Halloween Candy Carb Counts

So, Halloween is right around the corner…we’re excited!  It’s C’s favorite time of year – mainly because his birthday’s on Halloween…yep – October 31^st.  I like to tease him and say that’s when all the “freaks come out” – haha!  Savanna is excited to go out trick-or-treating and I handmade her Halloween costume, so it’s ready to go!

This is the first year we will be celebrating Halloween with the “Big D” in the background – Savanna’s diagnosis last year was during Thanksgiving, so she was a happy, go-lucky, eat all the candy I want type of kid last Halloween.  Fortunately “all the candy she wants” generally was one or two small pieces of candy a day.  I’m determined this year to make Halloween as *normal* (gosh, I hate that word!) as it was last year…and the easiest way to do that is by saying “yes” to a piece of candy.  However, with being Diabetic, I need to be able to figure out the carb counts for each individually wrapped small piece of candy – and did you know there are no nutritional labels on the small pieces of candy most people give out?  There is a label on the big bag, but of course, she’s not coming home with the big bag…

So, my girlfriend, Ginger, suggested I do a post about the carb counts for some common, popular Halloween candies.  I’m going to take it one step further and even include how much insulin (using a 1:20 ratio) Savanna will need.  This will help me when I’m trying to pack a school lunch, but also help put into perspective how one little piece of candy effects Savanna.  The JDRF has a GREAT list of Halloween treats here.  I’m just going to pull out some of our favorites:

Dum Dum lollipops (1 lollipop) 5 grams - no insulin	Hershey’s Kisses (6 pieces) 16 grams – ½ unit of insulin
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar (snack size) 10 grams – ½ unit of insulin	Kit-Kat Bars (3 piece bar) 10 grams – ½ unit of insulin
Peanut M&M’s (mini pack) 15 grams – ½ unit of insulin	Reese’s Cups (2 regular size) 18 grams – 1 unit of insulin
Snicker’s (fun size) 12 grams – ½ unit of insulin	Plain M&M’s (mini box) 10 grams – ½ unit of insulin
Almond Joy (1.4 oz bar) 25 grams – 1 unit of insulin	Reese’s Cups (4 minis) 16 grams – ½ unit of insulin

As you can see, Savanna needs insulin for just about all the candy…even the smaller fun-sized pieces have enough total carbohydrates to require at least a ½ unit of insulin. 

So, Halloween will still be a fun, crazy holiday for us – just a little different because this time we need to handle the request for “one small piece of candy” completely differently.  But, if there is anything to get her to check her blood sugars and get insulin, it will be a piece of candy!