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3 Tips To Avoid Pre-Halloween Sugar Overload

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Halloween conjures up images of ghosts, ghouls, witches – and candy corn, tootsie rolls, snickers, and kit-kats.  The Halloween costumes vary depending on what’s trendy – and the Halloween candy varies depending on what’s on sale, what you buy, what you like or dislike, and what makes it’s way into the house in trick or treat bags.

Halloween happens.  Trick or treating happens.  Candy is around – everywhere.  You’re probably going to eat some candy.  So, make a plan for when and how much.  If it’s one day of candy it’s no big deal – but, days and weeks worth of candy can definitely be a big and weighty deal.

But – you don’t have to attack the bags full of your favorite sweet stuff in the days and weeks leading up to Halloween.  You know the scenario – you bought those big bags because they were such a good price – and then you end up having to buy more candy to give to trick or treaters because the candy you bought at such a bargain price has been devoured.

Three Tips To Avoid Eating Candy Before Halloween

  1. Don’t buy candy ahead of time.  It’s so darn easy to be swayed by the monster sized bags of midget candy bars or sweet tarts, or M&Ms, or tootsie roll pops.  The bags are priced to sell and practically jump off the shelves at you as you walk down the aisles in the grocery store or drug store.  The retailers are just itching to sell you candy nice and early so you have to come back for a repeat buying performance.
  2. When you buy candy – even if it’s the day before or the day of Halloween, buy candy you hate – or at least dislike.  Very simply – if you don’t like it, there’s less of a chance you’ll eat it.  It doesn’t mean that you won’t eat it – just that it’s less likely that you will — and if you do, maybe it won’t be the whole bag.
  3. If the candy does make its way into your house or your workplace – get it out of your sightline.  It’s very simple:  if you see it you eat it.  And, we’re lazy – so the more energy you need to use to get to the candy, the less likely you are to do it.  So, hide it in the back of the top shelf of the cabinet, or in the freezer, or in the basement, or in the garage.  Be creative – just don’t forget where you’ve hidden it so that you have to buy more and then, months later, you find old Halloween candy when you’re cleaning out some random closet.

For more tips and strategies on handling holiday eating from Halloween right through Valentine’s Day be sure to read my new book, The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide: How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, coming soon to Kindle and Kindle readers.

Do You Swipe Candy From Your Kid’s Trick Or Treat Bag?

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If you do, you can start shedding your guilt because you’re certainly not alone.

Let’s put it another way:  Is it almost a foregone conclusion that there’s Halloween candy in your future?

The candy assault on your senses is pretty hard to escape.   It’s everywhere in glowing Technicolor on shelf after shelf in big box stores, supermarkets, and drug stores.  It’s on desks, in restaurants, and even on the receptionist’s desk in my veterinarian’s office in a nice purple bowl with a dog bone painted on the side.

How Much Candy?

Halloween and the week afterward accounts for about 5% of all candy consumed for the year. The most popular types, in order, are:  chocolate, chewy candies and hard candy.

What’s In Your Kid’s Trick or Treat Bag?

If you’ve ever swiped candy from your kid’s trick or treat bag, you’re certainly not alone. According to the National Confectioners Association, 90% of parents confess they occasionally dip into their kid’s stash. I know I sure did.

Parents don’t just sample; they invade their kids’ Trick or Treat bags.  Estimates are that they eat one candy bar out of every two a child brings home.  Their favorite targets are snack-sized chocolate bars (70%), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40%), caramels (37%) and gum (26%).

In Case You Want To Pick The Least Caloric Candy . . .

Here are the calories in some popular Halloween candy – just in case you might want to minimize the caloric damage (no, that’s not a joke, candy has a big calorie and fat gram range)

  • Hershey’s Milk Chocolate: snack size .49-ounce bar; 67 calories; 4g fat
  • Snickers: Fun size; 80 calories; 4g fat
  • Tootsie Rolls: 6 midgee pieces; 140 calories; 3g fat
  •  Skittles Original Bite Size Candies: Fun size bag; 60 calories; 0.7 g fat
  • M&Ms: Fun size bag; 73 calories; 3g fat
  • Butterfinger: Fun size; 85 calories; 3.5g fat
  • Tootsie Roll Pop
: 60 calories; 0g fat
  • Starburst Original Fruit Chews: 2 pieces; 40 calories: 40; 0.8g fat
  • Brach’s Candy Corn: 20 pieces; 150 calories; 0g fat
  •  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup:  Fun size; 80 calories, 4.5g fat
  • Peppermint Pattie:  Fun size; 47 calories; 1g fat
  •  Kit Kat:  Fun size; 73 calories; 3.7g fat

 

What Do You Eat On A Road Trip?

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Have you noticed that a lot of renovated gas stations now have mini-marts or convenience stores with clean(er) bathrooms and coffee that comes regular or decaf but also dark velvet, hazelnut, and vanilla?

Are Gas Stations The New Convenience Stores?

Convenience stores sell about 80& of the gasoline purchased in the United States each year.

Many gas stations now view gas as a loss leader – a sale they’re willing to take a loss on or only make a very small profit.  They want to lure people into their mini-mart or full-fledged convenience store to shop.

Most stations don’t want to — or can’t — cut gas prices and there isn’t much they can do to jack up demand. In general, people are driving less gas stations need something to woo their competitors’ customers – so they use food.

Some station owners say they make more on a cup of coffee than on gas.  They advertise their convenience marts and other services – a gas station near my house has a dry cleaner drop-off — and work to build a base of customers who, although they could get gas anywhere, choose to buy it where they know there’s an open pump and clean bathrooms.

Road Trip Food Stops

If you’re planning a road trip you’ll most likely stop for a snack or a meal along the way.  With the proliferation of service stations or rest stops with incorporated mini-marts you probably don’t even need to leave the major roads to find a place to eat.  But, can you get something decent to eat?

Walk into most of the rest stop mini-marts and you’re assaulted by an array of vending machines, candy racks, franks on rotating grills and pre-wrapped sandwiches, donuts, coffee, and every bottled drink under the sun. You’re a captive consumer and after driving for some time you’re probably want something to:

  • Keep you energized and awake
  • Help with the boredom
  • Reward you for endless hours of driving (especially if you have complaining or fighting kids with you)
  • Perhaps bring back memories of summer road trip food you had when you were a kid (as a parent I can admit that you often give in and buy all kinds of stuff for your kids because they’re driving you crazy)

The Trap And The Danger

An endless stream of high carb, high fat, high calorie, and processed food is just begging you to plunk down your money so you can immediately indulge (watch how many people start eating the food they’ve bought before they even pay) or to take with you (in case there’s a famine around the next turn).

The real danger – aside from the damage to your waistline – is that high-carb processed foods spike then crash your blood sugar —making you really tired and cranky.

  • Drowsy drivers are most definitely not safe drivers.
  • Cranky drivers make life miserable for everyone in the car – not a great tone to set if you’re going on vacation.

Candy

Candy is an impulse purchase in convenience stores — 49% of shoppers say that their candy purchases were unplanned. Candy sales are steady,  generating a high margin (typically 35-40%). People will always want to treat themselves and candy is an affordable luxury.

Candy sold in convenience stores accounts for approximately 15% of all candy sold at the retail level. Chocolate bars are the winner followed by gum; bagged, repacked peg candy; candy rolls; mints and drops; non-chocolate bars; and novelties/seasonal candy.

Check out the placement of candy the next time you’re in a mini-mart or convenience store.  It’s positioned to grab your attention. It’s vividly colored wrappers reach out to you from high-traffic areas of the store: the checkout area, in the aisle that leads to the check out, and near or on the way to the cold cases holding the drinks.

Coffee

According to the National Coffee Association, more than three out of four adult Americans say that they drink coffee either daily or regularly and convenience stores are one of their preferred destinations with people stopping to buy coffee more than they fill up their cars.

Industry data show that about 95% of all convenience stores sell coffee — about 78% of hot beverage sales. The second best seller is specialty coffee and cappuccino – about 13% of hot beverages.

Unlike candy, coffee isn’t an impulse purchase.  Nearly 96% of customers intend to buy a cup of coffee before they walk in. The average visit is about two minutes so it makes putting other impulse-buy merchandise — like candy, baked goods, and chips — near the coffee bar as a way for the store to get you to spend more money. Some retailers find that people who typically purchase coffee will also buy bottled water; a grab-and-go breakfast item; or a packaged snack like an energy, protein, or granola bar.

Some Ideas About What To Buy And What To Eat

Before you go into the mini-mart at least have your own mental list of some good, better, and best choices of food to buy.  The danger is that the candy, chips, fries, and donuts call your name the minute you walk in the door.  If you know that you’re going to head straight for the nuts, or popcorn, or even a pre-wrapped sandwich, that’s great, as long as the giant chocolate chip cookie and the bargain 32 ounce soda for 99 cents doesn’t grab you first. Try to decide what you’re going to buy (hopefully, a good choice) before you go in – and then stick to your decision.

Some Choices To Think About

  • Go for the nuts. Some stations have fruit (oranges and bananas come in their own wrapper and don’t have to be washed) and almost all have dried fruit — balance the sugar with the fat and protein in the nuts.
  • Sometimes you can find individual bowls of Cheerios or whole grain cereals. Grab a little container of non-fat/low-fat milk or a container of yogurt.
  • Popcorn is a great choice and some stations stock fat-free soy crisps, and Kashi products.
  • Protein bars can be good, better, and best. Check the labels for higher protein and lower sugar.  Some can be the equivalent of a candy bar.
  • If you’re really hungry choose a sandwich or burrito over donuts, cookies, and pastry.
  • Beef jerky or beef sticks are good high protein snacks. So are hard boiled eggs – just make sure they’re refrigerated and haven’t been sitting around for a couple of days!
  • Crackers with cheese or peanut butter and trail mix help round out the list.  If you must go with crunchy stuff stick with pretzels.  If it absolutely must be chips, look for baked varieties.  Remember that the salty stuff will make you thirsty so stock up on water.

 

 

Peanut, Almond, Peanut Butter, Plain Or Even Pretzel M&M’s: Would They Be Your Choice?

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On a road trip?  Stuck in an airport?   Is a vending machine calling your name?

You’ve decided you need a snack.  Decision made:  it’s going to be candy – and it’s going to be M&M’s.  After all, M&M’s mean melt in your mouth, not in your hand – and who wants melted chocolate all over the steering wheel or suitcase or the mess of papers on your desk?

Some M&M History

M&M’s, around since 1941, were actually designed so people could enjoy their chocolate without it melting in their hands. They’re named after the inventors Forrest Mars and R. Bruce Murrie (haven’t you always wondered where M&M’s came from?).

They were introduced to GIs in World War II, flew into space in 1982, and have been part of space shuttle missions since then. The little “m” you see on each candy wasn’t printed on them until 1950.  The “m” was originally printed in black – today it’s white.

Choices, Choices

M&M’s now come in a whole bunch of varieties and seasonal colors.  But — when you’re staring at the array of colorful M&M packages, your hands itching to tear open the wrapper and pop some into your mouth, which would you choose:  plain, almond, or peanut, or peanut butter?

Of course the purists might say there is no choice other than plain.  But, since there are choices, are there some potentially redeeming nutritional benefits to adding nuts under the chocolate and candy coating?  Do some varieties have more protein or fewer calories or more fat?  Take a look at the nutritional information – maybe it’ll help you with your choice. (Note that the package weight of the different varieties is not identical).

  • Plain milk chocolate M&M’s (1.69oz package):  240 calories, 10g fat (6 saturated), 34g total carbs, 1g fiber, 2g protein
  • Dark chocolate M&M’s (1.5oz package):  210 calories, 10g fat (6g saturated), 29g total carbs, 2g fiber, 2g protein
  • Peanut M&M’s (1.74oz package):  250 calories, 13g fat (5g saturated), 30g total carbs, 2g fiber, 5g protein
  • Almond M&M’s (1.5oz package):  220 calories, 12g fat (4g saturated), 25g total carbs, 2g fiber, 3g protein
  • Peanut butter M&M’s 1.5oz package:  220 calories, 12g fat (4g saturated), 25g total carbs, 2g fiber, 3g protein
  • Pretzel M&M’s 1.14oz package:  150 calories, 5g fat(3g saturated), 24g total carbs, 1g fiber, 2g protein  (product is kosher)

Ingredients

Ingredients in regular M&M’s: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Cocoa Butter, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Artificial Flavors), Sugar, Cornstarch, Less than 1% Corn Syrup, Dextrin, Coloring (Includes Blue 1 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2), Gum Acacia.

Ingredients in pretzel M&M’s: milk chocolate (sugar, chocolate, skim milk, cocoa butter, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, salt, artificial flavors), pretzel [enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, food starch-modified, vegetable oil (soybean oil, canola oil and/or corn oil), malt, leavening (yeast, sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate)], sugar, less than 2% – cornstarch, corn syrup, dextrin, coloring (includes blue 1 lake, red 40 lake, yellow 6, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1, yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, blue 2 lake, blue 2), gum acacia.

Allergy information: may contain peanuts.  Product is Kosher

These are the ingredient lists for regular and pretzel M&M’s. If you’re looking for something with good nutrition – this isn’t it.  It is candy, so the amounts of sugar, fat, and protein shouldn’t be a big surprise.  The thing to really make note of is what M&M’s are famous for (aside from melt in your mouth, not in your hands) – the colors.  Look at the list of artificial colors (“lake” means the dyes are used in liquid form, not powder), some of which have been associated with allergic reactions, cancer causing properties, and hyperactivity.  Just a heads-up about another thing to consider when choosing your snack.

 

Jelly Beans: What Kind Is Your Favorite?

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Don’t you love those little nuggets of jelly bean sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors and get stuck in your teeth?

Their gummy insides probably stretch back centuries ago from the treat, Turkish Delight.  Their outsides are just like the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17th century, for the Jordan almond.

The modern jelly bean became popular during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers.  Jellybeans were the first bulk candy and they became one of the staples of penny candy that was sold by weight in the early 1900s. Because of their egg shape, which can be taken as representing fertility and birth, they became popular as Easter candy around 1930.

Standard jelly beans come in fruit flavors but there are now a huge number of flavors — some goofy, some sophisticated — like spiced, mint, gourmet, tropical, popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, and cola.  They also come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true – don’t you wonder how many chemicals are in those). Whatever your flavor preference, Americans eat a whole lot of them – around 16 billion at Easter enough to circle the globe nearly three times if all of the Easter jellybeans were lined up end to end.

How Do You Eat Them And What’s Your Flavor?

My preference (and my downfall) is to gobble up small handfuls (mostly reds and pinks) at a time — one reason I can’t have them in the house. How do stack up against these stats?

  • 70% of kids aged 6–11 say they prefer to eat Easter jellybeans one at a time
  • 23% say they eat several at once
  • Boys (29%) are more likely to eat a handful than girls (18%)
  • Kids say their favorite Easter jellybean flavors are cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (6%).

What’s In Jelly Beans?

They’re primarily made of sugar and also usually contain gelatin, corn syrup, modified food starch, and less than 0.5% of citric acid, sodium citrate, artificial flavors, confectioners glaze, pectin, carnauba wax, white mineral oil, magnesium hydroxide, and artificial colors (takes some of the fun out of them, doesn’t it).

Even though they may give you Technicolor insides, they are fat free.  On average:

  • 10 small jelly beans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs
  • 10 large jelly beans (1 oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs
  • 10 Jelly Bellies have 40 calories, no fat, no protein, and 10g carbs

Some Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Trivia

  • Jelly Bellys were invented in 1976. They were the first jelly beans to be sold in single flavors and to come with a menu of flavor choices.
  • It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jelly bean.
  • Very Cherry was the most popular Jelly Belly flavor for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn took over. Very Cherry moved back into the top spot by only 8 million beans in 2003.
  • Jelly Bellies were the first jelly beans in outer space – they were sent on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger by President Reagan.