How to Make Healthy Popcorn

Did you know that some popcorn can be dangerous to your health? It was listed recently,  as one of the 8 Alarmingly Unhealthy Snacks for Kids and some say microwave popcorn is toxic and can cause cancer.

So what is a mom to do? Since we have been on this super healthy food and travel  plan, we're always looking for great healthy snacks for kids...(like for our fussy eater tween  and her teen age friends).

Also movies are super cheap in Penang and part of our travel lifestyle in Asia,  but popcorn at movies is a healthy food nightmare. Movie DVD's are cheap to buy here too and we have a very comfortable couch and large flat screen TV, ( a rare treat for us)  so we like to go to the movies or watch them at home on weekends. ( We trade DVD's with neighbors). My kid wanted a snack and popcorn is the obvious one.

So how do we get around the dangerous GMO's in popcorn, horrible chemicals and bad fat that is in most popcorn that makes it so unhealthy?

We do it the old fashion way! We've found organic popcorn here (labeled that they have no GMO's), use organic virgin coconut oil to cook it in, and use a stainless steel pan. We add Celtic sea salt from France and sometimes organic butter from grass-fed cows in New Zealand.

How is that for easy, healthy, delicious  and international popcorn? Do you do popcorn?

Comments

[Surminga]

Great info here, I'm for a popcorn movie snack - any healthier way for butter popcorn?

[Jeanne @soultravelers3]

We always bring our own healthy popcorn to movies, @Surminga!

According to Weston Price ( and many others) raw, grass fed organic butter ( cow or goat) is one of the healthiest things to eat.

[Paige AllOvertheMap]

Mmmm... that is one of our favorite snacks! We often just pop it in olive oil and add some sea salt and that satisfies like little else! If I weren't doing the 4-hour body diet I'd go pop some right now. Never tried coconut oil - sounds lovely!

[Jeanne @soultravelers3]

Cool Paige! We love extra virgin olive oil, and use it on salads etc, but never use it for cooking now ( because of oxidative damage from heat to it).

We always use organic virgin coconut oil for cooking.

This is a good explanation why.

http://products.mercola.com/coconut-oil/

Try it..you'll love it!

[Jessica]

Oh, we love popcorn too! And since I was little I've made it in the original way, in a pan. I like it better that way! I use rape oil, cause it's very common here in Sweden, but I don't know it it's healthy or not. Do you know?

I also, just recently read some where that popcorn, and especially the brown shell of it, is very healthy. So I'll keep on eating it! :)

(Miss you guys!)

[Jeanne @soultravelers3]

Hey Jessica! We miss you guys too...maybe you can take a winter vacation here this year? ;) Tropical sun is tempting in the snow, eh?

Cool that you like old fashion popcorn too!

In America we call rapeseed oil , canola oil and we use to use that, but from what I have read of late it is very unhealthy. We only use organic virgin coconut oil now for cooking and extra virgin olive oil for salads.

I think most of what we have been led to believe about oils is false..sadly. I really like the research of Weston Price who studied traditional foods around the world and what truly made people healthy.

Here are some articles that explain it better than I can:

http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/skinny-on-fats/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/coconut-oil-benefits_b_821453.html

http://drcate.com/canola-oil-the-blob-that-ate-butter-olive-oil/

http://drjuliewilson.com/the-dangers-of-canola-oil/

Hope that helps!

http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-great-con-ola

[Katie Martin]

I'm actually not a huge fan of popcorn myself, but all of my roommates love it and eat it all the time. I had no idea that there were so many possible health hazards to eating it. I love using coconut oil, although it has been a little more difficult for me to find it affordable. Where did you find that large container of it, and was it really expensive?