Healthy Food Choices: Popcorn

Contrary to popular belief, popcorn can be a healthy and nutritious snack. Learn how to pick your own healthy popcorn in this video clip.

Take Action

Popcorn can be a healthy snack
Avoid popcorn with additives
Popcorn is naturally high in fiber and low in calories

About this Author

Alice Merritt is currently the Campus Dietitian at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She has a masters degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in public health with a concentration on nutrition. Alice has worked as a registered dietician for four years, and believes that helping people reach their nutritional goals will lead to a long and healthy life.

ALICE MERRITT: Now I'm going to talk to you about popcorn. Contrary to what a lot of people think, popcorn can be a very healthy snack. Popcorn has gotten a bad reputation in the past because it's--a movie theater popcorn tends to be very high in calories and fat. One thing to look for in popcorn is lower fat, 94% fat free, and try to avoid popcorn that has a lot of butter and added salt and other things to it. Popcorn is naturally high in fiber and low in calories and fats. A lot of companies now are making 100-calorie packs, which are great to pop-ups. It's about 3 cups of popcorn and it's a good thing to munch on in the evenings, when you're a watching a movie. Important things to remember about popcorn is that it can be a very healthy snack. It's high in fiber and low in calories. You really want to watch out for the extra butter in movie theater popcorn that's cooked in high fats and added salt. A lot of the companies make the 100-calorie packs of popcorn; they're excellent snacks in the evenings. So remember popcorn next time you want to have a healthy snack.

Healthy Food Choices: Popcorn Video

Take Action

About this Author

Member Comments