The movie-going experience: a night of magic, wonder, and escape into another world.  A place where dreams and the fantastic can become reality before your very eyes; where the realism of every day life is transformed into a romanticized verbal dance of idealistic words and inspirational phrases  For several hours, you are taken on an amazing journey seen through the eyes of heroes, villains, victims, lovers, and monsters alike.

The silver screen can bring many things, but most people don’t think about the amount of unhealthy food they are consuming at the movies. Movie theaters seek to provide an evening of entertainment, and the food they offer goes way past buttery popcorn to vast arrays of fast food, candy, soft drinks, and slushies.

In the space of several hours, a moviegoer can consume several thousand calories at once, and for families or friends who go to the movies often, those calories can really add up.

Fighting Fat

In 2009, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) conducted a trial in which 21 food companies put up calorie information on food menu boards.  In response, many people changed their consumption habits towards items that were 100 calories less than what they normally would have chosen.  People were willing to lose weight with preventative measures, and now the FSA is targeting movie theaters, specifically the type and quality of food they sell.

The FSA is warning consumers that popcorn and soda contribute to obesity, despite the myth that popcorn doesn’t contain calories because it’s so light. In certain theaters, a large bag of sweetened popcorn can amount to as many as 1800 calories, while a bag of salted popcorn ranks at about 1779 calories, the equivalent of pizza, garlic, and tiramisu together in a 3-course meal.

The FSA’s chief executive is suggesting that movie theatres also provide calorie information on their food products and snacks, as well as offer smaller portion sizes. Snacks like hot dogs and nachos with cheese can carry up to 650 and 716 calories, respectively, and a large Coke is 328 calories.  The small, medium, and large soda sizes all offer too much soda for the average person, the larger sizes carrying up to three pints of soda at once.

Gaining Weight

The warning from the FSA isn’t new information, but it does bring to attention the tradition and popular practice of going to the movies. Even though going out for a movie isn’t a nightly ordeal, the amount of food that can be eaten can be enough to draw some serious questions about health concerns.

At the movies, many people line up at the concession stand to buy large bags of buttery popcorn, plus candy and a huge soda. Furthermore, some people individually purchase snack portions meant for a group, such as a large tub of popcorn.  While the movie is playing, they absentmindedly munch down calories, creating a dangerous situation of gaining weight without even noticing.