On the keto diet, snacks are one of the most difficult aspects to figure out.

Snacks are so commonly associated with crunchy foods that are rich in carbohydrates, that once you actually make the switch you may start to wonder if there’s still any way to snack at all.

A big snack that leaves a lot of people in confusion is popcorn. It’s airy and light, and is often branded as a much healthier snack compared to chips and crackers, but is it really keto-friendly?

In this article I’ll be doing a deep dive on the nutrition breakdown of various different types of popcorn, will assess just how keto-friendly it actually is, and will provide some relevant keto approved recipes at the end.

If you’re looking for a guide on how to snack at the movie theater while following a clean, healthy keto diet, then you’ve come to the right place.

Nutrition Breakdown of Popcorn

When it comes to popcorn there’s a few different types to choose from, all with different types of nutrition facts.

Let’s start with one that I’m sure everyone’s wondering about: Movie theater popcorn.

Obviously not all movie theaters use the same types of popcorn, but this is a pretty general summary of what to expect in terms of nutrition facts for movie theater popcorn:

• Total Calories – 370
• Total Fat – 20 grams
  • Saturated Fat – 20 grams
• Total Carbohydrates – 40 grams
  • Dietary Fiber – 10 grams
• Protein – 5 grams

Looking at microwave popcorn, things break down a bit differently, depending on the type you get. For example, a popular brand like Orville Redenbacher’s original popcorn has the following nutrition facts:

• Total Calories – 120
• Total Fat – 1.5 grams
  • Saturated Fat – 0.5 grams
• Total Carbohydrates – 29 grams
  • Dietary Fiber – 6 grams
• Protein – 4 grams

The third type of popcorn I’ll break down is one that a lot of people ask about on the keto diet: Skinny Pop. I’ll stick with just the lightly salted variant to try and keep the comparisons fairly neutral. The nutrition breakdown of Skinny Pop is as follows:

• Total Calories – 120
• Total Fat – 10 grams
  • Saturated Fat – 1 gram
  • Trans Fat – 0 grams
  • Polyunsaturated Fat – 3.5 grams
  • Monounsaturated Fat – 5.5 grams
• Total Carbohydrates – 15 grams
  • Dietary Fiber – 3 grams
  • Insoluble Fiber – 3 grams
• Total Protein – 2 grams
• Iron – 4% of Recommended Daily Value
• Sodium – 75 milligrams (3% of Recommended Daily Value

There are quite a few other types of popcorn products in grocery stores and movie theaters around, but these are pretty standard levels of nutrition for each kind.

Obviously products like caramel popcorn or chocolate covered popcorn are going to be loaded with sugar, so I wouldn’t even recommend looking into them, as they definitely won’t work out on a keto diet.

From here, let’s get a more comprehensive view of popcorn by diving into its nutritional benefits.

Health Benefits of Popcorn

• Can help regulate blood sugar levels

The fiber that comes along with popcorn is also extremely beneficial in terms of regulating your body’s blood sugar.

When your body is able to get enough fiber from the foods you eat, it automatically starts to regulate the management and release of blood sugar and insulin levels more effectively. This is important because it can greatly help diabetics, and ward off future feelings of hunger, light headedness, and hypoglycemia.

Getting enough dietary fiber is extremely important on the keto diet, because spikes in blood sugar can directly take you out of ketosis even if you’re net carb count is on target.

If you’re trying to get more fiber on keto, you can check out my latest guide here.

• May prevent factors of aging

Popcorn has been directly linked to a reduction of the production of free radicals in the body. Free radicals are a part of the oxidative process that you want to watch out for, because they’re closely connected to symptoms of aging such as age spots, macular degeneration, blindness, cognitive decline and dementia, osteoporosis, hair loss, wrinkles, and age spots.

Popcorn’s antioxidant properties help fight off these free radicals within your body, and can promote anti aging well into your own old age. Other types of foods with comparable antioxidant properties include blueberries, dark chocolate, spinach, and artichokes.

• Improves digestion

As a natural whole grain, popcorn is loaded with beneficial nutrients that have been proven to aid the digestive process in lots of ways.

As a significant source of both soluble and insoluble fiber, it can help to cut down on nausea, constipation, bloating, swelling from water retention, and overall improved bowel movement regularity.

Fiber does this primarily by stimulating the peristaltic motion of the intestinal muscles, allowing your digestive system to function more smoothly.

Additionally, the B complex vitamins and vitamin E that’s stored in popcorn has been proven to aid with overall digestion and reduce hunger pangs and cases of overeating.

• Can lower cholesterol levels

Another big benefit of the fiber that comes from popcorn is the way that it can help with cholesterol levels.

Dietary fiber works unlike any other type of fiber for cholesterol, because it works to actually strip off excess amounts of cholesterol from the walls of your arteries and blood vessels. This effectively reduces your overall cholesterol levels, which can be a huge help for your health.

Lowering cholesterol levels is important because it directly lowers your risk of developing dangerous cardiovascular conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, and hypertension. Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death in the world, and taking cholesterol seriously with dietary fiber is a great first step toward prevention.

• It’s rich in polyphenols

It’s been recently proven that popcorn contains large amounts of polyphenolic compounds. This discovery is important, because most antioxidant rich foods tend to dilute their polyphenol concentration because they are high in water composition as well. Popcorn however is only 4% water, allowing more polyphenols to exist.

Polyphenols are important for the body because they can assist in reducing your overall risk for developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and a variety of other vital conditions.

Is Popcorn Keto-Friendly?

Despite having a blood glucose regulator properties and high levels of dietary fiber, as you can see from above, all variants of popcorn in one form or another tend to have very high net carb counts. Because of its high ratios of carbohydrates to fats and proteins, popcorn is not keto-friendly.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy popcorn at all while following a keto diet, but in order to stay within the traditional keto net carb target of roughly 20 to 30 net carbs per day, you’ll really only be able to indulge in a handful of popcorn at most.

There are some types of popcorns you can find at select grocery stores that do have minimal carbohydrates, but serving sizes are still fairly small.

A great example that I occasionally enjoy from time to time is the Buddha Bowl Himalayan Gold popcorn from lesser evil.

It’s greased with coconut oil, making it a great snack for getting more fat into your keto diet, and only has about ten net carbs per serving. Still not great, especially for a snack, but if you’re having trouble fighting off those popcorn cravings, this is probably your best but.

But what can you do if you’re headed to the movies and want something easy to munch on that won’t be full of carbs? I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorites below that should keep you covered.

Keto-Friendly Popcorn Alternatives (750)

• Cheese Crisps
• Beef and Pork Jerkey
• Cheese Sticks
• Seaweed Crisps
• Nuts
• Salami Chips
• Popcorn Cauliflower

If you’re looking for some more inspiration, check out this great video on keto movie snacks below:

Final Thoughts

As you can see, popcorn really isn’t the greatest snack option when it comes to maintaining a healthy state of ketosis.

While it is a great source of fiber, and does have a lot of important health benefits, it simply isn’t worth the net carbs gained. There are a ton of keto-friendly ways to get enough fiber into your diet and regulate your blood sugar levels without having to rely on popcorn in any form.

However that doesn’t mean you have to go hungry during your next trip to the movies.

The snack options I’ve listed above don’t even scratch the surface of what’s possible on the keto diet, as there are hundreds of ways to take care of that satisfying crunchy and salty craving.

Do you have any personal favorite popcorn alternatives that I didn’t list in this post? Drop them in a comment below! I’m always looking for more ways to help others hack their keto diet experience.