A Whole Grain gets a “bad” rep
My cousin bought me a wedding countdown clock a couple of weeks after Cory and I got engaged. I remember months ago when the little clock had 345 days till the wedding. Well, I looked yesterday and it said…
136 Days! Time is flying by but I still have lots of wedding planning to do (with the help of my talented sister, I am making all of the invitations and stationary for the wedding). Plus, I’m in two of my friends’ weddings in the month of March. Needless to say, I have been very busy planning not only my wedding stuff but also my friends’ bridal showers and parties. I have to decided to cut back to posting on the blog to every other day instead of daily during the week. I think reducing the amount of times I post each week will give me a better life/blog balance… and after all, living a balanced life is what wellness is all about!
On to some food talk… Popcorn “could” be a great snack. I often recommend air popped or light popcorn to my patients as a great whole grain snack option. Popcorn (that’s not drenched in butter or oil) is low in calories, low in fat, and high in fiber. I have Newman’s Own Pop’s Corn in my pantry.
You get a lot of bang for your calorie buck with popcorn! 3.5 cups of popcorn is only 120 calories with 4 grams of fiber! An even better option is to buy the kernels only, put in a brown paper bag folded over a couple times, and microwave 1-2 minutes. 3.5 cups of air popped popcorn is ~109 calories with only 1.4 grams of total fat (0 saturated fat) and 4 grams of fiber.
Movie theater popcorn is a different story. According to a CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) news release, a large popcorn from the US’s largest movie theater chain has 1,200 calories and 60 grams of saturated fat! The American Heart Association recommends that people limit saturated fat intake to less than 7% of total calories each day. If you are consuming 2,000 calories per day, 7% of calories equals 15.6 gm fat. So consuming a large popcorn at the movies will exceed your daily limit of saturated fat by 385%!
What’s wrong with saturated fat? Saturated fat, mainly found in foods from animal origin, is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. Foods from animals include beef, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses and other dairy products made from whole and 2 percent milk.
My friend Lori emailed me the CSPI article a few weeks ago and I was a little shocked by how high the calorie and saturated fat content actually was in movie theater popcorn!
Are there any foods that “shocked” you after you learned the nutritional content?
Kasey
8 comments 
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January 13th, 2010 at 8:46 am
i LOVEEEEE popcorn! as a snack! its amazing how many is in one 100 calorie pack!!
January 13th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Mmm….now I want some popcorn!
Just found your blog…it’s fabulous!
January 13th, 2010 at 10:54 am
gosh, I’ve been craving popcorn for a week. Now after your post, I’m just going to have to get some today!
Congrats on your upcoming wedding. It feels like yesterday I was planning mine. Fun times!
January 13th, 2010 at 11:23 am
I’ll admit, I had a movie theater popcorn over the weekend! Yep, and it was deeeelicious. Nick and I go to the movies MAYBE twice a year, so I figure it won’t hurt. I do love popcorn, and normally I bring my own to the theater, but we had a GC so we needed to spend it
I love Trader Joe’s bagged popcorn. There is something about it that is just amazing.
It sounds like you are really busy with weddings, and life in general. I wish you luck with all your planning. I am excited for that point in my life, although I know it’s a lot of work. I’m learning form everyone else!
January 13th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
60 grams of saturated fat! That is crazy. I admit, I’ll get it once and a while but will get a small and split it. I still don’t usually finish it.
But I definitely love popcorn as a snack. I will recommend to patients all the time.
That clock is too cute! Good luck with the wedding prep and bridal shower planning!
January 13th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
The wedding countdown clock is such a great idea! What an exciting time!
I remember about 15 years ago when there were the first(?) reports of how bad movie theater popcorn was, and I was truly shocked back then…
January 13th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
That is crazy, I won’t be eating popcorn from the movies anymore!!! They should not be able to sell that. Thanks for the info:)
January 16th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Wedding planning must be fun…and a little crazy. I like your “life/blog balance” plan.
. The only thing that comes to mind as a recent shocker was reading the ingredients on sugar-free rasberry jam. My roommate had some and I tried it (10 cals per tbsp) soo bland! Then I checked the ingredients…first ingredient was water. Water!! Followed by a long list of unknown additives. I compared it to my super tasty apple-cranberry butter from Trader Joe’s which is still only 20 cals per tbsp and the first ingredient is cranberry (naturally, right?) Its soo good, all-natural ingredients, and in the end a much better option than the fake stuff. So that’s my story 
Have a good weekend!!