Movie Night

Movie night, a time to relax and get away, but also a time to overeat and most of all overeat crap with no nutrition.
3 of my girl friends and I made a date to go see The Great Gatsby last night.  One of my favorite books put into onto the big screen, and while I have some critiques about the movie, overall I would say it was pretty true to the book.  The book is a wonderland of scandal, drinking & epic parties (kind of sounds like college), and the movie does a great job portraying that.  Anyway I digress.....I love going to the movies, especially to be mesmerized by someone as hot as old Leo (you had me from Titanic).  However racing to a movie on a Tuesday night, after work, leaves me starving with a feast of unhealthy options in front of me.  No time to eat dinner before my 4some date with Leo, so off to Walgreen's we went to pull the old fashioned "sneak your candy & drinks into the theater" trick.  Never too old for that, plus the movies are OUTRAGEOUSLY overpriced.  So my first choice was which candy....

Healthy candy is a huge oxymoron, however it is possible to make smarter choices with candy.  I chose Junior Mints.  Junior mints are a fabulous choice if you are looking for the lesser of evils.  Dark chocolate coding & a creamy, refreshing, peppermint filling.  Relatively low calorie with all the benefits of dark chocolate.  One of my friends found a needle in a haystack with dark chocolate covered raisins!!!  Huge find, not only satisfying the sweet tooth, but also giving you some great fiber!  When it comes to candy look for candy that's not totally empty with calories, but in addition to low calorie, if you can find something with relatively low sugar & benefits of something as amazing as dark chocolate you have hit the jackpot!  Now onto popcorn.....

I love popcorn, especially at the movies.  It's like an American tradition, how can you not have popcorn with your movie?!?!  However, did you know that the average, buttered medium movie theater popcorn packs an average of 900-1000 calories! Well there goes 1/2 your calories for the day!  And that fact doesn't even mention the sodium you are absorbing.  So last night when it came to popcorn, my friend and I split a medium popcorn with no butter.  Pretty good choice.  No butter or extra salt eliminates roughly 1/4 to 1/2 of the sodium & calories.  But your other ally here is portion control.  Between the 2 of us we only ate 1/2 the bag, then the bag was folded up & pushed under the seat.  Another option would be to get a small & only eat half, but again I had no dinner so I was a little too hungry to settle for a small.

Portion control at the movies, is easier said than done for sure, but it is your greatest strength when trying to make healthy choices.  Since there are so few healthy choices at the movies, the least you can do is minimize the damage!  Don't choose the giant 64 oz soda, go for a small, you don't want to have to pee in the middle of the movie anyway.  You don't need a XL tub of popcorn, chances are you will be satisfied with a small or medium.  Sometimes not even giving yourself the option of overeating is your biggest win at the movies!

It is possible to stay practical & continue your path to fitness even when headed to the movies.  Even while mesmerized by Leo DiCaprio you can still feel good that you are 1 step closer to one of his Victoria's Secret girlfriends.  And you probably look better than the worst choice ever for Daisy Buchanan, Carey Mulligan,  I mean really you guys couldn't find someone who was actually beautiful & captivating????   Again I digress......You may not love the movie you see, but at least you can feel better about your nutrition when making practical choices!  So when seeing this summer's big Blockbusters choose your food wisely & you won't be paying for it later!