What Do You Get For Your Halloween Candy Calories?

As a trainer, the last thing I want to tell everyone is that if they eat any Halloween candy at all, they won’t be healthy. The road to fitness and good health just isn’t a zero-sum game like that. It requires gradual changes and shifts in behavior, not unbreakable rules. Being healthy doesn’t require you to eschew all candy forever and ever–it’s about finding balance, and not engaging in binge-eating behavior. Most of life is lived in the gray zones between perfect eating and terrible habits, and its up to you to try to move that needle slowly towards a healthier you. As Nicole Hallberg wrote in her diary post, calorie counting can lead to frustration and giving up if done too strictly.

To help you make an informed decision, let’s take a look at some of the most popular treats, and see how the Halloween candy calories stack up against other foods. Here is a handy guide from Consumer Reports that shows you what it takes to get to 100 calories in all of your favorite Halloween snacks:

100 Calories of Halloween Candy

100 Calories of Healthy Snacks

Now, to compare, all of the snacks listed below are also 100 calories from the list “100-Calorie Snacks That Actually Keep You Full and Satisfied” found on Greatest.

1. Pumpkin Yogurt

Combine 1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek Yogurt with 1/4 cup pumpkin purée. Sweeten with stevia, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, and pumpkin pie spice blend (or cinnamon). Pumpkin is a low fat way to increase this snack’s fiber and flavor profile.

2. DIY Chunky Apple Sauce

Dice up half a tennis-ball sized apple and add it to 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce. (So much apple!) You’ll get the spoonability of apple sauce, but with an added fresh crunch—not like that store-bought mushy stuff. Sprinkle with some cinnamon for an extra flavor kick.

3. Cottage Cheese and Cantaloupe

Top 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese with 1/2 cup of diced cantaloupe. That 1/2 cup of cantaloupe delivers 50 percent of the daily recommended values of vitamins A and C—two vitamins that may help promote clear skin.

4. Egg Whites and Toast

Toast one slice whole-wheat bread and top with two scrambled egg whites. Sprinkle with a dash of pepper and paprika.

5. Red Pepper and Goat Cheese

Slice up one medium red pepper and enjoy with 2 tablespoons soft goat cheese. Goat cheese is tangy and flavorful, has about one third fewer calories and one third the fat per ounce compared to cow’s milk cheese.

Balance is Key

Remember, the aim is not to purge Halloween candy calories from your diet, it’s to manage those calories so that your diet has balance. Eating healthy shouldn’t have to mean skipping out on fun traditions like Halloween. As you go through the day, try to keep your snacking limited to 100 calories of sugary snacks at a time, and intersperse them with healthier options. Happy Halloween!

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