What's In Your Halloween Candy?

“Not only are bloggers suckers for the remarkable, so are the Well… Well... let’s be honest… it is candy in general not just Halloween candy.

Growing up I always got so excited for ALL the candy we received on Halloween. 

I wasn’t ever actually allowed to trick or treat growing up, but you know why that never actually bothered me?

My parents would buy TONS of candy at the store and have it in a bucket the next day as if we went out Trick or Treating so I never felt like I missed out. 

I was just excited to have CANDY!

We spend out childhood (which is just a small portion of our entire lives) learning to rely on candy or use it as emotional support to grow up trying to figure out how to eat less.

There is a trend where more and more people are starting to realize just how bad our food system has gotten, but when it comes to the Holidays (good or bad), that seems to go out the window and we wind up throwing the junk candy options in the cart. 

But the traditional candy we have here in the United States is filled with absolute junk ingredients that often times serve no purpose than either cosmetic or just to make you sick.

So why does the United States allow these ingredients in our food? Specifically our candy? 

Especially when these ingredients are actually banned in other countries? 

Let's take a look at some of the candy out there and the toxic ingredients you will find.

SKITTLES: Artificial colors linked to hyperactivity in children and Titanium Dioxide linked to cancer (also both banned in other countries).

REESE’S: TBHQ linked to increased risk of food allergies and immune system disruption (I wonder why kids get sicker a lot more now)

DUM DUM’s, M&M’s and HARIBO: Full of artificial colors and other nasty ingredients (also banned in other countries).

ROLO & MILKY WAY: Corn syrup and artificial flavors that are heavily processed. 

TOOTSIE POPS: Corn syrup, Artificial Colors, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Food colors like Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1

STARBURSTS: Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Food Dye (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1)

The list goes on with these popular candy items. 

So let's do a little deeper dive on these toxic ingredients:

TBHQ is a synthetic preservative still found in many of the most popular foods like Pop-Tarts, Cheez-it Crackers and candy. 

It has already been shown to worsen flu symptoms and is linked to other health issues such as increasing the risk of food allergies to nuts, milk, eggs, wheat and shellfish.

TBHQ is also banned in other countries. 

Titanium Dioxide has also been banned in other countries except for the United States and its only purpose is to make the food white. 

It is a whitening agent. So the icing of Little Debbies cake will pop and look more appealing. 

CARAMEL COLOR contains a chemical 4-MEI which is classified as a possible carcinogen. So why add it? When chocolate and caramel are naturally brown anyway?

CORN SYRUP is a heavily processed form of sugar typically made from the starch of GMO corn… and don’t even get me started on GMO!

You definitely want to be avoiding GMO products that are known carcinogens in and of themselves. 

ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS: Chemical mixtures produced in a lab with various chemicals that basically is just completely Fake food and totally unnecessary.

NATURAL FLAVORS: Proprietary mixtures that are produced in a Gabe that make food taste irresistible so that you keep coming back for more. 

Ever wonder why you can’t just eat 1 Oreo?

RED #3 is an artificial color banned from cosmetics due to its link to cancer, but the FDA allows it in our food? Please tell me how that makes sense?

Just because Red #3 is “approved” for food doesn’t mean companies should still use it. 

What does that say about those companies?

Do they actually care about your health? 

Or just the bottom line?

When are companies going to be held accountable for using controversial and potentially cancerous chemicals in their products… especially for children (which is where you will find a pleura of these chemicals to make them more appealing to kids). 

But guess what…. here is a crazy thing….

Reese’s and Hershey’s both recently came out with organic versions of their candy WITHOUT ANY of those crazy ingredients. 

That just proves that they CAN use better ingredients and that using chemicals like TBHQ and Titanium Dioxide is completely unnecessary. 

Why not just remove them in general?

That is some food for thought, right?

I don’t support companies like that, that don’t actually care about you. 

The candy industry has been reluctant to change because candy is an indulgence and they simply just don’t care. 

So they can chalk it up to saying well it is candy so ingredients don’t matter anyway since you are eating “junk” and then they throw in all those additional toxic ingredients. 

So… what CAN we do?

One of the biggest changes I think we could do is stop using candy! 

What if kids received things like pencils, erasers, stickers, miniature toys, bouncy balls, glow in the dark sticks, coloring books, stamps and other fun items like this?

I guarantee my 2 and 4 year old would be just as exciting getting these items as they would candy. 

Honestly, they probably would be more excited for these things than they would for candy. 

Okay, so maybe fun items like that would be as exciting for everyone… I don’t know, so here are some healthy swaps you can make for your candy:

OCHO Minis

Alter Eco Truffles

Justin’s Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Unreal Candy

Surf Sweets Organic Candy

YumEarth Organic Candy and Fruit Snacks

Black Forest Organic Gummy Bears and Worms

Torie and Howard Organic Chewie Fruits

Organic Fair-Trade Hot Cocoa Packets

Jack-o-lantern Tangerines

Are they more expensive… yes… so buy less and give less and they eat less. 

So what do you think? 

Candy of Fun Toys?

It’s time for us to rethink how we do Halloween and stop buying these “treats” that are doing anyone any favors.