Is popcorn considered to be a healthy snack?

popcorn healthy

Find out if popcorn could be your new favorite healthy snack!

When you go to the movie theatre and snack on some popcorn drenched in salted butter, it couldn’t possibly feel like a healthy snack. But did you know that popcorn could actually be healthy? If you eat it the right way, that is. Find out how and why popcorn can actually be a good snack option.

Nutritional information

For the people that really like to know what they’re eating; here are some of the nutrients found in popcorn. When you eat one cup of air-popped pop corn that hasn’t been salted, you are eating less than one gram of fat, zero milligrams of cholesterol, less than 1 milligram of salt, 1.21 grams of fibers and less than one gram of protein. Corn is what is known as a whole grain. Even when you’re eating the popped kind of corn, you’re still eating a whole grain type of food. And that comes with some great health benefits. It contains magnesium, potassium, vitamins A, B, and E and because popcorn is a whole grain, it is pretty filling too!

Whole grains have been associated with less inflammation and a lower risk of health conditions like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Healthy or not?

So, that means popcorn is healthy right? Well, yes. But only if you eat it without salt and with moderation. When you make yourself a bowl of popcorn, you don’t use only one cup. You usually use three or more. And the nutritional information listed above applies to one cup of air-popped popcorn. If you eat three cups of popcorn, the amount of salt triples. And additional to other health risks that come with an increased salt intake, it might cause you to feel bloated after eating too.

If you only like your corn popped with extra flavor like in a certain oil or sweetened or salted with butter, then pay extra attention to the kinds of ingredients you use to add the flavor. That plays a huge factor in whether your popcorn snack is still considered healthy or not.

But if you do want to indulge in a craving and snack on some salted popcorn during the movie, then go for it! It is just too delicious a snack to completely swear off forever. And a movie is way more fun when you have something to snack on during.

Read more: 4 reasons why you should eat more sunflower seeds

Source: Health | Image: Unsplash, Yulia Khlebnikova