Confessions of A Popcorn Addict - Part V

I don’t know if this time will be for good. I’m taking it day by day. But aside from the toll that popcorn was taking on my teeth (not to mention my constant fear of the hulls becoming esophageal implants) I could delude myself no longer that my daily trough of popcorn was truly a two-point snack.

In the Land-o-Weight Watchers, every food on God’s green earth has a point value and those points are determined thusly. One can look up in the Weight Watcher’s Guide Book (or online) and, based on the portion size listed, acquire a point value. Or, if it’s a packaged foodstuff, one can use the handy Weight Watcher’s calculation tools, which are based on Serving Size, Calories, Fat Grams and Fiber. Either assessment is fair, and ideally, should yield that same point value.

Last week, after fearing again for my molars, I decided to try microwaved popcorn instead of my Orville R stove-top method. I popped up a bag of 94% Fat Free “Butter Flavor” and hoped, as I poured it into my popcorn bowl, that it would be a softer kernel experience overall.

Rude Awakening Number One occurred when the entire bag of micro popcorn barely filled my popcorn bowl. The bowl that is daily overflowing with my stovetop corn. The bowl that I sometimes fill twice.

Rude Awakening Number Two was a result of my infuriating need to calculate points. I looked up the points value for the micro popcorn. The whole bag would be three points. Three points? I easily eat twice this much popcorn every afternoon, and I consider it two points. I’m really eating 6-points worth of popcorn every day? Say it ain’t so!

It was so. I know this because after cutting out the popcorn and replacing it with an actual two-point snack, I instantly dropped three pounds.

So, to Claudine’s friend, who, from 3000 miles away raised a skeptical eyebrow about my “2-point Vat of Popcorn” – I hear ya, sister. You don’t even know this, but because you were Claudine’s inspiration and she was mine, I regard you as my Weight Watcher Inspiration Once Removed.

Consider me intervened.