Friday, July 25, 2008

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Movie Food

If you’re in the mood for something salty and crunchy – the ugliest choice you can make is the large buttered popcorn. It’s 20 servings worth of saturated fat. A better choice, but still bad are the nachos with cheese. A serving size equals 7 chips – not the 25 you get when you order it. The best choice you can make when you’re craving a salty snack is a soft pretzel. It has zero saturated fat and a serving – which is one pretzel – is only 280 calories.

If you’re craving a sugary sweet snack at the movies – the ugliest choice you can make is a box of Whoppers – those malted milk balls. The box holds more than two servings and it’s loaded with calories and fat. A better, but still bad choice is Raisinettes. They’re good because raisins are good source of iron, potassium and fiber – but Raisinettes are still high in fat. The best choice for your sweet craving is Jolly Rancher chews. They’re hard to eat so you won’t just gulp them down – and they’re low in fat. Keep in mind, a serving is six pieces – not the 30 that come in the bag. So get them and share.

So now that you’ve got your snacks – what about the drink? Forgo the Blue Raspberry Icee Slushy. That’s just empty calories and tons of sugar. Skip the soda too and opt for unsweetened iced tea. Low cal – zero fat – and the tea will be filling you with disease fighting anti-oxidants while you’re watching Meryl Streep singing and dancing along the Grecian coast.

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