10 Horribly Unhealthy Halloween Candies To Avoid This Year

We are glad to see someone at The Daily Meal did some research to shed some light on just how unhealthy Halloween candy is for you. Yes, we are all guilty of eating candy, but it should be done in moderation, especially for kids. The binge candy eating that comes with Halloween just isn't healthy for any body let alone a little growing body. You will never find any of these in the GREAT Kids Snack Box! Halloween candies contain a variety of artificial, processed, unnatural ingredients. This is our list of the 10 worst offenders.

Photo Credit: amazon.com 

From hydrogenated oils to corn syrup to artificial coloring, many candies contain more processed ingredients than not. 

Beating out Easter and Valentine's Day, Halloween is the biggest candy-selling holiday of the year. Sugary treats and festive decorations begin to appear in supermarkets across the country before the thought of Halloween has even crossed our minds. Once those variety bags of candy start to line the shelves, the urge to consume the sugary confections we typically avoid all year long sets in. Maybe it starts as a midday pick-me-up after a long workweek, but you may quickly find yourself dipping your hand into the candy bowl a little too often. Once or twice isn't a crime, but more than that and you could risk stretching your waistline before Halloweeneven hits.

A healthy lifestyle isn't about depriving yourself, but rather making better choiceswhen you do choose to indulge. Some candies contain more sugar than others, some more fat, and some are full of ingredients you simply can't pronounce, let alone identify. When Halloween rolls around, it's a good idea to know which candies will have you tipping the scales come November 1, and which won't. Halloween doesn't have to be a nutritional nightmare. With some preparation, you can enjoy the holiday and keep your diet on track as well.

To save you the time of reading the tiny nutrition facts on those fun-sized bars, we did a comparison of the most popular Halloween candies.

#1. 3 Musketeers

Photo Credit: amazon.com

These bars might be marketed as a "lighter" way to enjoy chocolate, but there's nothing light about them. Not only does one bar contain 240 calories, 36 grams of sugar, and five grams of saturated fat, it also contains trans fats hiding in the form of hydrogenated palm kernel oil.

#2. Sour Patch Kids

Photo Credit: amazon.com

One two-ounce box of Sour Patch Kids contains a stunning 36 grams of sugar and 140 calories. This is no surprise, considering the first three ingredients are sugar, invert sugar (a mixture of glucose and fructose), and corn syrup. The remaining ingredients include preservatives, like citric acid, and artificial colorings.

#3. Milky Way

Photo Credit: amazon.com

Fun-size bars are supposed to help keep calories and sugar intake in check, but that's not the case with these. Milky Way's caramel and nougat center has the fun size weighing in at 21 grams of sugar and the full size variety contains a whopping 31 grams of sugar. Not to mention, they're known to stick in your teeth, which can cause cavities. This 240-calorie treat has nine grams of fat, seven of which are saturated.

#4. Butterfingers

Photo Credit: amazon.com

One regular Butterfinger contain 275 calories, 29 grams of sugar, and 11 grams of fat, six of which are saturated. The first ingredient is corn syrup, followed by sugar, peanuts, and hydrogenated palm oil. It also contains a host of other artificial preservatives, like TBHQ, which is made up of phenol and butane (also known as lighter fluid).

#5. Snickers

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In addition to 27 grams of sugar, 250 calories, and 12 grams of fat, a Snickers bar contains an unhealthy dose of corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Eating corn syrup has been thought to lead to the development of metabolic syndrome, a pre-diabetic condition. Hydrogenated oil is proven to raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol, while lowering your HDL (good) cholesterol level.

See candies 5-10

Replace the sugar, chemicals, and artificial ingredients with healthy organic & all natural snacks from the GREAT Kids Snack Box! 

Good Greens Pomegranate Acai Yogurt Bar - Made with Real Fruits + Veggies

The packaging may be red but this is a @goodgreensbars that is made with real #fruits & #vegetables. This #pomagranate #acai #yogurt bar is #glutenfree #vegan #vegetarian and packed with 10g #protein #probiotics #iron #calcium. It is also an excellent source of #vitamins A, B, C, D, & E. This bar contains 100% of your daily #fruit & #veggis intake with the #antioxidants equivalent to 5 servings. 

The yogurt coating and delicious flavor of pomegranate and acai with have your kids thinking this is a #dessert snack. You don't have to tell them it's #healthy and contains fruit and vegetables. Perfect for #Halloween candy replacement. 

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To discover and enjoy more healthy snacks like this Good Greens bar be sure to order your GREAT Kids Snack Box today! Start receiving 30 organic & all natural snacks every month! 

Food Trucks - Can They Get Students To Eat Healthy?

Schools are using food trucks as a marketing strategy to get students to eat healthier. It seems like getting your food from a truck is the cool thing to do and students are lining up. The only catch is that in most cases the food is not all that much different than the food being served in the cafeteria. It seems like the food truck is like a new fancy colorful wrapper, packaging up the food that was once served in the boring old cafeteria. It might be working...

Getting high school students to embrace healthy eating is an age-old battle. And when it comes to lunch, many eschew their school cafeteria in favor of eating off-campus, where healthy choices don’t always abound.

Now school districts are starting to lure their students into eating better—by getting their own food trucks up and running on campus.

“Food trucks are a great addition to school food service—both from a way to engage the older kids and a way to engage the community,” says Ann Cooper, director of food services at Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District. “It’s part of a great overall marketing strategy.”

Last year, Boulder Valley became one of the first districts in the U.S. to start serving school lunches at a food truck during the academic year. The truck, which has been attractively styled as a cross between a rustic farmhouse and a milk truck, was funded by a $75,000 grant from Whole Foods Market.

Cooper says that though the truck mostly serves the same food as the cafeteria and the prices are identical, the students find the truck food more appealing.

“It’s meeting the kids where they are to provide a cool environment,” Cooper says. “There’s a different vibe to it, with music playing.”

In addition to rotating among local high schools during the week, the truck also comes to the district’s elementary schools for special events.

“Cafeteria participation has been up and so is the number of kids eating at the food truck,” she says. “So we’re getting a demographic that never [ate at] the cafeteria before. … Kids who walked off campus are now eating at the food truck.”

This spring, the Minneapolis School District will start serving daily school lunch from its food trucks, which have successfully been feeding students at field trips and special events for three years. Like Boulder Valley, the truck will rotate among its high school campuses.

“Principals have been begging us to get the truck out there,” says Bertrand Weber, the director of food services. “The main challenge is that we can’t keep up with the demand.”

Weber worked with chefs at local restaurants to develop the truck’s brown rice-based carnitas bowl, orange chicken bowl, and curry chicken bowl recipes. They’re part of the district’s partnership with chefs to develop healthy recipes (such as beet hummus) made with local food.

“In just the first three weeks of this school year alone, we served 28,000 pounds of local produce,” Weber says. He also has found ways to work with producers to develop new markets for their products.

“I worked with a small local turkey farmer and developed a turkey burger and hot dog—and found a processor to do this,” he says. “We’re working next on a breakfast sausage. We’re another outlet for dark meat [since] not as many buy the leg and thighs.”

The Minneapolis School District set up its first food truck three years ago, after Hunger Free Minnesota asked it to write a grant for a vehicle to feed underserved students during the summertime.

The district acted quickly. By June 2012—just four months later—its truck was out at parks and libraries dishing out lunches in four neighborhoods.

“It took about one and a half months to find a bus and two months to convert it,” Weber says. “We worked with our transportation program and they found us a minibus that had been used for disabled students.”

With only a food warmer, refrigerator, and sink on board, the truck isn’t well-equipped to prepare food. But when parked on campus, Weber says that it can serve up to 700 students in 90 minutes, thanks to the ability to...Continue reading

Remember the GREAT Kids Snack Box is here to make healthy snacking convenient and fun for you little students. Delivering 30 organic & all-natural snacks to be discovered and enjoyed each month. 

Get Taken By Bacon! A healthy #Bacon Snack Stick Packed With 8g of Protein

Everyone loves #bacon, especially kids! #Blaistix by #localpastures brings you the bacon #jerky snack stick. Made with 100% #pork and real chunks of bacon from America's heartland! 

Get take by bacon! At only 60 calories and 8g of #protein this snack stick will keep your kids feeling fueled and full until meal time. #soyfree #dairyfree #nutfree #glutenfree #noMSG #nohighfructosecornsyrup #paleo

#GREATKidsSnacks #healthy #healthysnack #kidssnack #schoolsnack #lunchboxsnack #healthykids #snacktime #nomnom #easysnack

Discover this tasty bacon snack stick and many other healthy snacks every month with the GREAT Kids Snack Box! Make healthy snacking convenient and fun for your family by having a box packed with 30 healthy snacks delivered to you door, addressed with your child's name. 

iamcapturingthemoment.com discovers more healthy snacks in the GREAT Kids Snack Box!

A wonderful review from a happy mom greatful for the GREAT Kids Snacks box! Heather from iamcapturingthemoment.com showed us how much her daughter loved discovering the healthy organic and all natural snacks in the GREAT Kids Snack Box! You can read GREAT Kids Snacks reviews week two and week one before you check this one out. You’ll love them all!

DAY 1: FRUIT ME UP

I’m all for fruit snacks, especially the kind that are travel friendly and are mess-free friendly!

Why did she choose this one?: She figured it tasted like a yummy drink and thought it would taste like apples. Of course, it did!

What did she think?: She thought it was very fruity and full of apples. She also thought it was tasty drinking it like a yogurt fruit snack (she’s four, sometimes I have no idea what she’s talking about).

Some Facts about Fruit Me Up and Andros Foods: Andros Foods is based in Mt. Jackson, VA and is a privately owned company. Fruit Me Up has pouches that are 25% less sugar per oz., and has one full fruit serving per pouch. No sugar added and no high fructose corn syrup. Should I add to the list? Non-GMO, Kosher, Gluten-free, and so many more good things.

Recommended by Mommy?: Highly! I love these travel-friendly snacks and the fact that they are healthy for little ones like my four year old. The package is very easy to twist open and to put the cap back on if you truly need to. Not to mention how easy it is for my daughter to drink it wherever we are. It doesn’t take long for the little container to become empty! She loved it that much.

DAY 2: NATURE’S BAKERY

Who doesn’t love a little package that has the name Nature’s Bakery on it? Nature has the best food anyone could ask for, all organic and delicious! Nature’s Bakery has just as much goodness, if not more. These are perfect not only for little ones but for adults as well.

Why did she choose this one?: She had no idea what was in the package, but when I told her they were figs she couldn’t help but pick this one up! She also loves the color purple, so that sold her on this one.

What did she think?: Between mouthfuls she couldn’t help but jump up and down and say how delicious they were. She loves fig bars, but these were absolutely delicious to her!

Some Facts about Nature’s Bakery: Their Founding Philosophy is enough to describe who they are: “Keep it simple, have fun, and achieve balance in life through nature, activity, nutrition and community.” Their snacks are Non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher and so much more.

Recommended by Mommy?: I tried the other fig bar that was in the package and I can see why she was so excited about eating it. These are delicious! Packed full of flavor in every single bite and the fact that it’s healthy makes the snack that much better. I love when gluten-free food tastes really good, and these hit the bar literally. You will want to pick up a few of these for yourself and hide them from the kids!

DAY 3: MY SUPER COOKIES

Super Cookies! These are so delicious and travel friendly. Your little one will enjoy snacking on a bag of these and you’ll enjoy the fact that they’re healthy for them as well!

Why did she choose this one?: They looked exactly like the first bag and she new they were good, so she wanted another bag!

What did she think?: She thought these tasted like wheat chocolate cookie and couldn’t get enough of them. She wouldn’t even share with me, little stinker!

Some Facts about My Super Cookies: Pulled from the first review of these cookies: These are organic, non-GMO, free of nuts, no trans fats, no artificial preservatives, no artificial colors, and so much more. They are made for children in a wholesome way! Even the nutritional bar on these super cookies have low numbers that will please any parent.

Recommended by Mommy?: As I said on the first review, I highly recommend these for any parent who wants non-GMO organic snacks for their children.

DAY 4: MATT’S MUNCHIES

Nothing like a bag of delicious apple snacks. Instead of crunchy apples, these are more chewy and sticky.

Why did she choose this one?: They looked almost exactly like the first review of Matt’s Munchies, so she picked this one because she knew the first pouch was really good.

What did she think?: She wouldn’t really share these with me, but I managed to snag one to see what they tasted like. She ate these within minutes and ranted and raved about how yummy they tasted. Full of apple flavor and not too sticky.

Some Facts about Matt’s Munchies: Nutritious, healthy, Non-GMO certified, Gluten-Free. Matt’s Munchies are perfect for munching on, no matter what age you are really.

Recommended by Mommy?: All I can say is, yummy. With this being the second package we have tried I have to say they are amazingly good. You don’t want to miss out on these if you like non-GMO snacks!

DAY 5: GET MOVIN’ SNACK

Get your child up and moving with these snacks! These are awesome for games, field trips, at home snacks or for yourself.

Why did she choose this one?: The people on the package reminded her of herself when she’s active, so she chose this because the little stick figures were cute.

What did she think?: She thought they were Continue reading

Be sure to order your GREAT Kids Snack Box today so your kids can start discovering and enjoying organic and all natural snacks. We help make healthy snacking convenient and FUN!

Back To The Future Day - 50% Discount on GREAT Kids Snack Box!

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Celebrate #BackToTheFutureDay with us by getting 50% off your first snack box! Use coupon code "FUTURE" to redeem for savings. 

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Who Ate The Cupcake?

Little Jack stays strong and will never admit to his dad that he ate the cupcake. With evidence clearly on his Jack's face, his dad knows he obviously ate the cupcake. However, Jack puts on his best poker face and stares his dad straight in the eyes and says "No" he didn't eat the cupcake. That blue icing on his face must actually be ink from the blue marker he was chewing on instead of eating a cupcake. 

Remember the GREAT Kids Snack Box is here to provide your family with healthy snacks that your kids can eat, without having to deny eating them. Delivering 30 organic & all natural snacks for your children to discover and enjoy each month. CONVENIENT for parents, FUN for Kids!

Pomegranate Fig Bar - Gluten Free, non-GMO, Vegan, Dairy Free, and More!

@naturesbakery gives you and your family energy for life's great journeys! This #pomegranate #fig bar is made with #ancientgrains and #smartflour it is #NonGMO #kosher #vegan #glutenfree #dairyfree #cholesterolfreeand does not contain any high fructose corn syrup and #notransfat #noartificialflavors #noartificialcolors and #noartificialpreservatives. 
#GREATKidsSnacks #healthysnack#healthy #healthykids #snacktime #nomnom #healthyliving #naturesbakery

Discover more great healthy snacks like this with the GREAT Kids Snack Box. Delivering 30 organic & all natural snacks for your kids to enjoy every month. CONVENIENT for parents, FUN for kids! 

Banana Nut Chia Bar By Health Warrior #PoweredByChia

This is not just any regular snack bar, it is #PoweredByChia! Made with #chia #seeds this #banana #nut bar contains 1100mg of #omega3 3g #protein4g #fiber and only 5g #sugar and 100 calories. @health_warrior brings you a #superfood #snack that is #glutenfree#kosher #nonGMO #soyfree #dairyfreeand #vegan. This soft and chewy bar is a kid favorite that your kiddos are sure to enjoy. 

#GREATKidsSnacks #healthysnack#healthykids #activekids #snacktime #healthy #kids 

Remember the GREAT Kids Snack Box is here for your convenient and fun way to snack healthy. Delivering 30 organic and all natural snacks like this Health Warrior Chia Bar for your kids to discover every month. 

How You Can Promote a Healthy Lifestyle and Physical Activity in Your Child

Children & Physical Activity

by the Go Red For Women Editors

The research is crystal clear: children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity every single day.

Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for developing coronary artery disease. It also increases the risk of stroke and such other major cardiovascular risk factors as obesity, high blood pressure, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol and diabetes. The American Heart Association recommends that children and adolescents participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day.

Why is exercise or physical activity important for my child?

Increased physical activity has been associated with an increased life expectancy and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease.  Physical activity produces overall physical, psychological and social benefits. Inactive children are likely to become inactive adults. And physical activity helps with

• controlling weight
• reducing blood pressure
• raising HDL (“good”) cholesterol
• reducing the risk of diabetes and some kinds of cancer
• improved psychological well-being, including gaining more self-confidence and higher self-esteem

Not only does an active child reduce the risk of developing heart disease, studies show children also do better academically if they get enough physical activity.

How do I promote physical activity in my child?

• Physical activity should be increased by reducing sedentary time (e.g., watching television, playing computer video games or talking on the phone).
• Physical activity should be fun for children and adolescents.
• Parents should try to be role models for active lifestyles and provide children with opportunities for increased physical activity.

Try incentivizing children using sticker charts, for example, displayed prominently in your home, to help your child or children view physical activity as something for which they receive positive recognition and a reward.

What if my child is uncoordinated or overweight?

All children, even less-coordinated ones, need to be physically active.  Activity may be particularly helpful for the physical and psychological well-being of children with a weight problem.

The American Heart Association recommends:

• All children age 2 and older should...Continue reading

Remember the GREAT Kids Snack Box makes it fun and convenient to snack healthy. Delivering 30 organic and all natural snacks for your kids to discover and enjoy every month.