Start Brown-Bagging Your Popcorn

Shaping up means reducing carb intake a bit. Some people can follow a strict Paleo lifestyle and I think the world of them (like wellness coach and frequent guest author, Susie Rahaim) because it takes dedication and willpower. Instead of total Paleo, I live gluten-free (for about three years now) but still indulge in 1-2 servings of whole, unprocessed grains a day. Usually, my carb of choice is popcorn. Obviously not all popcorn is a smart choice. We hear about the evils of movie theater corn (a day’s worth of calories, sodium and fat in a tub), but what about the healthy-sounding, 100 Calorie Light Butter Mini bags of Act II, Orville Redenbacher, and Pop Secret? Stay Away! Like many fast-food packaging, most microwavable popcorn bags are coated with perfluorochemicals, or PFCs, a class of chemicals linked to various cancers and reproductive system damage. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified PFC’s as a “likely carcinogen. Food manufacturers add the obesity-promoting chemicals to bags to make them more greaseproof, even though these chemicals have been linked to all sorts of health issues. Another possible danger is diacetyl, an FDA-approved chemical found in the faux butter flavoring.

So back away from the pre-packaged bags and make your own “virgin” popcorn. It is better for you, easy, less-expensive and tastes amazing.

You will need:

Popcorn Kernels (Eden Food Organic Popcorn Kernels is a good buy)
Brown paper lunch bags
Misto Olive Oil Spritzer
Seasalt

Directions

Measure 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels and pour into your brown lunch bags (It is important that you use two because the corn may pop right through just one bag)
Fold over twice but leave room in the bag for the corn to pop
Lie fold-side down in the microwave
Then pop! I put mine on the Popcorn setting of our microwave (for my microwave it’s 1 minute, 30 seconds. Microwave times will vary)
Once it’s done, lightly spray (I sometimes douse) with Olive Oil and season with sea salt.

I promise you will never want to eat the fake stuff again! – CC