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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 with butter and nutritional yeast. But I’m avoiding grains rightnow since I need to lose some weight. Any carbs I eat go RIGHT to my gut. Maybe if i add enough butter it will delay to absorbtion enough that I can have some every once in a while. I noticed that it has a high glycemic index but a low gylcemic load, so maybe it isn’t totally out of the question. This is a terrific idea for my kids’ lunch boxes. I’ve struggled with what to give them everyday. Thanks for the post!
No nutrients in nutritional yeast.
We eat lots of homemade popcorn around here—especially since I have been phasing out some of the less than healthy snacks we used to eat! Based on some of the comments maybe I could pay attention to whether it bothers us or not….my son is being diagnosed with asthma and I have to take away so much from him. I would not like to have to give this up too.
I tried air popped popcorn and it was bland, but then I was trying to eat like the so called experts advised and no butter or salt. I saw an episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown and he cooked his popcorn in a stainless steel bowl with some salt and olive oil and I like it that way. I hope to get some coconut oil and fix a batch soon. Didn’t know anything about soaking it or anything.
As to the rude comments and profanity, maybe some good organic soap and an old fashioned mouth washing might do the trick. My Mom and Grandma sure used it to good effect and taught us to be civil to one another. I really enjoy Sarah’s post and thank her for taking the time and effort to present these videos and information and the other people who take time to try and help each of us reach good health and vitality.
LOL, love your suggestion for civility!
Come on, Peeps, are you really saying you don’t hear curse words anywhere else? Never watch TV or go to the movies, never use the internet? Your choice, of course, but this is a public forum and others get to say what they want to as well as you. Even Sarah doesn’t care, she didn’t delete the comment. Welcome to the present in America. It’s just a word. Seems like a pretty silly thing to get in a twist about when there’s so much pain in the world.
How do I unsubscribe from the comments?
Hi Sarah:
I am sorry that some people are being so rude to you. Why can’t people disagree using a civil tone? Why do they feel they need to express themselves with curse words and name calling? I know that you are a big girl and can handle it, it just bothers me that people think this type of behavior is okay. You are always respectful and you do not deserve this.
According to Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, popcorn is not GMO. It is a different stain of corn. I have always wondered if it could get accidently cross-pollinated with varieties of GMO corn that may be planted near by.
I would love to know what you think is a good rule of thumb on how often one should eat popcorn. I make it on the stove in expeller-pressed coconut oil and top it with grass feed butter, sea salt and nutriotional yeast. There are few snacks that my son likes, so I am glad to know that popcorn has an additional nutritient that is beneficial.
Thank you for all the work you do to help those of us that want to eat healthy! 🙂
Wow, touchy subject! You might add this to your list of most controversial subjects Sarah! 😉 It almost rivals, “What? White Rice Better Than Brown?” Think I’ll keep my opinions to myself on this one! 😉
Lol… It’s so funny what subjects become “controversial” on the blog. I’m glad Sarah keeps posting no matter what people say:D I love you Sarah!
What would happen if popcorn is soaked and dried? I had read that if popcorn doesn’t pop to place in a tightly sealed glass jar with a little water. I’ve never tried it but I wonder if it would work.
I love popcorn and eat it all the time. Unfortunantely, I use to do it the old fashioned way, but I have gotten use to eating all of the commercial bagged stuff. I do eat popcorn at the theaters (when I DO have the money to go), and I rarely eat microwaved popcorn anymore. So I am getting there… Will be investing in a new popcorn popper and better quality seeds! Thank you Sarah!
I simply want to let you know how valuable your website has been to my family. I subscribe to a number of healthy eating sites, but yours is head and shoulders above the rest. There is endless great information, and your recipes are excellent. Your website is super!
LOVE popcorn with nutritional yeast on top ! We use Eden foods non GMO organic kernels 🙂
Zero nutrients in the nutritional yeast.