kisses or two Tootsie Rolls (50 calories each). Four Tootsie Rolls or four Hershey Kisses will still be fewer calories than all three of the non-healthy choices.

Fun Sized

By swapping a fun-sized Milky Way bar (65 calories) with one that is regular size (260), you can save nearly 200 hundred calories! I don’t know about you, but saving nearly 200 calories is a much better way to enjoy your cake and eat it, too.



Fruit Flavors

Jelly beans or Skittles are a great way to get your “fruit requirement” for the day. But how do the two compare? Ten jelly beans only have 41 calories while a regular sized bag of skittles (250 calories) will add an extra 200 calories. Starburst are also a great option because they only have 20 calories per piece.

Lollipops

You don’t have to be a “sucker” this Halloween for choosing Dum Dum or Tootsie Roll Pops over Kit Kats. A Dum Dum pop has only 20 calories and a Tootsie Pop has 60 calories. An added bonus is that they lost longer.

So, while all of the other people are going for the calorie laden candy choices, you can still get your candy fix, but just in a healthier way. Halloween should still be filled with sugary goodness, but there should be more goodness than unhealthiness.