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Do you crave a big bucket of popcorn when you go to the movies? How about at home when you fire up your DVD player to watch a late-night flick with your sweetie?
As it turns out, popcorn is one of the healthiest snacks you can eat (far healthier than the much-touted edamame) and polyphenols are the reason why.
Polyphenols are a type of chemical found in plant foods that help neutralize free radicals, those nasty little baddies that damage your cells and contribute to rapid aging.
Popcorn has one of the highest levels of polyphenols of any plant food – including most fruit!
According to Joe Vinson, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton:
“Popcorn has more antioxidants in total than other snack foods that you can consume and it also has quite a bit of fiber.”
While the fiber aspect of popcorn is not particularly impressive to me as fiber is not necessarily a good thing in large quantities (people just need so much of it as they are typically so constipated from their lousy diets), the polyphenol aspect of the research is indeed compelling and should encourage folks to fire up that popcorn maker more often.
Don’t Buy Microwave or Processed Popcorn
As with any food, preparation and sourcing are critical, so don’t run out to the supermarket and load up on microwave popcorn after reading this post. It also would be wise to avoid popcorn at the movies as the synthetic factory fats and processed salt used to flavor the popcorn is less than ideal and overrides any benefit of the popcorn itself!
One other type of popcorn to skip: popcorn in snack bags specifically packaged for lunchboxes which are loaded with all manner of chemicals and synthetics for flavoring and coloring.
The healthiest popcorn is made yourself the old fashioned way on the stovetop. Popcorn makers are ok too, but in my experience, the stove is just as fast and easy with less cleanup. Popcorn is so cheap, most people will find that a nice big bag of organic kernels easily fits into even the tightest of food budgets.
The best oils to cook your popcorn in include homemade ghee or a quality brand of expeller-pressed coconut oil.
After popping, sprinkle with a good quality sea salt to complete your delicious and healthful snack. Some folks I know sprinkle with nutritional yeast powder for a nice boost of B vitamins.
Even though homemade popcorn is a fantastic and healthy snack choice, don’t overdo it. Corn that is not soaked or sprouted prior to cooking contains anti-nutrients that can inflame digestion if consumed to excess.
By the way, if someone in your family is allergic to corn, try popped sorghum. It looks and tastes the same, just smaller kernels.
How to Make Stovetop Popcorn (Video)
Below is a video I filmed for the Weston A. Price Foundation on Healthy Snacks. Click here for a transcript if you don’t prefer videos. The video includes a segment on making healthy popcorn. This visual can be helpful if you’ve never made it on the stovetop before. This is the healthiest way to enjoy it!
Organic, preferably heirloom corn kernels popped on the stovetop is a great snack to pack in your children’s lunchboxes. It is very affordable and you can feel good about making it!
Source: Study: The Snack Loaded with Antioxidants
I love popcorn!!
Thanks for the thought, Margie. Yep, he takes a 10 billion probiotic before bed. I also make my own yogurt and fermented cabbage. I planted the oldest variety of sweet corn I could fine from a non-gmo source hoping that would be better. We enjoyed some the other day, but he still couldn’t tolerate it. I really think it has to do with the whole yeast issue. A blood analysis showed quite a bit of yeast in his blood. Yeast/fungus is a pain to get rid of. Ever had athlete’s foot? So when trying to get rid of yeast, you have to be agressive. That may mean eliminating the foods that feed it. Once in a blue moon, we will have some popcorn as a treat:)
She is such an idiot and I really wish she would stop blogging. Corn is a STARCH, high glycemic index, most of it is GMO and even organic corn causes intestinal distress whether we sense it or not. It Causes inflammation which is the cause of diseases like heart disease, diabetes and auto immune diseases. This is NOT A HEALTHY snack.
Can’t stand this woman, And people are sharing this garbage on others and my feeds (no I don’t subscribe).
Weston A Price should fire her
Go Paleo
Mike,
If you disagree, then simply speak your truth as you see it, and respectfully disagree. I think this post has been responsible in that it provides several snack options, gave caveats, and recommended moderation.
Can you disagree without calling people names?
Corn is in the top six most common allergens. So if anyone is having issues with popcorn that may be why. Most of my migraines went away when I eliminated corn from my diet. I really miss popcorn and fresh-picked, corn on the cob though!
very high glycemic and puts on fat. Not really a healthy snack in excess. And if the seeds are GMO, really not healthy…
Is anyone reading this? Organic popcorn is not GMO corn, the umpteenth time!
Organic popcorn…No GMO corn!
I understand why people are criticizing corn because “it’s in everything we eat”. But, it’s not in everything my family eats. In fact, it’s in nothing we eat, because I make everything myself. So, no guilt for me about eating popcorn or some good local corn on the cob! It’s important not to demonize all corn. It’s not it’s fault they put it in everything. A little real, non-GMO corn is fine for most people. Unfortunately, most people get enormous amounts…
My sentiments exactly – it’s all in the balance of foods and also the way they are prepared.
American Indians subsisted on a high-corn diet without falling prey to cancer. Most people are overconsuming it in the form of processed foods, and what IS being consumed is genetically modified and improperly prepared. I really believe that is the issue rather than the beautiful, whole food itself.
Blaming the whole food itself when it has been consumed happily for a long time rather than investigating what may be different about it now that it is causing issues is just lazy science!
Kim, you might try increasing fermented, and probiotic foods. I find often it’s not that we need to eliminate whole foods, it’s we need to have balance and include ferments to aid in a healthy digestive system. just a thought.
I do enjoy popcorn! My favorite right now is hot air popped then drizzle with melted coconut oil and cinnamon. Sprinkle of salt. Yummy
Corn is not a healthy food. In fact Corn = fungus & is in everything we eat. It’s everywhere.
Dr. Ruth Etzell published in a 2002 Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA) article that corn was “universally contaminated with mycotoxins,” each fully capable of causing breast cancer.
Aflatoxin is a mycotoxin produced by the mold Aspergillus.
Acute aflatoxin poisoning can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, cerebral edema, convulsions, coma and death. Chronic aflatoxin exposure leads to a high risk of developing liver cancer and suppression of the immune system.
It’s funny you should say this! I had some blood testing done a few years ago to figure out why I was so bloated (wheat AND gluten were causing it), but the mold aspergillus was in there and the doctor was very surprised to see that in my results, and especially since it was at the top of the list. Well, I had been eating popcorn like there was no tomorrow! You’ve help me figure out something that’s been bugging me for years! I could not for the life of me figure out why mold was in my blood test results!!!
Actually, Aspergillus mold (genetically modified) is used to ferment corn liquor and other corn waste to produce CITRIC ACID and LACTIC ACID. You probably have a lot of citric acid in your diet and didn’t even know it. Citric acid is used as a degummer when refining most oils including coconut, sunflower, olive and safflower. Also, citric acid is used to keep berries fresh longer (the little soaker pad in the plastic packs are saturated with it). Baby carrots, bagged salad mix and other processed produce in the produce section of the grocery store will contain citric acid as well. The soaker pad in meat and chicken products is also saturated with citric acid, but most are processed using citric and/or lactic acid as are many wild caught ocean fish and shellfish. Citric acid is added to ice that is used on the boat to store fresh caught fish and shellfish until it reaches the dock (it delays black spot and degradation of the catch). It is also used quite frequently as a defoamer for maple syrup production and it is not listed on the label. If you use soap, shampoo, or body wash with more than three ingredients (fat, lye and water), chances are you are dousing your body with it in the shower as well (and therefore absorbing it through your skin). BTW, if you get sick from eating too much citric acid, don’t expect to find an OTC or Rx drug that doesn’t contain it as well.
All of these things are a corn allergy sufferer’s worst nightmare because citric acid does not have to be listed on the label if it is used as a processing or packaging aid (look at the label for baby carrots and you won’t see it there). Everyone can see that citric acid is on almost every processed food label in the store, but no one knows it has “infected” our fresh vegetables and meat. Oh, and the organic label is no guarantee as citric acid is approved for use on organic food even though it is made from GMO corn.
There is not yet a GMO popcorn on the market, but mycotoxins are a pretty good reason not to eat any corn products. I may be biased (since I’m allergic to it), but I think ingesting any corn in this country is just crazy reckless……