Year 2, Day 304: New Year's Day Happy Feet

On the very last day of my vacation, I eschew a second work out for a getaway to the movies with Ruby. Though the only showing of a film I didn't really want to see was at 4:30, I loaded up with Boston Lite popcorn and we vamoosed. Ruby has come a long way since I had to follow her around the theatre and take her out for the scary part. Now for a few Reese's Pieces, she'll sit still the whole time. It helped that it was crowded theatre. The movie was VERY strange (think Bas Lehrman does kids films) and no wonder, since the director was George Miller (of Mad Max fame). The message—that humans are destroying the natural habitat is not new, but some folks are bent of shape about it. I mean, go back to Planet of the Apes if you want to take an issue with that kind of messaging. Anyway, the film had a deeply disturbing color palate and a VERY disturbing passage where "Mumbles" is prisoner in an aquarium. I don't think the kids were old enough to get why it was disturbing, but I know most of the adults were giving it a "WHAT?" As it was, I was forced to eat some Reese's Pieces myself, especially when I noted that a serving size was 200 pieces!!!! I was generally appalled at the behavior at the movies. I either need to get out more often or much less often.

Breakfast
2 Sliced Eggs
2 SLices Balthazar Multi-Grain Bread
3 oz. 50% Jalapeno Cheddar
Coffee

Lunch:
Fritata
Salad

Snack
Beef Jerky
Half of a 6.5 oz Boston Lite Popcorn
Reese's Pieces

Dinner: Paparazzi
Garden Salad
Boneless Grilled Chicken
Broccoli
Asparagus

I've been studying up alot on the nutritional value of popcorn and how really really damaging the movie theatre version of it is. It's hard to get a real factual grasp because much of this information is kept under wraps and no movie theatre chains ever own up to any results. The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) made headlines a few years ago when they "outed" movie theatre popcorn but many critics say their only purpose in life is to make people "afraid of their food." When I did what research I could, the numbers really were horrifying. One Medium movie popcorn (which at 11 cups, is very small if you ask me) has 910 Calories, and 639 of them from fat. Compare that to a similar volume of Boston Lite Popcorn which has 420 calories and 120 of them from fat. (I also looked at Newman's Own microwave, and it was about the same as Boston Lite.) The total fat in movie popcorn is 71G while the Boston Lite is 12G. According to Nutrition Action, "That’s almost three day’s worth of sat fat, or what you’d get from six Big Macs." It has an unhealthy level of saturated fat because most chain theatres pop their corn in coconut oil (The Coolidge in Boston does not, as I have made popcorn there). Since the general rule of thumb is to avoid foods that have over half of their calories from fat, we'd all better be skipping the movie popcorn. Unless, that is, we're considering it "the treat" for the night. Most folks skip the chocolate in favor of the popcorn because it's healthier. In the final analysis, it's probably better to get the Raisinets or Goobers because at least you're getting some nutrition from them. It's such a sad state of affairs, because I truly love movie popcorn. Now I will have to content myself with sneaking in a bag of Boston Lite everytime I go and want popcorn. But that's nothing for me, since Emily and I once snuck in an entire Thai dinner, with Salad. But we were more adventuresome then.