Healthier Easter Candy Choices – BETTER CHOICES

Video: Healthier Easter Candy Choices - BETTER CHOICES

Easter is a calorie laden holiday for most. Without skipping the goodies, instead of filling up those baskets with unwanted goodies, just a little comparison and information can make for a healthier basket. If you are a chocolate person, choose dark chocolate which actually contains healthy antioxidants, and just be careful to eat in moderation. So when you are deciding what to put in those Easter baskets just make them a little healthier make sure you choose the right candy and lose some of the old standby’s.

Here is one example:

CHOOSE: Special Dark Chocolate Kisses (4 Kisses)

(4 Kisses)

• Calories 90
• Fat 5g
• Sodium 5mg
• Carbs 11g
• Fiber 0g
• Sugar 9g
• Protein 0g

LOSE: Cadbury Creme Egg

• Calories 150
• Fat 6g
• Sodium 15mg
• Carbs 24g
• Fiber 0g
• Sugar 20g
• Protein 2g

Skipping the Cadbury Creme Egg and picking up the Kisses saves you 60 calories some fat, carbs, and sugar which will not only leave you happy, but your kids as well. The extra bonus is that it feels like you got more than you actually did with the Kisses because you get to eat 4 which feels like more of an indulgence than just chowing down on one Egg.

CHOOSE the Special Dark Hershey’s Kisses and LOSE the Cadbury Creme Egg. 

Some of the healthiest candies are black licorice and Mounds made of dark chocolate, coconut and vanilla.  Almond Joy’s are one of the best milk chocolate bars.

M&M’s have about half the calories of Skittles.

And choose Jelly Belly jelly beans over other brands.  They are smaller, so you feel like you are getting more and they use a higher quality of ingredients.  The even make an energizing sports bean.

Also… definitely choose chocolate (dark is the best) over the Peeps and those types of sugary candies.

The Eat This, Not That! No-Diet Diet...

"How to Actually Choose HEALTHY Chocolate for Halloween"

Candies with sugars, HFCS, and other frightening ingredients can wreak havoc on your health. Now enjoy these chocolate treats without the negatives...

ew snack foods evoke as much passion and desire as chocolate.

And if you have children, Halloween provides you with a wide assortment of sugary chocolate temptations -- all part of this family fun event.

Regardless of whether or not it's Halloween... if you're a chocolate lover, the idea of giving it up even for health reasons is often not an option you consider.

As far as your kids go... well, most kids love chocolate. Asking them not to eat any from their Halloween trick-or-treat stashes is pretty much wishful thinking.

Believe it or not, this is one instance when you can have your chocolate and eat it too... more and more studies confirm some types of chocolate are actually very good for you.

Since I realize many people simply refuse to give up their chocolate, and there are actually healthy versions of chocolate, I put my team to task to create guidelines to help you select and eat chocolate at a healthy level.

Especially at Halloween time, this could help give you some direction for the healthiest chocolate for you and your kids.

I do feel it's important to remind you about wholesome foods like organic vegetables and fruits that provide you with healthy nutrients -- without the sugar content of most chocolates.

With Halloween just around the corner, the potential for you and your family to consume even more chocolate is simply a reality that you will have to contend with. However, if you follow the guidelines my staff and I created for you, you can now enjoy one of your passions, and boost your health at the same time.

Guidelines for Selecting Healthy Chocolate

If you're a chocolate lover, or even occasionally indulge, I strongly recommend you follow these guidelines... which will allow you to enjoy your chocolate and help you protect your health at the same time.

• Find chocolate made from the least destructive processing techniques -- Organic is always best as over-processing reduces your healthy nutrients and can introduce lead contamination.

• Restrict your intake to dark, organic chocolate -- Consuming chocolate as close to its original raw state (unprocessed cacao) provides you the best health benefits.

• Avoid chocolate made from milk or milk byproducts -- Adding milk to the chocolate process can diminish your antioxidant benefits.

• Select chocolate with low sugar content -- Sugar can seriously impact your immune system

• Consume chocolate in moderation -- When you eat too much chocolate, you potentially diminish and defeat any health benefits due to the sugar.

• Avoid chocolate if you're struggling with a health challenge -- Sugar can suppress your immune system.

• Choose a chocolate made to the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility -- Fair Trade certification should be part of your selection process.

I'll get into more details on each of these selection and consumption criteria in just a minute...

But first do this -- very thoroughly...

The Blue Dye in M&Ms Cures Spinal Injuries

I will choose to believe that they are working with mice who already are injured?!?  And let us hope that pet stores realize that cats and rats are not stuffed animals or toys!

Thanks to miracle compound BBG, mice turn blue, regain ability to walk

Awwwww:  University of Rochester

The next time someone tries to argue that all M&Ms are the same, no matter the color, you can tell them about the blue M&M. The candy (like Gatorade and other products) gets its color from a food dye similar to Brilliant Blue G (BBG) -- a compound that, as it turns out, is medically useful. Building on earlier research, scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that injections of BBG can relieve mice of secondary spinal cord injuries. In September, they will start conducting human clinical trials.

BBG works by inhibiting the function of P2X7, a molecule that pervades the spinal cord and assists another molecule, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), in killing off healthy motor neurons. Because quantities of ATP flow to the spinal cord post-injury, significant secondary injuries occur, which is why thwarting ATP's activity is absolutely vital. 

The U of R researchers were able to do just that, via injections of BBG. While rodents that hadn't received the dose were never able to scurry around again following their injury, the mice that received the BBG regained their ability to walk (albeit with a limp).

The mice also turned temporarily blue, as a side-effect (the only one). The verdict here at Popsci.com is that it's only a matter of time before pet stores start selling a rainbow of rats. 

(And let us hope that pet stores realize that cats and rats are not stuffed animals or toys!)

By Anna Maria JakubekPosted 07.28.2009 at 3:01 pm

[Via CNN.com]

Candy with a Jolt

A friend of mine named Amy has uncovered a new trend: candy, all hopped up on caffeine.

In an e-mail, she wrote: "Butterfinger Buzz...all the caffeine of leading energy drinks. I kid you not..."

Amy provided a link that took me to a candy review on a website called Candyblog. According to candy-lover Cybele May, Butterfinger Buzz doesn't have quite the same flaky peanut center as a normal Butterfinger, but it does deliver what the wrapper promises: the same amount of caffeine as the leading energy drink. That's 80 mg of caffeine – same as an 8-ounce Red Bull.

Other caffeinated candies reviewed on Candyblog include Snickers Charged and Twix Java. And if you're willing to venture away from familiar brand names, there are plenty of juiced up confections:

• Coffeebeat
• Pocket Coffee
• Trader Joe's Espresso Chocolate
• Caffe Acapella
• Theo 3400 Phinney Bars
• Green & Black's Espresso Chocolate
• Black Black gum

The caffeine candy I find most intriguing is Loud Truck Energy Gummies. The packaging carries a photo of a truck decked out with giant loudspeakers. Inside, honey-colored gummy bears pack 32 mg of caffeine, along with vitamins C, B, and taurine (an amino acid found in many energy drinks).

Loud Truck just might take you where you want to go.

To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson – HSI

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth

Halloween Is Coming... With Sugary Goodies Galore

Halloween is coming...

In the U.S., we spend $1 billion dollars on Halloween candy (we load up on 20 million pounds of candy corn alone!).

And for what?

To help the visiting ghosts and goblins (and ourselves and our own kids) experience more of sugar’s spooky fallout: obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, accelerated aging, and a host of other health concerns.

It’s not your fault. Marketing of sugary products is very intentional and very slick. In fact, the food industry spends millions upon millions of dollars each year to advertise products loaded with sugar to a public that just can’t seem to get enough.

As children, most of us loved Halloween and all things sweet. Now, in a perfect world, I would advise you to forget about eating sugar and just stick with healthy foods. And that's still the best policy to follow most of the time.

But it's not always practical — or realistic. Especially on holidays such as Halloween, when you don’t want to disappoint those trick-or-treaters… or your own children.

So, maybe it’s time to…explore some options and be creative:

Homemade snacks for people you know

sugarless candy

give out quarters

energy or nutrition bars

candy with dark chocolate and coconut (at least a bit healthier)

coupons

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