Posted on 06/12/2008 1:02:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin
At a movie theater, a lot of the stuff you carry away from the concession counter is a horror show in its own right. And it comes with a sequel: When you debut in your bathing suit this summer, everyone will know what you did last night at the movies — you overate, so now you overflow.
Not that I blame you, of course. I've been there, too. Engrossed by the big screen, too many of us fall victim to giant soda cups, popcorn buckets, and candy boxes, which are sneakily designed to keep the munchfest moving swiftly for the duration of the film.
One Cornell study showed just how thoughtless it can be. Researchers gave patrons different-sized popcorn buckets, and those with large buckets ate nearly twice as much as those with medium buckets. And get this: In some of the buckets, researchers traded out the fresh-popped corn for two-week-old kernels! Those moviegoers munched away so absentmindedly that they put away 34 percent more stale popcorn than those with medium buckets of fresh corn!
So before you plunk down your hard-earned cash for The Incredible Hulk, consider how you may come to resemble him if you mess up a lot at the concession stand. Here's where the real danger lies:
Large Popcorn 1,283 calories 78 g fat (49 g saturated) 1,850 mg sodium
Yes, yes, it’s the custom; everyone at the theatre is eating popcorn. In fact, each American consumes more than 200 cups of popcorn a year, and it’s no surprise considering a movie theatre’s large bucket is 20 cups in itself! But snub the butter soak and you’ll save yourself from two-and-a-half day’s worth of saturated fat.
Large Nachos with Cheese (40 chips, 4 oz.) 1,101 calories 59 g fat (18.5 g saturated) 1,580 mg sodium
This movie-time snack has more calories than two large orders of McDonald’s French fries. In fact, you’d still be saving fat and calories if you smuggled in two Quarter Pounders with Cheese instead!
Snickers Popables (5 oz., 46 pieces) 692 calories 33 g fat (14.6 g saturated) 73 g sugars
The name's cute, but think about this: your chewy-nougat body in a bathing suit. The Snickers will be following you in two ways. The combined fat-load of these little popables is equal to two-and-a-half full-sized Snickers bars. So even if you split the bag, you’d still do better to down a real candy bar.
Whoppers (5 oz. box) 676 calories 24 g fat (20.3 g saturated) 88 g sugars
How many malt balls does it take to run up a day’s worth of saturated fat? About 70, the number in a theatre-sized box of Whoppers. This candy's a long-standing classic, but so are fat-guy comedians. You want to join that jowly double bill?
44 oz. Cherry Coke 572 calories 0 g fat 154 g sugars
The theater owners say it's all about convenience: They give you the super large size cup, so you won't have to come back if you want seconds. Oh, and they can charge you twice as much up front while they're at it.
That’s why movie-theatre cups (and everything else in the theatre) have grown to such mammoth proportions. This beverage, for instance, has 50 percent more calories than a half-pound of ground beef, and every bit of it comes from —yikes! — high fructose corn syrup. (For other drinks that will lay waste to your waistline, check out this eye-popping report on America's worst drinks!)
Large Soft Pretzel with 3 oz. Nacho Cheese 643 calories 14.5 g fat (3 g saturated, 4 g trans) 3,068 mg sodium
The pretzel weighs in at 5 ounces, and it holds nearly 100 calories in each ounce of soft bread. Top it with a massive load of warm, trans-fatty cheese sauce, and you’ve got the plot of a disease-of-the-week movie.
This "snack" packs more calories than a proper dinner, and well over a day’s worth of sodium. If you buy one of these salty dogs, don't eat it: Just throw it over your shoulder for good luck. (Do the same with these saltiest foods in America!)
Which is why I NEVER spend a cent for that stuff at the Muvico. I don’t think I’ve had any candy at the theaters since I was kid with a quarter to spend on Dots or Black Crows or Boston Baked Beans.
Shhh......or you’ll have the food nazis attention and it’ll all be banned.
I've been known to smuggle in a bottle of water sometimes. ;-)
What sort of socks does one wear to see a chick flick?
In my experience, a kid with a HUGE broken bag of Skittles, sitting in the furthest back row is the WORST thing eaten at the movies.
That ‘avalanche of Skittles’ lasted for a full two minutes as they ALL rolled and bounced to the front of the theater.
At our local theater, if you buy a big popcorn, you can re-fill the bucket again on your way out. The chickens like the rare occasion when we go to the movies as that second bucketful is always for them. :)
President Obama will decree from now on you get your choice of tofu sticks (softer and less likely to make a crunching sound than celery or carrots) or green tea kool aid (in 8 ounce caffine free portions) or homus and pita plates.
And don’t sit so close to the screen “it’s bad for your eyes”. Sit up straight. No talking in the theater. No gum chewing...
Kramer: Go get ‘em, Death Blow! (To Brody) You okay?
Brody: Uh, I got a cramp.
Kramer: Well, it’s no wonder. You ate that entire bag of candy.
/snip
Jerry: Yeah well, maybe if he didn’t lick his fingers before he reached in the bag we would’ve eaten some. Serves him right.
Judging by what I saw on the "Sex and the City" crowd when we went to see the Indiana Jones movie a couple of weeks ago, very expensive-looking shoes or sandals that required no socks. LOL - that whole thing cracked me up. The line to get into that movie was ALL women and most of them were dressed, coiffed, manicured and made-up to the hilt...just to see a freakin' movie!
I'm not much into chick-flicks...
Movie theater related thread by another FReeper (young punks talking on a cellphone and causing trouble):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2029872/posts
You didn’t strike me as the chick flick type. Your description matches the crowd I saw waiting for SATC when I went to see “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” on Sunday.
We should all just crawl in a hole and die.
Someone with the capacity to eat an entire large popcorn singlehandedly probably doesn’t worry too much about an extra 1300 calories.
Something that can hold a toothbrush as prep for the payback a man expects for seeing a “chick flick”? ;-P
(/sarc for the sarcasm impaired)
2) If they really cared, they would be screaming about the prices. I haven't eaten movie food at a movie in fifteen years; why should I pay $9.00 for nachos I can get made better at Taco Bell on the way home for $3.50, or make myself at home for $2.00? Trust me, you want to go to grocery store for the $1.00 on sale large box of Mike and Ikes and take that baby to the movies. (When The Children Who Have No Idea What The Value Of A Dollar Is ask for movie food, I always tell them that I and the theater have an agreement: I don't watch movies at the grocery store, and I don't buy candy or popcorn from the movie theater.)
3) Now that I have bought up to the 32" high def LCD at home, there's hardly ANYTHING I need to go toss $20 for a movie theater experience. (Well, Indy 4, but that was a special case.) I can rent DVD's at my grocery store for $1.00 a night out of a machine...why would I go to the movies?
I’d say Jujifruit are the worst thing to eat at a movie. Or anywhere.
When we were kids, we used to buy those, lick the bottoms and hum 'em at the movie screen, trying to make them stick. Those and Dots.
We were typical military brats. ;-)
There was one weekend in particular where I went through over a dozen boxes of microwave popcorn (each box containing about eight bags). I was popping and eating popcorn pretty much nonstop from Friday night to Sunday night.
During that weekend, I consumed about 15,560 calories, 440 grams in saturated fat and about 2,304 carbohydrates. And that was just popcorn. I was eating other stuff too that weekend.
Dates.
I’d say don’t eat the last hotdog at the Alex movie theater.
Or any low mein gum.
“Why, that’s a prefectly SANE food!”
The theaters really don’t care about what you bring in... I’ve seen people walk right up to the concessions counter and order popcorn while holding a Starbucks latte or something. And, if you ask them, they’ll give you a paper cup of water for free =)
Asking them would requre waiting in line. It's less hassle my way.
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