It’s almost here – the night of ghosts, goblins, home made and extravagant costumes, and candy – lots of it.
Candy, costumes, trick or treaters, and shaving cream in roadside mailboxes (one of many suburban pranks) are all part of the ritual of Halloween. One thing for certain — there’s candy everywhere and it’s pretty hard to resist as an adult and horrifically hard to resist as a kid.
On average, each piece of Halloween sized candy contains around two teaspoons of sugar and the same number of calories as two Oreos. Do the math – if you or your child pops 10 or more pieces of Halloween candy that’s 20 teaspoons of sugar and the calories of more than half a package of Oreos (36 cookies per package).
It’s not the day of Halloween (or Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter) that presents the food challenge – it’s all the other days when the eating with abandon continues and continues …that’s when the weight piles on and poor eating choices become a habit. So enjoy the day of celebration and think about putting the brakes on making every other day a food holiday, too.
Here’s Another Way To Calibrate Halloween Candy
Here’s another way to think about Halloween candy — how much walking will it take to work off the calories in various types of candy?
According to walking.com:
- 1 Fun Size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc. is about 80 calories. You’d need to walk 0.8 miles, 1.29 kilometers, or 1600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 2 Hershey’s Kisses are about 50 calories. You’d need to walk 0.5 miles, 0.80 kilometers, or 1000 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 2 Brachs caramels are about 80 calories. You’d need to walk 0.8 miles, 1.29 kilometers, or 1600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 1 mini bite-size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.) is about 55 calories. You’d need to walk 0.55 miles, 0.88 kilometers, or 1100 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 1 Fun Size M&M package – Plain or Peanut, is 90 calories. You’d need to walk 0.9 miles, 1.45 kilometers, or 1800 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 1 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is 33 calories. You’d need to walk 0.33 miles, 0.53 kilometers, or 660 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 1 full size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.) is about 275 calories. You’d need to walk 2.75 miles, 4.43 kilometers, or 5500 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 1 King Size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.) is about 500 calories. You’d need to walk 5 miles, 8.06 kilometers, or 10000 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
- 1 small Tootsie Roll is 25 calories. You’d need to walk 0.25 miles, 0.40 kilometers, or 500 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
If You Ate Them All . . .
2 Brachs caramels, 2 Hershey’s Kisses, 1 small Tootsie Roll, 1 Fun Size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.) 1 mini bite-size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.), 1 Fun Size M&M packet – Plain or Peanut, 1 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, 1 full size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.), 1 King Size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.)… comes to 1188 calories. You’d need to walk 11.88 miles, 19.16 kilometers, or 23,760 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
