Fun Size Chocolates Have More Calories Than You Think

It's post Halloween. And you've somehow managed to inherit, hide, rip off, find, buy, or be given lots of candy. Oh, come on.....They're just small fun size chocolates. Really now....how bad could these little delights be?!

After you read this, you might want to limit your chocolate desires to 2 fun size pieces a day.

Laura Dolson at About.com gave out a huge list of popular Halloween candy and chocolates. She went the extra mile by researching the calories and carbhohydrates. She did all the work for us, as we sat back and ate 2 Twix Fun Size chocolate treats. (Oops! That's a total of 100 calories and 14 g. carbs)

Let's put it this way. We were mortified to find that a simple, small Snickers Fun Size chocolate had 80 calories and 10 g. of carbs.

Here's the list, ladies. Well, someone had to spread the news:

Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars - Fun size (14 g) - 67 calories and 8 g carb
M&Ms, plain, Fun size (18 g) - 88 calories and 12 g carb
M&Ms, peanut, Fun size (18 g) - 93 calories and 11 g carb
Mr. Goodbar Snack size (17 g) - 90 calories and 9 grams carb
Nestle's Crunch Bars Fun size (10 g) 50 calories and 7 grams carb
Nestle's Crunch Caramel Bars - Fun size - 70 calories and 9 g carb
Three Muskateers bar, Fun size (15 g) - 64 calories and 11 g carb
Tootsie Rolls - Small bar - 50 calories and 10 g carb
Pay Day - Snack size (19 g) - 90 calories and 10 g carb
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Snack size (17 g) - 88 calories and 10 g carb
Almond Joy Snack size (15 g) - 80 calories and 10g carb
Baby Ruth Bar, Fun size (18 g each) - 85 calories and 13 g carb
Butterfinger Bar, Fun size (18 g each) - 85 calories 14 g carb
Heath Bar, Snack size (13 g) - 74 calories and 9 g carb
Kit Kat, Fun size (14 g) - 73 calories and 9 g carb
Milky Way bar, Fun size (17 g) - 75 calories and 12 g carb
Mounds bars, Snack size (17 g) - 83 calories and 9 g carb
Snickers Bars, Fun size (17 g) - 80 calories and 10 g carb
Take Five bar, Fun size (15 g) - 10 g carb
Twix, Snack size (10 g) - 50 calories and 7 g carb
Charleston Chew bar, Fun size (10 g) - 45 calories and 8 g carb
Milk Duds Snack size (12 g) - 54 calories and 9 g carb
Jujyfruits - 9 pieces - 60 calories and 16 g carb
Lifesavers Gummies (2 rolls per ounce) - 52 calories and 13 g carb per roll
Starburst, Fun size (2 pieces per stick) - 40 calories and 10 g carb
Blow Pop, Junior - 50 calories and 14 g carb
Tootsie Pops - 60 calories and 15 g carb
Hot Tamales - small pkg (14 g) - 50 calories and 12 g carb
Jr. Mints, Fun size (10 g) - 50 calories and 12 g carb
Raisinettes, Fun size (16 g - about 16 pieces) - 56 calories and 11 g carb

Latest research does indicate that chocolate can be good for you, namely your heart, skin, and brain. According to a CNN.com article in 2006, a little chocolate never hurt anyone.

"Studies have shown heart benefits from increased blood flow, less platelet stickiness and clotting, and improved bad cholesterol," says Mary B. Engler, Ph.D., a chocolate researcher and director of the Cardiovascular and Genomics Graduate Program at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing.

If your blood pressure is high, chocolate may help. Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University, recently found that hypertensive people who ate 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate per day for two weeks saw their blood pressure drop significantly, according to an article in the journal Hypertension. Their bad cholesterol dropped, too.

And we love this little research item: German researchers gave 24 women a half-cup of special extra-flavonoid-enriched cocoa every day. After three months, the women's skin was moister, smoother, and less scaly and red when exposed to ultraviolet light. The researchers think the flavonoids, which absorb UV light, help protect and increase blood flow to the skin, improving its appearance.

And lastly, preliminary research at West Virginia's Wheeling Jesuit University suggests chocolate may boost your memory, attention span, reaction time, and problem-solving skills by increasing blood flow to the brain. Chocolate companies found comparable gains in similar research on healthy young women and on elderly people.

There, now that should make us all feel a little better.