Tweet

One of my newly acquired obsessions, aside from watching movies of course, is watching what I eat. In conjunction with the Biggest Reject Loser challenge, I have also come to the realization that if I am going to be a rich and famous cinematic pundit, I will have to look like more than just another web geek (no offense to the standard web geeks in the room, you are all hot to me). 

With this new obsession, I have begun researching what to eat and what not to eat. Appropriately, I have become an avid reader of the Mens Health blog Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. I have even gone as far as to pick up the book by the same name. A recent article on the blog though, titled 6 Worst Things to Eat at the Movies, stuck out to me, tapping into my two favored interests: movies and eating. As you will see from the list below, they have identified some really interesting facts about the foods that we all over-pay for and scarf down as we take in our cinematic adventures:

Large Soft Pretzel with 3 oz. Nacho Cheese
643 calories
14.5 g fat (3 g saturated, 4 g trans)
3,068 mg sodium

44 oz. Cherry Coke
572 calories
0 g fat
154 g sugars

Whoppers (5 oz. box)
676 calories
24 g fat (20.3 g saturated)
88 g sugars

Snickers Popables (5 oz., 46 pieces)
692 calories
33 g fat (14.6 g saturated)
73 g sugars

Large Nachos with Cheese (40 chips, 4 oz.)
1,101 calories
59 g fat (18.5 g saturated)
1,580 mg sodium

Large Popcorn
1,283 calories
78 g fat (49 g saturated)
1,850 mg sodium

Yikes! That large popcorn is almost as bad as a Big Mac. Based on these stats, it is almost enough to say that the “it’s only a quarter more” upgrade strategy engaged upon by just about every theater chain is grounds for murder charges — they are aggressively upgrading you to obesity. Then again, we can’t blame the theaters, they are just trying to get theirs by giving you the calories. And we take it, America, we take it all and shovel it in, often finishing our highly caloric snacks before the seven trailers are over. That prompts a second run to the concession stand, forcing you to miss the opening moments of You Don’t Mess With the Zohan – which, now that I think about it, isn’t much of a loss.

So if you are one of those people who spends $35 dollars on yourself at the movie theater concession stand, you may want to take note — this is why you are fat. As well, if you are one of those people who likes to crunch your wrapper through the entire movie or chew with your big horse-faced mouth open the whole time, you may also want to take note — because I am going to snap one of these days.

As for the rest of you, get out there this weekend and take in a flick. I would recommend seeing The Incredible Hulk, just don’t eat like him.