Low in calories as long as you hold the butter
Tuesday February 3, 2009

130 calories
240 with butter

3.5 cups
per serving

Snack Upgrade

Homemade microwave popcorn

under 200 calories, after exercise, afternoon snack, lose weight, healthy, kid friendly, late night, salty

Why two faces? Can't you decide, devilish or healthy? It is really up to you, loyal reader. The number of microwave popcorn choices is staggering.

Microwave popcorn is a fast and easy snack that can be quite satisfying. I chose to write about the microwave version because it seems to be the most popular. There are SO many brands and types that it would take me a few pages to really discuss all of them. So, here are a few things I have learned that I believe are important:

94% fat free is much less in calories - for 3.5 cups of popcorn it is about 130 calories.
With butter - for 3.5 cups is 240 calories. If you are dieting, I would avoid this option, though it probably tastes better than the fat free version.
Kettle corn - sometimes has Sucralose instead of sugar (probably to keep the calories down). I would avoid Sucralose for kids.

So, I would recommend small bags of the 94% fat free version to have a reasonable snack for a smiley face. If you eat a large bag (7 cups) of the "with butter" version you are looking at 480 calories, which is a very high calorie snack.

Choose the one with the least calories that tastes good to you.

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