Talk about scary movies — ordering at the theater

Many of us will be shopping this week for Christmas and a nice break from the hustle and bustle is to go see a movie, so that is exactly what I did. But what do you do when you are hungry and you walk in and smell all the aromas like buttery popcorn that seems to “go with” the movies? You better be prepared! I honestly never used to go to the movies without gorging on a large popcorn, chocolate covered peanuts and a large soda to the tune of 2,493 calories!
I used to use it as an excuse to ‘pig out’ until one day I saw a woman during the previews, stuffing her face full of popcorn and she probably would have been done before the movie even started — just like me. I realized that was just an excuse to gorge and I needed to change my habits. I first learned how to walk into a theater and breathe through my mouth and not through my nose, so I didn’t even smell the popcorn. I remember the first day I ever watched a movie without eating anything and it was like a miracle!
Recently, I visited the Cobb Theatre over in Wesley Chapel. I didn’t have time to stop and grab some dinner before the movie (which is what I normally do so I am not tempted) so I found something to eat there. We all know there aren’t the most nutritious things to eat at a movie theater. I didn’t feel like eating popcorn since I eat air-popped popcorn all the time at home, so I got a pretzel. Yes, “Miss Eat Whole Grain” wherever you can but there was no option for whole grain, so you do the best with what you have, right? It was 583 calories and 14 grams of fat including the small side of nacho cheese sauce. I used some discipline, consuming only half of the cheese sauce. I sometimes use mustard but I didn’t. I eat so healthy most of the time that you need to let yourself have stuff like that every once in a while. For you avid moviegoers who enjoy eating popcorn at the movies, let’s look at the calories:
-Small popcorn with NO added butter: 225 calories and 11 grams of fat (Best choice)
-Small popcorn with added butter: 630 calories and 50 grams of fat! (Whoh momma)
-Medium popcorn with NO added butter: 434 calories and 20 grams of fat (Not too bad)
-Large popcorn with NO butter: 664 calories and 31 grams of fat (Pretty high)
-Large popcorn with butter: 1,640 calories and 126 grams of fat (Yikes! Run away)
The other challenge with popcorn is the salt, which can make you retain lots of water, hence, more weight gain. If you must have something to drink, grab a water or do I like I did and get the hot tea with honey. That helped get my mind off munching on food while watching the movie “Tangled” (which, by the way, was a great movie)