Is popcorn a healthy snack?

Jess75

Yes, it sounds like a nice low fat snack to me. Just make sure there isn't any trans fats in it and you should be fine. And I would say 2 cups would be good, unless you went over your calories for the day.

Lenin

hollerback,

Are you talking about the MICROWAVE Orville Redenbacher Kettle Korn. That's 35 calories per cup, of which 25 calories are fat (71%.) Since the first ingredient after CORN is partially hydrogenated soy bean oil, the trans fats are high.

NO, this is NOT a healthy food.

(I had to check because I couldn't IMAGINE a microwave product having zero fat...even hot air popped has some natural corn oil.)

monacks

I bought a bag of popcorn kernals that has .5 grams of fat and 100 calories for two tablespoons of unpopped kernels. I put them in a paperbag and pop them in the microwave. This is alot of popcorn and tastes pretty good. I spray it with those no calorie sprays, like Olivio and its pretty good. Popcorn has a lot of fiber in it, so I think it is a good snack.

yellowroselisa

Only 4 carbs? Is that per cup. I gave up popcorn almost 2 years ago, I used to love it.

sivyaleah

You might want to try the microwave popcorn made by Smart Balance. No trans fats at all. I use the low-salt lowfat one, because my husband needs to watch his intake, that one is a bit shall we say bland and takes some getting used to (which we have) but they do also make another version which has more salt and a bit more fat but is still a lowfat product, again with no transfats and might be a better transition from regular popcorn at first.

Laurie

LV40

I haven't seen those yet, I'll have to look for them.

What I do is pretty simple - I bought an air popper. While the corn is popping, a layer at a time, I stand there and spritz it with fat-free butter spray and sprinkle on some cheese-flavored popcorn seasoning. Makes you feel like you're cheating, but you're not. And it takes away the guesswork of what's in the microwave stuff. I control the amount of salt. In fact, with the butter spray and cheese sprinkles, I don't use salt at all.

sivyaleah

I believe the Smart Balance, for the lowfat/lowsalt version is only about 120 calories per serving (i.e.; about 40 per cup) and only 2 or 3 grams of fat per serving. The other version, is a bit more in calories and I think it was 4 or 5 grams of fat, still not bad by snack standards. Smart Balance also now makes a "butter" spray, made mostly from a soy product I think, which is listed as 0 calories for a 5-spray serving. I use this to doctor up the LFLS version, along with a bit more salt (like I said, it's my husband w/the high blood pressure - not me LOL). It took a while to get used to it but I now really enjoy it when I need something crunchy and salty.

Also, on the snack front - Nabisco/Kraft are making these wonderful "100 Calorie" packs, all 100 calories and about 3 grams of fat per pack. They now have several versions - Mini Chips Ahoy, Mini Oreos (sans cream), Mini Cinnamon Crisps, Cheese Nips (my fav), Ritz Cracker Mix (has some pretzels and chex thrown in), some other cracker I can't remember right now and and last but not least, gummy fruit snacks made w/real fruit juice. NONE have trans fats, which is great. If you can keep from eating more than 1 pack at a time, I think they are a great snack when you really don't want a piece of fruit or veggie, and they teach you what a portion looks like at the same time. I find these invaluable as my biggest downfall are those crunchy/salty type of foods. I can ignore a piece of chocolate but watch out if there's an open bag of chips around

Laurie

Cuppycake

I air pop mine and use salt substitute, no butter. That seems pretty healthy to me, and it tastes good.