Popcorn

anxietyfairy · April 28

How much do you eat? what do you have with it?

I've seen that the average serving is 2 cups of popped corn. That's ridiculous to me, I'm going to have 4-6 cups. I usually make about 70g of kernals and it's about 450 calories before I add anything, which is crazy, I might as well have a bag of chips!

How do you do it? do you think two cups is enough?

SafariGalNYC · April 29

yeah if I want a snack… probably 1-2 cups…I like it plain. Sometimes a lil sea salt.

air popped is 30ish cals per cup..

what kind of popcorn is 450 cal? 🍿

anxietyfairy · April 29

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48586976#Comment_48586976

I weigh the kernels

SafariGalNYC · April 29

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48587350#Comment_48587350

Maybe it’s a different brand .. this is bobs red mill.
75 g would be 300 cals. - maybe this would save cals?

tomcustombuilder · April 29

popcorn is like salad. People think both are lo cal then you start putting things on it. I put a quarter cup of kernels in a paper bag and put it in the microwave for three minutes and put nothing on it except a little garlic salt when it comes out, that's about as low as you can make it and that makes enough to satisfy a snacking craving and that's about 200 cal

Jthanmyfitnesspal · April 29

I switched my snacking away from chips or popcorn to fruit, dried fruit (primarily dates), nuts, and small amounts of chocolate (after dinner). When I say nuts, I mean tree nuts, not peanuts, which actually aren't technically nuts. (I don't have anything against them, I just like tree nuts better.) The problem for me is that a small carb snack doesn't satisfy me, just as @anxietyfairy says: I want 4-6 cups, not two. Perfect for fattening up cattle!

Now, the problem is that nuts are calorie-dense. Also, there is an odd custom of selling nuts heavily salted, although I can find large bags of unsalted roasted mixed tree nuts at my grocery store. The fats in tree nuts are very healthful, but you really need to weigh out an oz or find a serving dish that reliably holds close to that. Dates have been a recent addition to my diet. It actually took me a while to get used to them, but they are really satisfying and you can carry them around in a baggie with, perhaps, and oz of nuts.

One discovery about fruit is that a whole orange is an incredibly satisfying snack. I read a peer-reviewed paper that actually rated how satisfying different ~100kcal snacks were, and an orange came out on top. They're sweet, but also have a lot of fiber, which balances them out.

springlering62 · April 29

I buy Orville Redenbacher kernels in four pound containers, and use a silicone microwave popper, which pops without oil and is easy to rinse and put away.

Someone here once suggested using a mix of butter and soy sauce, and it is amazing. Tastes outstanding but a low cal seasoning.

I can use half a tablespoon of margarine (30 cal) and a tbsp low sodium soy (5), and two servings of popcorn.

(Plain kernels are 130 calories per 40gr unpopped)

That’s 260+35 calories for a huge mixing bowl full of popcorn goodness. (I usually halve that though. The mixing bowl is for special days when I’ve got calories to spare.)

if you’re eating 450 calories, you’re either wasting a lot of calories on oils, or making a brown paper grocery sack full of popcorn lol.

springlering62 · April 29

also,

I have to laugh. The reason I started eating so much popcorn was to avoid two or three servings of chips.

When I come back from a particularly sweaty class, I crave salt. Potato chips are fast and handy but kill my calorie goal.

It’s much less of a diary hit to pop corn , and soy or salt it heavily to replenish sodium I’ve sweated out.

AnnPT77 · April 29

Truth in advertising: I don't eat much popcorn. But I experimented with it during weight loss. I put the kernels in a tempered glass dish with a lid, small layer of kernels in the bottom, and microwave until it mostly stops - not completely - popping. Works great.

For me, part of the problem was that it's mostly the oil/butter that adds bunches of calories. I like my popcorn at least salted, maybe flavored, but nothing sticks to the popcorn without oil, that I could figure out.

Until . . .

I tried putting just a small amount of very salty water in the bottom of the glass dish, barely the amount to reach the top of a single layer of kernels or thereabouts. The popcorn popped fine, the water distributed the salt over the popcorn reasonably satisfyingly, the popcorn surprisingly didn't become un-crunchy. I'm sure the exact amount of water matters, but I'm not a precision recipe gal, sadly. I suspect the water thing would work with some other seasonings that will dissolve, too, but not with things that burn easily (sugars, say) or that would clump up.

I was usually eating just an ounce of kernels or thereabouts, but that reasonably filled a 4-cup glass dish for just over 100 calories. That would mean 7-8 cups of popcorn for a couple hundred or so calories, which makes me wonder what's up with the 450 calories, too. Even 100 g of kernels would be 300-some calories, according to most online sources, so 70g should be mid-200s calories.

I would never use the commercial popcorn microwave packets or jars of flavored kernels, personally. Some have ingredients I avoid, sure . . . but mostly I just find them not tasty, and very high in calories.

TracyL963 · April 29

This is what I have most nights. My Presto microwave popping bowl requires less oil & more kernels pop. I use oil because I think it helps the salt stick. This is about 5 cups popped.

Jolly Time - Popcorn Seed (Unpopped) , 2 tablespoons	110	26	1	4	7	0
Coconut oil, 1.5 teaspoon	56	0	7	0	0	0
Gold Medal - Flavacol Seasoning Salt, 0.25 tsp	0	0	0	0	0	460
Add Food Quick Tools	166	26	8	4	7	460

neanderthin · April 29

I might have popcorn with butter and salt maybe twice a year and have never really been concerned how much I eat and generally it's until the container slips out of my hands because of the butter. 😁

glassyo · April 29

Ahhhhh, the days when I could eat huge bowls of popcorn and not worry about calories or carbs :)

So now I'm the weirdo here but that's nothing new :)

I have a silicone microwave popcorn popper, too, and just fill it up to the line which is around 45 grams of kernels I think. It's a huuuuuge bowl which I could easily down in one sitting but, since I have to worry about those delicious carbs, I portion it all out into snack bags of 6 grams of popcorn each. (I like to eat a variety of little things which is why it's not a big portion.)

Portioning keeps me from just sticking my hand in the bowl all willy nilly and it lasts about 2 weeks. I don't even put anything on it altho I have some nacho kernel seasonings in my pantry.

Sometimes I go crazy and buy flavored popcorn from Trader Joe's. I surprisingly really like the more savory flavors when I'm a sweets girl all the way.

springlering62 · April 30

I am clutching my pearls (kernels?) at the thought of 6 grams of popcorn.

That’s some iron willpower you’ve got there.

I’m genuflecting on my knees in sheer wonder.

glassyo · April 30

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48588844#Comment_48588844

It's nice to be revered for once but you can get up. I don't eat it on its own. 😛 I eat like a whole bunch of different things for dinner but this is what it looks like.

Whoa! Just noticed the first thing and the last thing I bought from Temu are in the same pic. :)

Popcorn

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