With Halloween around the corner, I am sharing my favourite swaps for the toxic treats given out on Halloween. After I started learning more about what is in processed food, I could no longer look away. I hope this inspires you to be part of the solution and choose healthier options this Halloween. Here are my favourite cleaner store-bought Halloween treat ideas. One healthy swap at a time is all it takes to make significant changes.
Why I Choose Cleaner Halloween Treats
I love Halloween so much! I love the decorations, costumes, treats and all the excitement. What I don’t love comes after Halloween is over. The meltdowns, fighting, angry outbursts and of course the colds and other sicknesses I heard Food Babe once say, it’s not cold and flu season, it’s sugar poisoning season. First comes Halloween, then Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter. I felt tricked all these years. While I do not take my kid’s Halloween candy away, I let them have some but, I also teach them about listening to their body and how to know when they’ve had enough. I also choose cleaner Halloween treats to give out to trick-or-treaters. I go for healthier options that are just as delicious. I feel like the more people know, the better they will do.
Cleaner Store-Bought Halloween Treats
- Yum Earth: This brand is our favourite. It’s organic, non-GMO, candy with no artificial dyes, free from the top allergens, gluten-free and high fructose corn syrup free. They offer a wide variety of things from loli-pops, skittle-like candies, hard candies, gummies, and M&M dupes.
- Unreal: This brand is fair trade, sustainable, organic, gluten-free, vegan, and non-GMO, with no artificial dyes flavours, and no corn syrup. Unreal offers milk chocolate gems (better than M&M’s), coconut chocolate bars, almond butter cups, and peanut butter cups with simple ingredients. Unreal has 51% less sugar than other brands and they don’t use preservatives.
- Lesser Evil: This brand makes popcorn with simple ingredients, their recipes preserve the nutrients, and they are vegan, grain-free, paleo, and gluten-free. Their Halloween pack ingredients are popcorn, coconut oil and salt. Simple and delicious.
- Enjoy Life: This brand is allergen-friendly, non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher, and there is no added sugar. They offer a mini chocolate bar assortment packs for Halloween.
- Smart Sweets: These are yummy! Just as tasty as regular gummy candies and only 3 grams of sugar per pack. Smart sweets are non-GMO, gluten-free, free from artificial colours, and flavours and high in fibre.
- Healthy Crunch: This brand offers a Halloween pack with vanilla crispy squares and smores crispy squares. They offer healthier everyday items that are vegan, peanut and tree-nut-free and low sugar.
- No whey foods: This brand is vegan and common allergen-free. They do still have vegetable oil in them but they are a much cleaner alternative to Reeses, Snickers etc. They offer alternatives to classic Halloween favourites. They have M&M alternatives, Peanut butter cups made with sunflower butter and mini chocolate bars.
Scary Ingredients To Look For
There are many ingredients I try to avoid when buying candy but, some are worse than others. Most store-bought candy is filled with artificial colours, flavours and a ton of preservatives. Here are a few common ones:
- Artificial colours: causes hyperactivity
- Titanium dioxide: Linked to Cancer
- TBHQ: Linked to increased risk of food allergies and immune system disruption
- Corn syrup: Heavily processed
- Artificial flavours: Heavily processed
This information is not meant to shame anyone. We are all doing our best. I write this with love for you and all the little trick-or-treaters. I hope this inspires you to make small changes in the right direction and vote with your dollars for companies that CARE about our health.
xo Alayna
