Halloween is devoted somewhat to costumes but mostly to treats and very little to tricks.
Did you know?
- Halloween ranks among one of the top days for buying and consuming candy.
- The average child consumes 3 cups of sugar on Halloween. To visualize this, think of 3 baseballs.
- The best way to curb sugar consumption is to eat a hearty dinner or healthy snack before diving into the candy.
From baked goods at parties to candy collected while trick-or-treating, according to 2013 data gathered by Coupon Follow, the average child will eat about 3 cups of sugar on Halloween. That equals about 600 grams — 16 to 24 times what the American Heart Association recommends for an adult man or woman, respectively.
Here’s an idea of how much sugar is in each snack size candy:
15 g package of Skittles = 11 g sugar
21 g 100 Grand bar = 11 g sugar
15 g 3 Musketeers bar = 10 g sugar
13 g Mars bar = 8 g sugar
13 g Hershey bar = 7 g sugar
12 g Kit Kat bar = 6 g sugar
Wow, that’s a lot, but even an average day of sugar intake for children weighs in at about 95 grams. Create a visual with your kids by spooning 25 teaspoons of sugar into a bowl. To reduce sugar levels, look for places in the daily food choices where sugar laden options can be swapped for healthy options such as an egg or turkey bacon with fruit for breakfast in place of cereal or veggies and dip in place of a granola bar.