Going to the movies can cost you up to 1200 empty calories and 6 cheeseburgers worth of fat. Here are your best bets for a balanced diet. Some a healthy but most are just lesser evil options. Click the thumbnail below to watch the video, or keep reading…
Ok, so the popcorn… let’s talk about that for a minute. A serving of movie theater popcorn usually has 20 cups worth of mindless noshing that has between 400-1200 calories, 1500 mg of sodium and 100 g of fat! To put this into perspective, the fat is equivalent to more than 6 fast food cheeseburgers and the artery clogging saturated fat equals the maximum recommendation for a combined three days!
In addition, studies have shown that when you watch TV or movie, you tend to consume more calories because you are distracted. Choosing packages that are already portion controlled will be your savior.
So what do I bring to the movies? I am a cheater. I BYO snacks (‘Bring Your Own’), why else do I carry a stupidly large bag all the time? I make my own trail mix at home by mixing a portioned controlled combination of nuts and dried fruit packet with low calorie/high volume snacks like Divvies popcorn or high fiber cereal (in the video I share GoLean Heart To Heart because it was shot at MIT La Verde convenience mart).
When I go to the Dedham movie theater, I stop by Whole Foods and make my own mix from the bulk bins, with a few candies. Have you guys tried the candy bar yet? Don’t. It’s addicting. The caramel “quail eggs” are amazing. I wish I never tasted them. They also have organic and natural candies like jelly beans and gummy bears, but since you are serving yourself out of a bin, practice portion control and only put in the bag what you want to eat.
Other BYO but not so fun options include, string cheese, shelled edamame, baby carrots and pepper slices, and grapes.
If you forget to plan ahead or do not have the ability, a 3.1 ounce box of Snowcaps has about 200 calories. The ones you buy at the theater usually have twice that amount so share it with a friend. Twenty Junior Mints are about 200 calories, one of my favorites. M&M pretzels are also a great buy at a drugstore before you get to the theater. The package has less than 200 calories. If you love those gummy Raspberries & Blackberries like me, 20 pieces have about 140 calories.
For more “healthier options” check out my new video down below. On Thursday, I’ll be sharing my buddy Monica from RunEatRepeat’s marathon training tips on the YT channel so don’t forget to subscribe. I’ll be shooting a video all day in LA so I probably won’t have a chance to post it here but subscribers get notified!
