The traditional snack we love to have while watching a movie, popcorn gets devoured by the handful. Popcorn gets both a bad and good reputation, being considered junk food as well as a healthy snack option. The truth lies in how the popcorn is made and what is added to it.
Popcorn is a corn kernel that when heated up, turns into fluffy, light, bites. When made the right way, it can be considered healthy. When made at the movie theatre or for commercial sale at the grocery stores, there’s typically plenty of salt, butter, and sugar added for flavor. Eating popcorn aligns with the concept of making your own food at home being the best option for health purposes and knowing what ingredients are used. That way, the nutritional benefits can be enjoyed which includes popcorn having protein, being high in fiber, as well as being low in fat and sugar, with zero cholesterol.
The best way to make popcorn to reap the health benefits and stick with a snack option that won’t harm your waistline, is to air-pop popcorn or make it on the stove. The kernel is a whole grain which means it is not processed prior to being cooked. Therefore, as a whole grain, popcorn does have plenty of fiber. One serving of popcorn (about 24 grams) contains 3.5 grams of fiber and our daily recommended amount of fiber to have is 25 grams per day. One serving also has 3 grams of protein, which isn’t a ton, but we can always benefit from protein adding up to our daily amount needed of at the very least, 50 grams per day. Plain Jane popcorn also has calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and potassium. One cup of popcorn also only has about 100 calories.
Usually when we buy popcorn, the bad qualities overshadow any nutritional benefit. This is when salt is added, bumping up sodium levels. Butter might be added and that bumps up the fat content. The bags of popcorn that go in the microwave usually have a good number of additives that are chemicals our bodies don’t recognize and must break down. It might taste good, but your digestive tract doesn’t think it’s good. Another dilemma with popcorn is that sticking to one serving and that tests your willpower, especially when you’re presented with an entire bucket of it at the movies or even having the whole bag in front of you. Sure, we can have the best of intentions, but when given the option to reach for another handful, well, you’ve been in that situation.
Popcorn is low calorie and does have its nutritional perks, but being satiated with just one serving can be hard. Keeping to the unsalted and no butter type Is also challenging. Most of us grew up warming up a bag in the microwave, devouring it at the movies, or having some kettle corn at the fair. To back track and decide to have it just plain and just one cup is possible, just not easy at first. Being healthy takes an effort but popcorn shows that we can still have the foods we enjoy, we just have to have them at their natural, pure form, and in the appropriate amount.
