With Halloween coming up, there’s candy everywhere. It can be easy to go overboard on the sweets, but nutritionists say there are ways to indulge and keep your health in check.
With around 600 million pounds of Halloween candy bought each year, registered dietitian Sara Scheler says some treats are more nutritious than others.
Scheler says she recommends Reese’s over Snickers.
“I prefer them because they have simple ingredients,” said Scheler. “There’s really just sugar, a little bit of fat, chocolate and peanuts, where Snickers has a much longer label and corn syrup as well.”
What about M&Ms vs. KitKats?
“I would pick KitKats over M&Ms. I don’t like M&Ms because they have all that artificial color along with them and they do have a lot more concentrated sugar.”
SweetTarts or Nerds?
“So SweetTarts are my pick over Nerds because Nerds have a slightly larger serving size even though that box is really tiny, it still has more candy in it.”
Twix or Milk Way?
“Between Twix and Milk Way, I would actually say that’s a tie. They have similar amount of calories, similar amounts of added sugar.”
If you plan on indulging in a few pieces of candy over the next few weeks, Scheler also suggests eating them at a certain time.
“It’s best to eat sugar, especially processed sugar, with a meal, so that our blood glucose level doesn’t spike as high. So, I would recommend having candy with your meal, right after your meal, or in between meals,” said Scheler.
Scheler also suggests sticking to only a few pieces of fun size candy.
