It’s Halloween, and that means candy, candy, and more candy. When I was trick or treating, the most popular houses had full-sized treats, like chips and cans of pop. Next on my list was the mini chocolate bars. As an adult, I loved getting more mini chocolate bars than we could possibly need and mixing and matching. It turns out, I was likely taking in more calories and carbs than I would have if I had just purchased a regular sized chocolate bar. So, that leads me to the question; are mini chocolate bars the devil?
The Full Sized Bars
My favourite chocolate bars used to be Mars bars. They have a soft, nougat centre with a layer of caramel and a coating of milk chocolate. There was a time in my life when I would eat one of these a day – a day! According to My Fitness Pal, a full sized Mars bar is 51 grams. It has 230 calories, 10 grams of fat, 33 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of protein. 30 grams of the carbs is sugar. Wow. That is almost 2 days worth of carbs in one tasty snack.
Another really popular chocolate bar is the Snickers bar. The full sized bar is 53 grams. It has 250 calories, 12 grams of fat, 32 grams of carbs (28 of which are sugar) and 4 grams of protein. This is obviously not keto-friendly.
Mini Chocolate Bars Comparison
So, the full sized bars are out of the question on keto. But, the mini options at Halloween are a bit more accessible – or so we think. A mini Mars bar that comes in a Halloween pack is 13 grams. It has 60 calories, 2 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbs (8 of which are sugar), and 0 grams of protein. A Snickers bar that comes in the Halloween pack is 17 grams. It has 80 calories, 4 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs (9 of which are sugar), and 1 gram of protein.
Now, for us personally, this is out of the question because blood sugar spikes literally do damage to Bill’s heart, due to his health issues. It’s not worth the risk. I technically could eat one and keep on track, but I won’t. Firstly, it wouldn’t be fair to eat one in front of Bill. Secondly, it’s just not worth the carbs for me. And, thirdly, that would likely take me down a very dark path. I still have cravings for sugar, the last thing I need is to feed into that addiction!
So, Are Mini Chocolate Bars the Devil?
Halloween items have been in the stores for the past couple of months now. As I walk down the aisles of our local grocery store, I see the boxes of the Halloween packs of mini chocolate bars and I feel that old tug at my sweet tooth. We used to eat boxes of these! I mean, the bar is so little – it’s just a bite. How bad can they be? We would have 4 or 5 in one sitting. Mixing and matching the kinds with one of our favourites with one of our least favourites, just to even things out as we munched through the box.
If I ate 5 of the mini Mars bars, I would be taking in 300 calories, 10 grams of fat, 45 grams of carbs (40 grams is sugar) and 2 grams of protein. If I ate 5 mini Snickers bars, I’d be taking in 400 calories, 20 grams of fat, 50 grams of carbs (45 grams of sugar), and 5 grams of protein. That’s worse than just eating regular sized chocolate bars!
We would eat a box of 50 of these things before Halloween and have to buy more for the trick or treaters. Then, we would go into a store on November 1st and go through all the discounted candy. That was our day of celebration! It’s a wonder we aren’t dead.
A Final Thought about Mini Chocolate Bars
Now that we have taken control of our eating and turned to keto, we are more knowledgeable and thoughtful about what we put in our bodies. But, to me, the mini chocolate bars are so deceiving with their little sizes. You think you can just have one and be good – but I dare anyone to tell me they eat one a day. Instead, you eat 4-5 in one sitting because they’re just little. They are little packages of evil, I tell you! For me, mini chocolate bars are truly the scariest parts of Halloween!
Wendy
