Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome back–I hope you all had a bit of downtime during the holidays. I know I did; I slept, and ate (too much), and knitted, and hung out with my kids. I went to a movie, too, which is sort of a red-letter event around here. Lee and I went to see It’s Complicated, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I don’t go to a lot of movies. I saw New Moon when it came out, and Julie & Julia, but 2009 was unusual–three movies! In one year! I have two problems with movies, especially in theaters: I don’t like to sit still for that long, and the sensory experience is too much for me. I don’t have a lot of filters, so all that noise and visual stimulation is overwhelming. I always leave with a headache.
I also learned, years ago, that popcorn exacerbates the problem. I’m not inclined to like the stuff under any circumstances, because I don’t like crunchy food in general, but movie theater popcorn is especially problematic–it makes my movie headache much worse. I have no idea why; I just know to avoid it like the plague. So when we went to see It’s Complicated last week, I snacked on–nothing.
This is anathema to my kids–the idea of eating nothing at a movie. But it turns out I’m on to something. Last night I finally got around to reading the December issue of Nutrition Action, and the cover story was all about movie theater popcorn.* Yikes.
Here’s what I learned about the popcorn at Regal cinemas, which is what our local theater is:
First off, they pop their corn in coconut oil. Coconut oil is 90 percent saturated fat, which is the stuff that’s associated with higher “bad” cholesterol and heart disease. So even if you get it without the extra butter that the teenager behind the counter pours on with the little pump machine, it’s still pretty bad for your arteries.**
The numbers:
A small “dry” popcorn–670 calories (add butter, and it’s 800 calories)
Medium–1200 calories (butter makes it 1400)
That’s insanity. Even if you share a small, no butter, you’re getting a small meal’s worth of calories. And who shares a small? We all know full well if we’re planning to share, we get a medium. More room for two hands reaching into the bucket.
I saw a piece on the news last week about how movie ticket sales were up over Christmas weekend, and I can vouch for that. Lee and I went on the Saturday, at about five in the afternoon. We had to park in the last row of the parking lot, and then could only find two seats together in the third row, right up under the screen, so we had to tip our heads back to watch. It’s a 20-theater multiplex kind of place, and it was packed.
I hope all those people weren’t eating popcorn.
*I think you can read the whole article here; let me know if that link doesn’t work.
**The sodium content is also really high, in case you’re wondering.