This week’s installment of Body Designs is short, but “fat”.

I know many of you enjoy going to the movies. As most of you know, I don’t. But the next time you go, if you want to stay on your diet, try eating one or two Quarter Pounders from McDonalds instead of the usual movie fare. Here’s why:

A study by the Center for Science and Public Interest found that a medium popcorn and drink, sold at American movie cinemas, had 1,160 calories. That is the caloric equivalent of three McDonald’s quarter pounder hamburgers topped with a dozen scoops of butter. That means consuming the popcorn and drink is like ingesting three days worth of an adult’s recommended allowance of fat. It was found that the cinemas surveyed used coconut oil to pop the corn and then topped it with butter or margarine!

So when you want to munch on something at the movies, go prepared and bring along some pretzels and a water. Two ounces of unsalted hard pretzels are only 230 calories, 2 grams of fat, 48 grams of carbs., and 5 grams of protein.