Dana James featured on Elle.com
This Halloween, indulge in clean sweet treats made without corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and artificial flavors. Here, Nutritionist Dana James of Food Coach NYC offers organic alternatives to Halloween candy classics.
THE PEANUT NOUGAT BARS
ORIGINAL
Baby Ruth: While a small bar packs just 85 calories, it’s made with high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats. These two ingredients are correlated with obesity, visceral fat and brain fogginess. Skip this one.
Snickers: This has the same amount of calories as the Babe Ruth but it doesn’t have HFCS. Instead, it’s made with sugar, corn syrup (not HFCS) and dextrin. It still has trans fats, so keep the Snickers limited to one mini bar per year.
ORGANIC
The Ocho – Caramel and Peanut: This is the organic version of a Babe Ruth and Snickers. It’s made with organic cane sugar and chocolate liquor. It has 85 calories for half a bar (the equivalent to the mini bars). There are no fake ingredients and it doesn’t contain genetically modified corn. This one you can eat all year round!
PEANUT BUTTER CUPS
ORIGINAL
Reeses: One PB cup will set you back 105 calories. It’s sugar, peanuts, chocolate and the questionable preservative TBHQ. It doesn’t contain HFCS nor trans fats. If you eat a clean diet, having one of these at Halloween won’t be a disaster.
ORGANIC
Justin’s Peanut Butter Cups: This is the organic version of Reeses. It’s made with organic cane sugar and organic chocolate butter and is free from preservatives. It also has 105 calories. If peanut and chocolate are what you lust after, this is a year round option.
THE NO-FAT CANDIES
ORIGINAL
Swedish Fish: They look so innocent but these fish are sugar, mineral oil and wax. Have you ever wondered why they retain they fish-like shape? It’s the wax! 19 pieces for 140 calories.
Candy Corn: Only marginally better than the Swedish fish, these Halloween favorites are sugar, honey, artificial colors and some sesame oil. 19 pieces for 140 calories
ORGANIC
Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snack: These are organic jellies are sweetened with fruit juice and colored with the juice form carrots and blackcurrent. They too have wax in them but at least it’s organic. 19 pieces for 140 calories.
CHOCOLATE COVERED COCONUT BARS
ORIGINAL
Almond Joy: If you think an Almond Joy is just coconut and almonds covered in chocolate, you’re mistaken. There’s milk, lactose, corn syrup and preservatives all hidden in there. It’s not an innocent as it looks. One mini bar has 80 calories.
Mounds: Both Mounds and Almond Joy are made by Hershey, so their ingredient list is similar but the Mound has less processed dairy derivates than the Almond Joy. There’s severn ingredients in the little mini bar, including corn syrup, preservatives, chocolate and milk proteins.
ORGANIC
Oskri Coconut Dark Chocolate: While it’s not organic, it has just three ingredients – coconut, rice syrup and dark chocolate – exactly as you’d expect. Gram for gram wise, it has the same amount of calories as a mini Mound.
THE CHOCOLATE BITES
ORIGINAL
Hersey’s Kisses: If you can eat just one, it’s only 23 calories! The good news is that it’s only chocolate and is made with real sugar. Hersey removed the high fructose corn syrup from their Kisses earlier in 2015. There’s some milk in it as it’s milk chocolate but it’s a sound choice if you need a mini instant chocolate fix.
ORGANIC
Endangered Species Dark Chocolate Bug Bites: One square is 50 calories and it’s made with non-GMO chocolate liquor, cane sugar and cacao butter. It’s vegan so is an ideal choice if you looking to decrease your dairy intake.This is one you can enjoy through-out the year.
