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Best to Worst Easter Basket Treats
Pick your Easter basket poison. Are you partial to the marshmallow or peanut butter eggs or the milk chocolate bunnies...or, are you a Peeps person? What's the best way to approach your Easter basket, knowing you're going to indulge to some extent?
Of all the Easter basket options, these are the best to worst Easter treats. Where does the regular hard-boiled egg fit in to this table? With 70 calories, no sugar and 4.5 grams of fat, you'll find it somewhere between the Sugar-Free Peeps and the Elmer's Toasted Marshmallow Egg.
The bottom line to enjoying Easter candy is moderation. Keep certain Easter candy principles in mind before proceeding with your Easter basket massacre:
Never eat the whole chocolate Easter bunny in one sitting; the nutritional totals are likely to shock you. The entire 6- ounce Dove bunny or egg, for example, totals 920 calories, 56 grams of fat, 32 grams saturated fat, and 92 grams of sugar. You can break off the piece you want and keep the rest in there for when the next chocolate bunny craving hits.
A mini candy option doesn't mean its "mini" in calories, fat or sugar. The little foil-wrapped Reese's Peanut Butter eggs have more sugar, fat and saturated fat in a 5-piece serving than the traditional (34 gram) peanut butter egg.
Keep your eye on the portion size! You would be surprised what is considered a serving on some of the Easter candy labels. So check this out and know what you are really getting into in terms of calories, fat and sugar. If the label tells you that a serving is 1/4 of the 5-ounce bunny and it already has a fairly shocking amount of fat grams per serving...it's probably best not to enjoy more than 1/4 of the bunny!
It's better to eat jelly beans than to drink soda! Our bodies appear to be more likely to compensate naturally for the calories in a handful of jelly beans compared to the same calories in a sweetened drink. A Purdue University study found that significant weight gain might occur when carbohydrates are consumed as liquids rather than as solid food because the participants didn't decrease their intake to compensate for the added soda calories but were able to for the additional jellybean calories.
Sources:
NCA National Confectioners Association
International Journal of Obesity. June 2000, Vol. 24, Number 6, pages 794-800 "Liquid versus solid carbohydrate: effects on food intake and body weight" DiMeglio DP et al.
Related Topics:
Of all the Easter basket options, these are the best to worst Easter treats. Where does the regular hard-boiled egg fit in to this table? With 70 calories, no sugar and 4.5 grams of fat, you'll find it somewhere between the Sugar-Free Peeps and the Elmer's Toasted Marshmallow Egg.
| Easter Treat | Calories | Sugar (g) | Fat (g) | Saturated Fat (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bubble King Bubble Gum Eggs | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Peeps Sugar-Free Marshmallow Chicks, 3 chicks (28 g) NOTE: each serving contains 23 g sugar alcohol | 60 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hard boiled Egg (Silver lining-6 g quality protein and all sorts of vitamins and minerals) | 70 | 0 | 4.5 | 1.5 |
| Elmer's Toasted Marshmallow Egg (21 g) | 80 | 14 | 2.5 | 1.5 |
| Sugar Free Russell Stover Jelly Beans (40 g) 35 pieces NOTE: each serving contains 30 g sugar alcohol | 110 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Starburst Sour Jelly Beans, 1/4 cup | 160 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Peeps, 5 chicks (42 g) | 140 | 34 | 0 | 0 |
| Cadbury Crème Egg (34 g) (Silver lining-4% Daily Value calcium) | 150 | 22 | 5 | 3 |
| Almond Joy Egg, (31 g) (Silver lining-1 gram of fiber) | 140 | 14 | 8 | 6 |
| Peanut M&M's Bunny Mix 1/4 cup (Silver lining-1 gram fiber and a small serving of peanuts) | 220 | 29 | 6 | 5 |
| Whoppers Robin Eggs (40 g) 8 pieces | 180 | 29 | 6 | 5 |
| Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bunnies (34 g) (Silver lining-1 g fiber, 8% Daily Value Calcium) | 170 | 19 | 10 | 6 |
| Nestle Crunch Nest Eggs (37 g) 5 pieces (Silver lining-4% Daily Value for Calcium) | 180 | 20 | 9 | 6 |
| Hershey's milk chocolate Eggs (40 g) 7 pieces (Silver lining-1 g fiber, 8% Daily Value Calcium) | 200 | 22 | 12 | 7 |
| Dove Dark Chocolate Eggs, 6 foil Wrapped eggs (43 g) (Silver lining-3 grams fiber) | 220 | 20 | 14 | 8 |
| Cadbury Mini Crème Egg (36 g)(Silver lining-4% Daily Value calcium) | 170 | 23 | 6 | 4 |
| Dove Truffle Egg (25.5 g) | 150 | 13 | 10 | 7 |
| Hershey's King Size Marshmallow Egg (67 g) (Silver lining-4% Daily Value vitamin A and Calcium) | 260 | 38 | 8 | 4.5 |
| Reese's Peanut Butter Egg (34 g) (Silver lining-1 gram fiber) | 180 | 15 | 11 | 3.5 |
| Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, little Foil wrapped ones, 5 pieces (38 g) (Silver lining-1 gram fiber) | 190 | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| Hershey's Bliss Milk Chocolate Eggs 5 pieces (39 g) (Silver lining-1 gram fiber, 6% Daily value for calcium) | 200 | 20 | 13 | 8 |
| Dove Solid Milk Chocolate Egg—6 oz, 1/3 egg (56.5 g) | 307 | 31 | 19 | 10.5 |
| 1/2 bunny (2.25 oz) (Silver lining-1.5 grams fiber) | 345 | 36 | 21 | 12 |
| Reese's Reester Bunny—5 oz 1/2 bunny (2.5 oz) (Silver lining-2 grams fiber) | 340 | 38 | 20 | 9 |
The bottom line to enjoying Easter candy is moderation. Keep certain Easter candy principles in mind before proceeding with your Easter basket massacre:
Never eat the whole chocolate Easter bunny in one sitting; the nutritional totals are likely to shock you. The entire 6- ounce Dove bunny or egg, for example, totals 920 calories, 56 grams of fat, 32 grams saturated fat, and 92 grams of sugar. You can break off the piece you want and keep the rest in there for when the next chocolate bunny craving hits.
A mini candy option doesn't mean its "mini" in calories, fat or sugar. The little foil-wrapped Reese's Peanut Butter eggs have more sugar, fat and saturated fat in a 5-piece serving than the traditional (34 gram) peanut butter egg.
Keep your eye on the portion size! You would be surprised what is considered a serving on some of the Easter candy labels. So check this out and know what you are really getting into in terms of calories, fat and sugar. If the label tells you that a serving is 1/4 of the 5-ounce bunny and it already has a fairly shocking amount of fat grams per serving...it's probably best not to enjoy more than 1/4 of the bunny!
It's better to eat jelly beans than to drink soda! Our bodies appear to be more likely to compensate naturally for the calories in a handful of jelly beans compared to the same calories in a sweetened drink. A Purdue University study found that significant weight gain might occur when carbohydrates are consumed as liquids rather than as solid food because the participants didn't decrease their intake to compensate for the added soda calories but were able to for the additional jellybean calories.
Sources:
NCA National Confectioners Association
International Journal of Obesity. June 2000, Vol. 24, Number 6, pages 794-800 "Liquid versus solid carbohydrate: effects on food intake and body weight" DiMeglio DP et al.
Related Topics:
24 Comments:
What they fail to mention in this article is that Peeps are practically poison! They won't dissolve in sulfuric acid, let alone hydrochloric. I have a diorama that includes Peeps that has remained unchanged and unmolested by insects for over two years. I would eat them, but they are great for art projects!
meant to type would NOT eat them...
THEY ARE JUST A PIECE OF CANDY FOR KIDS ENJOYMENT FOR EASTER. 1 WILL NOT HURT
I LOVE PEEPS !!!
Peeps are my absolute favorite candy! If they're poison, I can think of worse ways to die!
Peeps-Yum, I've never heard on the news how many people died from peeps poisioning over the Easter Season
It's a holiday and candy always seems to enter holidays in some way, so enjoy Easter (if you celebrate it) and remember to exercise on monday -more than usual! Happy Easter!!
I hope people on these forums realize that typing with caps lock on just makes you look like you are yelling all the time.
Yes, no one has died from a peep, but it is still very valid to consider the ramifications to your system of adding a food that doesn't break down in acid.
I love peeps. I have sat down and ate whole packages before. I will never quit eating them just because they are bad for me.
the trick is Eat your Peeps with a full can of Coke or Pepsi (these sodas have the approximate pH of stomach acid.) The pH boost along with the doubling of chemical reactions with each 10 degrees of heat (body heat is our friend in this situation) render Peeps completely digestable. [the sugar carb part atleast,don't know bout the yellow or pink dye...or those crunchy eyes.]
PEEPS. YUM.
I wonder why the person stating that peeps are poison is anonymous! So are you saying that all items that are not dissolved by sulfuric and hydrochloric acid are poison. You failed to mention hydrofluoric... That kind of generalization is not logical and frankly gives science a bad wrap.
According to digestive physiology, acid really isn't that important to digestion. In fact, the only area in your digestive tract with a low pH is your stomach. Most of the food digestion occurs by the digestive enzymes in the small intestine; these will break down anything of caloric or nutritional value within the Peeps. The rest will simply pass on through the digestive tract. The moral of the story: Enjoy Easter and don't fear the cute little Peeps!
Peeps are best when they are a little stale...
Peeps are good for something. For our entertainment after Easter dinner, we plan on hosting a "Peeps Shoot". Purely in good fun. Our version a an easter egg roll... We plan on blasing the little peeps with our pellet/bb guns. The florescent colored ones make the best targets.
I hate to say this, but I'm not a big fan of Peeps. Give the the Cadbury Caramel eggs and the starburst jelly beans and I'm set.
SO WHAT IF PEOPLE TYPE IN ALL CAPS! SO WHAT... AND YES I AM YELLLING.. WE WERE TALKING ABOUT PEEPS. FIND SOMETHING TO DO.
Did you know that if you put Peeps in the microwave they expand and then explode!
I love PEEPS....and when I eat them I just sit down with the whole box and gorge on them...I do not share at all. I've been doing this for many years and I'm still alive! YUM!!! (I only do this at Easter even though you can get PEEPS for almost every holiday now....)
Peeps are the best! Have loved them since I was little..and are great when they are a little stale or from the freezer!
We love peeps around here.Yesterday my MIL ate her very first one. Our 2 yr old fed it to her.Hed been doing the Bunny Hop all afternoon and promplty puked Yellow Peep all over her. So I think she ate both her firs and last Easter Peep.We like em year round!
peeps are definitely better stale, that said I buy them for others...Reeses are the best.
Fun project, die some coconut green, make rice krispies treats shaped like birds nests, sprinkle on the coconut, put a fes small jellybird eggs in the nest and a Peeps chick on top.....too cute!
I love my peeps stale and the only good ones are either pink or yellow.
peeps dah bomb period.
Peeps are disgusting. How can anyone eat a ball of foamy sugar with sugar coating? It's way too sweet and bad for your teeth. I have good teeth. Maybe it's because I don't like candy. Yuck.
I haven't had any candy this year, but I had a delicious salad, with some chicken and potatoes today.
Give me savory any day over sickly sweet. I bet all the candy gorgers on here have cavities and bad teeth. Quit hitting the sugar and brush your teeth out there.
Too many people eat bad food. You could be one of them.
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