Here at the Whole Grains Council, we want our grains to feel special so we give each one their own month.  In case you missed our newsletter, I’ll squash the suspense and tell you – October’s grain of the month is…corn!  

Sweet and delicious, this seasonal favorite can be enjoyed a variety of ways, but I’ll take this opportunity to talk about its most popular form. (No, I’m not talking about candy corn — although I know how many of you wait each year to see that sweet treat grace your grocery shelves.)  I’m talking, of course, about popcorn, a tasty treat that has been masquerading as a simple snack food for many years…but it’s much more!  Popcorn is a snack superstar, a heart hero, and a diet defender!

One cup of popcorn has only 30 calories – less than one quarter of the amount found in one cup of potato chips.  To be realistic, most popcorn servings are somewhere in the 3-4 cup range, but when you think about the volume of snack you’re getting, that’s a supersize treat for a tiny calorie count!  The trick here is not soaking your snack in extra butter and oil.  It’s true that most of us no longer have air poppers at home, and I know for me the thought of popping corn on the stovetop conjures up memories of apartments that smelled for days of burnt kernels, and more than one pan that ended up in the garbage.  Commercial microwave popcorn eliminates that problem (usually), but there are lots of chemicals and other unnecessary “stuff” in that bag.

The good news is:  all you need to do-it-yourself is a microwave, a paper lunch bag and some plain, fresh, healthy popcorn kernels.  If you don’t like it dry, you can always mix your kernels with a little olive oil and salt before popping.  (Doing so before popping cuts down significantly on the amount you’d use post-popping.)  Just using ½ teaspoon will help your seasonings stick a little better, and the flavor combinations are endless:  salt and pepper, chili powder and cumin, cinnamon and sugar, parmesan cheese and garlic salt…I could go on for days, but suffice it to say:  anything goes!  

We consume over 17 billion quarts of popcorn each year in the United States.  That’s over one billion pounds, and enough popcorn to fill the Empire State Building 18 times!!  Most people eat it for the taste, but there are many more reasons to eat popcorn.  First of all – it’s a whole grain!  That’s right, 3 cups of popcorn counts as one serving of whole grains, has 3g of dietary fiber and more polyphenols than most fruits.  That’s important when considering that antioxidants like polyphenols help prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and degenerative diseases like osteoporosis.  It’s also relatively low on the Glycemic Index (55) which means no sugar “spike and crash” and it will help keep you full longer than most other snacks – an important part of weight maintenance.   

As if all that wasn’t enough, popcorn also gives you super immunity…against advertising. That’s right – according to a recent study in Cologne, Germany, you can literally crunch away those catchy tunes and clever gimmicks. It seems that chewing on popcorn disrupts the “inner speech” required to make brands or products familiar, meaning less advertising impact.  So while you’re eating your healthy snack, you can virtually ignore that ad for the newest flavor of potato chip – smart snacking indeed!

(Danita)