It's Almost Halloween, So Lets Dredge This Up Again

The BBQ Pit
1

I was skipping around the internet and one of the sites I visited just had this instant poll asking responders what they would be giving out to trick-or-treaters this year.

One of the options was: “Healthy snacks, like granola.” (Note: fruit was a seperate option.)

Goddamn it! The difference between granola and candy is negligible!

Per General Foods’ Nature Valley brand granola bars website:

A single serving is 2 bars.
Mass: 42 grams
calories: 180
calories from fat: 60

Now, let’s compare that to a Butterfinger[sup]TM[/sup], from Nestle’s website for that brand:

A single serving is one bar.
Mass: 60 grams
calories: 270
calories from fat: 100

In both cases approximately one third of the calories from the snack are from fat. And while the granola bars have only 2/3 the calories that’s because they also have only about 2/3 the mass of food!

Ounce for ounce, if you correct them to the same portion size, 60 grams, the granola jumps to 257 calories, with 86 of them being from fat. That’s not all that much better, people!

Yes, the granola comes out better for being a smaller portion - but my experience with kids and Halloween candy was that they’d make up the smaller portions simply by eating more.

Granola can be a wonderful energy-rich food. And it can often be made without the artificial components that a lot of people object to in processed food. But that doesn’t mean that it’s anything but a high calorie food. And commercial granola is virtually identical to candy.

All-natural doesn’t always equate to healthy. Or to be a bit more pedantic, there is no real risk to someone who has healthy eating habits normally who chooses then to eat a candy bar, or some granola. But, that’s not the situation that we’re presented with for Halloween - it’s a gorge fest, and on that level granola and more traditional candies are equally hazardous, dammit.
(Mind you - I don’t advocate giving fruits, just because of the tampering concerns that parents have to have these days. I’m not convinced that ‘sealed candies’ are any more tamper-evident than fruits (candied apples being an exception) but that’s certainly the accepted wisdom of this day and age.)

2

Who cares about calories though? Children burn those off anyway. I don’t think there’s any way that you can claim that the following two items are nutritionally “equally hazardous” unless you are talking only about your waistline.

whole grain rolled oats, sugar, canola oil, crisp rice (rice, flour, sugar, malt, salt), soy protein, honey, brown sugar syrup, high fructose corn syrup, salt, soy lecithin, baking soda, natural flavor, almond flour, peanut flour

and

sugar, corn syrup, ground roasted peanuts, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, cocoa, molasses, buttermilk solids, confectioner’s corn flakes, salt, skim milk, emulsifiers (mono- and diglycerides and soy lecithin), modified cornstarch, artifical flavors, yellow 5, red 40, TBHQ and citric acid (added to preserve freshness).
P.S. This definitely should have been added to mini-rants - I don’t think it needs its own thread.

3

I’m handing out NyQuil. No nutritional value, but I won’t have to listen to hyper kids running around on my street on Nov. 1st.

4

That reminds me of the year that one of my grandmas got nostalgic about the time gone by when she and her friends passed out gum from a bowl - it was mostly Chicklets (candy-coated gum) but they mixed in a box of Feenamints (laxative candy-coated gum). I was young and childly and shocked and appalled. For the record, grandmas should never admit to that kind of thing.

I’m considering bagging the whole health question and giving out quarters this year. At least that way if I get too many I can use the quarters without guilt.

5

To be fair, Quaker granola bars with chocolate chips are pretty yummy.

Of course, if people are that concerned, they can always opt out-turn the porch light off and not participate.

6

I had to resort to giving out quarters one year when I ran out of candy. I have rarely seen such crestfallen little faces.

This year, I have plenty of skull-pops and chocolate eyeballs to hand out. :cool:

7

NyQuil tastes nasty- try lime vodka instead. or maybe a nice chocolate liquoure?

8

I’m doing cigarettes. At least until Edlyn shoots me.

9

My friends and I once considered passing out tampons, in candy bags.

10

Let’s not dredge this up again. Give what you want to or don’t want to and leave everyone else the fuck alone. What a concept!

11

Jello shooters. Orange, for the holiday.

12

Mmmm! Suckers for vampires! How thoughtful of you. :smiley:

13

Same as every year: poppers and condoms.

14

That’s so funny, especially in Charlotte! :smiley:

15

Obviously I’ve not made the point I was trying to make - I don’t care what people choose to give out on Halloween.

I just don’t see a marked difference between giving traditional candy, and granola bars, and I’m sick of people trying to advocate granola bars as a healthy alternative to candy, when the usual complaint is that candy is too fattening and too many calories for the little monsters.

16

I always pass out the usual mixture of empty calories every Halloween. What I do to make it special is to tell each child that it won’t truly be Halloween unless they eat ALL of their candy before going to bed that night. Their parents usually really enjoy that suggestion, too. :stuck_out_tongue:

17

That gives me an idea! Glow in the dark condoms for trick or treat! I love it–will purchase many in assorted sizes.

I bought my candy already-M&M mini’s, Boo shaped dots and I cannot recall the other bag (no memory retention these days–it’ll happen to you, too, so there!).

My point being that one year, I bought candy that I hated, so that I wouldn’t eat it and gain weight. BAD IDEA. I just went out and bought candy I did like, after I ate the candy I didn’t like… :rolleyes:

18

We’re handing out a little bit of candy along with a Halloween coloring book and those 4-packs of crayons.

19

A few years ago this happened:

I live in an apartment complex so I don’t get too many trick-or-treaters. Not too many kids live here.

But in the year in question, I got more than I thought. I had some candy on hand but that quickly ran out.

So I gave out litttle boxes of raisins.

Then those ran out.

All I had left was a tin of anchovies, so that’s what the last kid got.

I’ve felt kind of bad about that ever since.

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But, it was healtier than candy. :smiley: