Another health-conscious article has been written about popcorn and how to make it a healthier snack:
http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100215760&GT1=31036

(oops! I kind of figured the article would go away quickly)

 Inane food suggestion 1: divide your 3-serving microwave popcorn bag into 3 bowls of popcorn.

Inane food suggestion 2: watch out for bad fats.

Dividing Your Popcorn:

Okay, so you pop one of those 3.3 oz bags of popcorn and you realize you will have consumed 27 fat grams by doing so--a whole day's supply of fat. What is dividing it into 3 1.1 oz servings going to do? (each serving has 9 grams of fat.)  Are you going to keep the remaining 2.2 oz of popcorn for 2 other snack opportunities? (According to many healthy diets, you get 3 meals and 2 snacks per day.)

I don't think any popcorn eater appreciates stale popcorn. It is a duty to clean it up rather than something to enjoy.

So you have two other options after eating the first serving:

throw out 2.2 oz. of popcorn (you might as well get the smaller 1 oz. bags in that case),

or

eat the 2 remaining 1.1 oz servings in the same sitting as the first one.

So you end up losing most of your snack, or you end up eating 27 fat grams in a sitting anyway.


Avoiding bad fat.

Huh?

Since when is fat good? It still has 9 calories to each gram. For a 3.3 oz. bag of popcorn this is 243 calories. About a slim candy bar's worth. (and health gurus have been telling us to stay away from candy bars since time immemorial--or at least since the 1970's.)

Saturated fat. Trans fat. Unsaturated fat. Poly-unsaturated fat.

Every single one of these has 9 calories per gram of fat.

What's the difference?

The only difference is how difficult is it for your body to break down: how many calories you use to burn it as opposed to how much fuel (calories) you get out of it. It's kind of like "working off" that ice cream sundae at the gym. Same thing.

From easiest to break down to hardest to break down:

Saturated Fat-->Trans Fat-->Unsaturated Fat-->Polyunsaturated Fat

Trans fat is not that much different from saturated fat. It is harder to break down unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fat than either trans fat or saturated fat . So it is rather a misleading statement when a food boast of "Zero Trans Fat."

That's when you look at the label again and see all your fat calories are coming from saturated fats.

Also understand that a hydrogenated fat or oil is an unsaturated oil that has been made into a saturated fat. They are chemically and metabolically the same thing.


What do you want to see as far as fat content in your food?

Fewer total fat grams, period. 4-5 fat grams--like in a serving of graham crackers--are better than 9 fat grams, which is what most snack food has per serving. (corn chips, potato chips, e.g.) Health practitioners recommend that people take in no more than 30% of their calories in fat grams a day. Well, I hope you're eating lean those other 3 meals and 1 snack. The popcorn will have taken half of your day's allotment if you are eating 2000 calories a day.

If you wish to break it down, avoid both saturated fats and trans fats. You want to stick to unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats.

Another advantage to unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats is the difference in how fats and oils cook. Saturated fats (butter, bacon grease, tallow, lard, Crisco shortening) start to smoke at low temperatures and thus are not good for high-temperature cooking, such as in stir-fry and fried chicken. Unsaturated fats like peanut oil, sesame seed oil, and Canola oil can be used for high-temperature cooking because they have a high smoke temperature. They still add good flavor to foods, too.

If you have a deep fryer or buy things like french fries or country-fried steak or fried chicken at a restaurant, remember that any unsaturated fats are used and reused many times before oil is changed out. The longer the oil stays at a higher temperature, the more the oils break down. They may be poly-unsaturated fats, but they could be broken down into saturated fats by the time the food gets to the table.

You can't get ahead of the game by avoiding one food or another (fats, carbs, for example). To change your eating habits, go on a diet, or start a workout program, talk to your doctor and nutritionist. They can give you the best advice on how to work out right, eat a balanced diet, and enjoy yourself in the process. There is no royal road to health.