Here’s a fun Post-Halloween question for you:

how do you think the calories compare between five Halloween candy pumpkins and one cup of sugar snap peas (shown below)? That’s one serving of each, by the way.

 

A few days ago I had the pleasure of being nutritionist

for another health fair at at a Silicon Valley corporation. I always have fun answering questions and finding out what people are needing help with these days.

Since it was the day before Halloween I set up the above fun props at my table. Whenever someone approached, I asked them to guess the calorie difference.

It was a great icebreaker and so much fun! It was also interesting to see that about 30% of the people guessed close to the right answer, others were all over the board.

Take your guess now – the answer is below the picture.

Candy and sugar snap

So, what’s the answer?

1 cup sugar snap peas = 40 cal

5 Halloween candy pumpkins = 150 cal

 

What does this make you think?

There are a couple things that immediately come up for me:

  • You could eat 3 cups of sugar snap peas (3x the amount in that picture!) and it would still be less calories than the five, little candies.
  • One cup of sugar snap peas is going to fill you up so much more then five candies, with many fewer calories.
  • What you get in the candy: Sugar. What you get in the snap peas: Protein, fiber, antioxidants and phytochemicals, not to mention important blood sugar moderating benefits. All things that give your cells and your entire body the ability to function optimally and help keep you looking and feeling great.

Now that Halloween is over – Do you have a bunch of excess candy lying around the house?

The dangers of having these candies around is that we can eat them mindlessly.

All of a sudden we realize we’re hungry – so we just keep eating! It’s too easy to eat a thousand calories worth of these little things and not feel full. Although it’s highly possible that we do get a bit sick to the stomach.

Having a sweet treat now and then is OK.

But how do you keep the quantities down? The important thing is to eat it after all of your other nutrients have been taken care of, and when you’re not hungry.

If you find yourself wanting to eat a whole bunch of Halloween candy

your body is telling you that you need fuel. The best way to fuel your body is with real food. Go and get yourself a healthy snack or meal to satisfy your hunger.

Then, if you still want that sugary sweetness, take out one serving size from the bag, put the bag back in the cupboard, and walk away. Eat the serving very, very slowly – so a little goes a long way. And, pay attention to how you feel afterwards. If you don’t feel good, then you’ve eaten too much.

PS–I searched long and hard to find a small bag of these candies. All I could find were mega bags. I finally found a small bag of eight servings. This is an amount someone could easily eat it in one sitting. Yet, having done so, one would have downed 1200 cal of nothing but sugar and not be satisfied- and still most likely feel the need to eat a meal afterwards.

PSS- are you starting to worry about overeating, not having enough time to exercise, and putting on weight this holiday season? If so, I’m here for you. The Winter Self-Care Boost program is about to open to new registrants. Watch for my next blog post and in your e-mail where I’ll share with you more about that program.

 

Share your comments below!