It’s the summer movie season, which, for many people who struggle with their weight, can easily become one long, drawn-out calorie download. There are several reasons for this.

For openers, it is virtually impossible for many moviegoers to sit through 90-plus minutes of cinematic absorption without something to munch, chew, guzzle, or snack on. Then there are the kinds of food items that generally fill the average theater concession stand and that, as noted in a previous post, are not likely to be confused with the local health food store.

Soft drinks, buttered popcorn, nachos, candy and more — and all provided in the handy Block Party size, the better to justify equally enormous prices.

This systematic supersizing is a particular problem given the observed fact that the more food you provide someone, especially when they are distracted by 15-foot tall actors, captivating plots, and lavish special effects, the more they will consume. (Cornell researchers found that moviegoers given large popcorn buckets ate twice as much as those with medium sizes; indeed, they were so oblivious that they ate one-third more even when the large size contained stale, two-week-old popcorn.)

The final blow is that this is not a supermarket, and the food items are not lying on a shelf where the buyer can examine the packaging for nutritional data. They are inside a glass display case, their contents information conveniently out of sight (or nonexistent, in the case of popcorn). As befits the theatergoing experience, if you’re counting calories, you’re completely in the dark.

Calorie counts provide their own horrors

Fortunately — and perhaps dismayingly — staff writer J. Scott Wilson of KIRO-TV and Men’s Health contributors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding have done some repertorial legwork and come up with some hard fats-and-calories numbers for a few of the most popular hazards to one’s diet you can find at the local snack bar. By their numbers:

• Popcorn: At the low end, a medium box with no butter has a modest 951 calories, no fat, and no cholesterol. At the other end, a large bucket (around 20 cups!) with butter delivers 1,238 calories and 78 grams of fat, 49 of them saturated — approximately two days’ worth.
• Nachos: 40 chips with four ounces of what they call cheese conveys 1,101 calories — roughly equal to two large McDonald’s fries orders or two Quarter Pounders with (actual) cheese — and 59 grams of fat, 18.5 of them saturated.
• Pretzel: The large, soft kind with cheese topping delivers 643 calories and 14.5 fat grams, three of them saturated, and four of them trans fats — amounts worthy of a dinner entree.
• To wash this stuff down, you may grab a Coke. If it’s a 32-ounce medium, unembellished, KIRO calculates 236 calories, but the Men’s Health team went for a lake-like 44 ounce Cherry Coke and were slammed with 572 calories. With just a medium popcorn and Coke, you’re at nearly 1,200 calories, and we haven’t even gotten to the candy counter yet, where you will find…
• M&Ms: The 5.3-ounce plain bag contains 750 calories and 32 grams of fat, the same size peanut version just nudges the calories up to 786, but with just over 39 grams of fat. Other choices include the 6.7-ounce bag of Skittles (765 calories, nine grams fat), the 4.4-ounce box of Starburst (440 and 10.5), the king size Twix bar (475 and 23.8), the four-ounce box of Milk Duds (495 and 17.5), and the 4.75-ounce box of Junior Mints (432 and 13.5).

So what should you eat?

And in answer to your obvious question, the least dietetically destructive movie snack bar treat is…not Raisinets, whose 3.5 ounce box provides not only a respectable 380 calories and 16 grams of fat, but a bonus of four milligrams of cholesterol.

In fact, the low-impact winner is our old pliant friend, the 3.5-ounce bag of Gummi Bears, whose 130 calories and zero grams of fat will go easy on your heart even as they fill the spaces between your teeth like some sugary, gelatinous spackle, becoming a source of future revenue for your dentist.

In short, the concession stand at the typical American motion picture theater is a veritable mine field for those of excessive heft, and even for those who aren’t. Other than that, enjoy the movie!

(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 and is filed under Diet Tips, Food miscellaneous. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.