Worst Movie Snacks

Thousands of people will head to the movies this weekend. When they arrive, many will head for the concession stand to grab a few snacks. After all, what goes better with a movie than fresh popcorn? But if you’re watching your calories (or just trying to eat healthy), be warned. Mindless snacking during a show can add hundreds of calories to your daily intake.

During a Cornell study, theater patrons with large buckets of popcorn ate nearly twice as much as those with medium buckets. And it gets even worse: some of the large buckets had two-week-old kernels instead of freshly popped corn. Those with the stale popcorn still ate 34 percent more than those with medium buckets. It just goes to further prove that absentminded snacking is your enemy.

To help you make better choices at the movies, the authors of “Eat This, Not That!” developed a guide to movie theater snack survival. The results are interesting. They say the worst snack at the movies is buttered popcorn. The butter used at the theater triples the calories and is full of trans fat (39 g fat total for a medium!). Instead, they recommend a soft pretzel (plain). It has no fat and only 290 calories.

Other choices include:

Junior Mints (1/2 box=170 calories, 3g fat) instead of M&Ms (1 bag=240 calories, 10g fat)

Good & Plenty (33 pieces=130 calories, 0g fat) instead of Twizzlers (1 pkg=480 calories, 2g fat, 64g sugar)

Swedish Fish (2 oz=200 calories, 0g fat, 28g sugar) instead of Dots (22 pieces=260 calories, 0g fat, 42g sugar)

For more great tips, check out the new Eat This, Not That! book.