Since switching to a cleaner lifestyle, I’ve had a hard time coming to terms with the ingredients in the Halloween candy we’ve handed out for years. All the conventional Halloween candy is full of sugar, corn syrup, artificial flavors and food dyes. I am not saying the below candy alternatives are healthy or that eating candy is healthy in any way. However, if you are going to eat a little candy, these are better choices. I am a firm believer in “everything in moderation”, sugar isn’t going to kill you, just don’t over do it. Let me be clear, none of these candies are perfect in my eye, but they are much better than generic candy.
Trick-Or-Treaters
For the trick-or-treaters the past few years, I only get a small amount of generic candy, because I don’t want to be the house that no one wants to come to, ha! I also hand out some small things of Play-Doh, Annie’s Organic Fruit Snacks and some YumEarth Vitamin C Suckers. The vitamin C suckers make me feel a little better about handing out a ton of sugar that is going to suppress the immune system. Not that the vitamin C suckers are good for you, it just makes me feel better. There are also Manuka Honey Pops, which still have cane sugar, but you also get the benefits of the manuka honey. Click here to read about the benefits of manuka honey. I would love to hand out honey sticks, but I know if my daughter brought one of those home from trick-or-treating, I wouldn’t let her eat it. Those are too easy to open and reseal and I’m sure we’ve all heard to horror stories about contaminated candy.
Any candy that is left over after Halloween gets sent to work with my husband, I don’t like having candy in the house and we don’t give my daughter candy. This year, I am going to skip the regular candy and just buy some of these healthier candies and hope I don’t become ‘that house’! Although, I am very tempted to start handing out fruit, vegetables, vitamins and pamphlets about how to be healthy! Haha!
Halloween Candy Swaps
Snickers
These UNREAL bars are truly unreal! These are better than Snickers in my opinion, they are SO good. Most of the ingredients are organic and there’s only 6 grams of sugar per fun size bar. Get yours here. (Currently out of stock) Check the UNREAL website, here.
Snickers ingredients- milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, palm oil, skim milk, lactose, salt, egg whites, artificial flavor.
UNREAL Dark Chocolate Caramel Peanut Nougat Bar ingredients- organic cassava syrup, dark chocolate (cocoa beans*, cane sugar, cocoa butter*, sunflower lecithin, vanilla beans), organic peanuts, organic cane sugar*, organic palm oil+, almonds, organic pea protein, organic powdered sugar*, less than 0.5%: cashews, vanilla extract, sea salt, sunflower lecithin, organic grass-fed whey protein, organic spelt flour.
M&Ms
We really try to avoid unnatural food dyes in our house. These Unreal milk chocolate gems are a great alternative as they use turmeric, beet juice, spirulina and radish juice instead or artificial food dyes. Unreal also has Dark Chocolate Peanut Gems and Dark Chocolate & Crispy Quinoa Gems. Check them all out here.
M&M’s ingredients- milk chocolate (sugar, chocolate, skim milk, cocoa butter, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, salt, artificial and natural flavors), sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, dextrin, coloring (blue 1 lake, yellow 6, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1, yellow 6 lake, red 40 lake, yellow 5 lake, blue 2 lake, blue 2), carnauba wax, gum acacia.
UNREAL Milk Chocolate Gems ingredients- milk chocolate (organic chocolate liquor, cocoa butter*, nonfat milk, whole milk powder, cane sugar*, organic blue agave inulin, sunflower lecithin, vanilla), organic cane sugar*, gum acacia, colored with (turmeric, beet juice, spirulina extract, red radish juice), organic tapioca syrup, carnauba wax.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
I am a total sucker for Reese’s peanut butter cups, but I am horrified with the ingredients! Read more about the ingredients in Reese’s and how it has changed over the years, here. UNREAL has these much cleaner peanut butter cups and they also have almond butter cups. Get yours PB cups here. Or the almond butter cups here. I also highly recommend Theo Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, these are made in Seattle! I also recommend Perfect Snacks Peanut Butter Cups. They have more protein and whole foods powder, which includes things like celery, flax seeds, rose hips, kale, carrots, spinach, etc. However, they have to be refrigerated, so not the best for trick-or-treaters.
Reese’s ingredients- milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, milk fat, lactose, lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, salt, tert-butylhydroquinone (synthetic preservative), citric acid.
UNREAL Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups ingredients- dark chocolate (chocolate liquor, cane sugar, cocoa butter, organic blue agave inulin, sunflower lecithin, vanilla), peanuts, organic cane sugar, organic palm oil (sustainably sourced), organic peanut flour, organic blue agave inulin, sea salt, sunflower lecithin.
Sour Patch Kids have always been a favorite of mine, but just 12 pieces has 24 grams of sugar in it!! Yikes! Smart Sweets is a way better alternative with only 3 grams of sugar in a single bag. Sour Blast Buddies (ridiculous name, I know), are sweetened with allulose, monk fruit and stevia leaf extract. They are comparable to Sour Patch Kids and don’t have that funny artificial sweetener after taste. Check them out here.
Sour Patch Kids ingredients- sugar ,invert sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, tartaric acid, citric acid, natural and artificial flavor, yellow 6, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1.
Smart Sweets Sour Blast Buddies ingredients- non-GMO soluble corn fiber, allulose, isomalto-oligosaccharides (vegetable source), lactic acid, chicory root fiber, modified potato starch, rice flour, fumaric acid, malic acid, citric acid, natural berry, blue raspberry, orange, lemon, and lime flavors, fruit and vegetable juice (for color), coconut oil, carnauba wax, spirulina extract (for color), stevia leaf extract and monk fruit extract.
I’ve never been a Swedish Fish fan, but these Smart Sweets are better than Swedish Fish in my opinion. Regular Swedish fish contain 23 grams of sugar for five fish. Only FIVE!! Smart Sweets version have 3 grams of sugar for a whole bag. Get yours here.
Swedish Fish ingredients- sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, citric acid, white mineral oil, natural and artificial flavor, red 40 and carnauba wax.
Smart Sweets Sweet Fish ingredients- non-GMO soluble corn fiber, allulose, isomalto-oligosaccharides (vegetable source), modified potato starch, natural berry flavor, malic acid, citric acid, fruit and vegetable juice (for color), coconut oil, carnauba wax and monk fruit extract.
Twizzlers have never really been my thing, but if you are looking for a good swap, try Smart Sweets Red Twists.
Twizzlers ingredients- corn syrup, enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, palm oil, salt, glyceryl monostearate, cornstarch, glycerin, potassium carbonate, artificial flavor, potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial color (red 40) and sodium carbonate.
Smart Sweets Red Twists ingredients- non-GMO soluble corn fiber, allulose, brown rice flour, isomalto-oligosaccharides (vegetable source), tapioca starch, water, natural flavor, coconut oil, sunflower lecithin, fruit & vegetable juice (for color), malic acid, sodium citrate, citric acid, tartaric acid, stevia leaf extract.
I know there are some people who absolutely hate candy corn and others who love it, I personally, am not really a fan. If you are a die hard though, try YumEarth Candy Corn. YumEarth has much cleaner ingredients and is organic. Try not to eat too much though, sugar is still the first ingredient. Try them here.
Brach’s Candy Corn ingredients- sugar, corn syrup, confectioner’s glaze (shellac), salt, dextrose, gelatin, sesame oil, artificial flavor, honey, yellow 6, yellow 5, red 3.
YumEarth Organic Candy Corn ingredients- organic cane sugar, organic brown rice syrup, shellac, organic sunflower oil, salt, organic annato (color), organic honey, natural flavor, organic egg white powder, organic turmeric (color), organic rice protein, organic carnauba wax.
Starburst are always a popular Halloween candy, but between the corn syrup, artificial flavors and food dyes, I would stay away. YumEarth Fruit Chews have cane sugar instead of corn syrup, still not great, but better than Starburst. Plus, they are colored with carrot, blackcurrant and turmeric. Get yours here.
Starburst ingredients- corn syrup, sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, fruit juice from concentrate (cherry, orange, strawberry, lemon), citric acid, dextrin, gelatin, food starch-modified, artificial and natural flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), coloring (red 40, yellow 5, blue 1).
YumEarth Organic Chewys Fruit Chews ingredients- organic rice syrup, organic cane sugar, organic palm oil, organic natural flavors, citric acid, organic sunflower lecithin, colored from organic concentrates (carrot, blackcurrant), organic turmeric (color), pectin.
“Skittles, taste the rainbow”. Their slogan should be, “Skittle, taste the food dye, corn syrup and artificial flavors”! Ha! The sugar content isn’t much different between these two, but at least the Giggles (another ridiculous name) are organic and don’t have any artificial food dyes or corn syrup. Get your Giggles here.
Skittles ingredients- sugar, corn syrup, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, citric acid, tapioca dextrin, modified corn starch, natural and artificial flavors, sodium citrate, colors (yellow 5 lake, red 40 lake, yellow 6 lake, blue 2 lake, titanium dioxide, blue 1 lake, yellow 6, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1), carnauba wax.
YumEarth Organic Giggles ingredients- organic cane sugar, organic rice syrup, organic palm oil, organic natural flavors, citric acid, sodium citric, turmeric (color), organic sunflower lecithin, malic acid, (radish, carrot, sweet potato, blackcurrant) for color, organic carnauba wax, spirulina concentrate (color), pectin.
Gummy Bears are irresistible, I get it, but once again we have artificial flavors, food dyes and most likely corn syrup (glucose syrup). There are several brands of gummy bears that are a lot better like Black Forest. There is also Surf Sweets Gummy Bears, YumEarth Gummy Bears and Smart Sweets Gummy Bears.
Haribo Gummy Bears ingredients- glucose syrup (from wheat or corn), sugar, gelatin, dextrose (from wheat or corn), citric acid, artificial and natural flavors, palm oil, palm kernel oil, carnauba wax, white beeswax, yellow beeswax, yellow 5, red 40, blue 1.
Black Forest Organic Gummy Bears ingredients- organic tapioca syrup, organic cane sugar, gelatin, organic lemon juice concentrate, organic tapioca starch, organic potato starch, agar, colors (black carrot juice, blackcurrant juice, carrot juice, turmeric, purple sweet potato juice, cherry juice, radish juice), citric acid, organic sunflower oil, natural flavors, organic carnauba wax.
If you like this post, check out some of my other posts:
Affordable, Less-Toxic Product Swaps For Your Household (Updated)
Pumpkin Banana Streusel Muffins [Gluten, Dairy & Refined Sugar Free]
My Favorite Non-Toxic Baby and Kids Items
Healthier Homemade Pumpkin Spice (Latte) Sauce & Coffee Creamer [Paleo]
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