Health Benefits of Air-Popped Popcorn: Unveiling the Truth

Health Benefits of Air-Popped Popcorn: Unveiling the Truth
Updated:
December 30, 2023
By
Viking Beast

I’m going to be straight with you, I love popcorn, so I might be biased here.

I would love to take you on an awesome – online article – journey about why popcorn is just plain out the best fitness snack out there, no matter your goals.  

I remember the day I bought my first popcorn machine like it was yesterday. You know, the kind of truly important, meaningful, and life-altering memories.

Popcorn is food for the soul - Viking Beast

Let me dive straight in about why I eat popcorn multiple times a day and why you should consider adding it to your diet more often as well. Get comfortable, relax, take a drink you enjoy, and of course grab some popcorn.

Popcorn bucket and a marker slate

Air-popped popcorn is super healthy

Freshly air-popped popcorn is a perfect snack because popcorn is a whole-grain food.

The carbohydrates in popcorn will provide your body with energy for a long time and make you less hungry during the day.

Popcorn is also high in fiber and has many vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin K, calcium, and potassium.

To top it off, it’s a snack with almost no fats or sugars, making it a perfect addition to your diet.

Why can popcorn be bad for you? If you add a bunch of sugar or butter into the mix, it might taste even better, but you sacrifice all the benefits as a healthy fitness snack.

Best way to make healthy air-popped popcorn

You might wonder, what popcorn is best? With a machine at home, Air-popped popcorn will be your best bet. All you need is some corn that can be popped and the machine will make it rain healthy popcorn in a matter of seconds, by simply using hot air. I make popcorn like this all day.

Air-popped popcorn with a machine is better than microwaved popcorn or using a pan. There are no added substances or oils that have to be used.

Popcorn is popping with anti-oxidants

Fun fact: popcorn contains polyphenols. That word probably doesn’t say anything to you and you might forget about it in the next few minutes.

However, those polyphenols have lots of benefits as an anti-oxidant.

Some of the benefits are reduced inflammation, preventing cancer cells from growing, and prevention of cardiovascular disease.

While polyphenols are also found in fruits and vegetables, popcorn might be better, because fruit and vegetables contain so much water that the polyphenols get diluted.

This makes air-popped popcorn a healthy snack.

A picture of popcorn

Air-popped popcorn helps you go to the toilet

Are you struggling with taking a poop? Well, perhaps it’s time to introduce some more popcorn, the best fitness snack, to your diet.

Air-popped popcorn helps your digestive system to function properly because it’s made out of whole grains and contains a lot of fiber.

Your stomach will thank you.

Air-popped popcorn is perfect on a diet

Air-popped popcorn is a high-volume, but low in calories food.

This means you can munch a lot, without gaining weight as you would with other snacks such as chips or candy.

It will help you keep full and less tempted to go on a hunt for other less nutritious foods.

As an awesome bonus, you can add it to any meal as well, this way you can boost those meals with extra volume, which means you can effectively eat more.

I add popcorn to everything from pancakes to Greek yogurt.

Air-popped popcorn is easy and fast to make

This benefit I consider to be enormous. It’s so quick to make a very large bowl of popcorn.

I take a scoop of corn, put it in a machine such as this …, and BOOM 30 seconds later I got all the sweet, delicious popcorn I want!

For a healthy snack, with so many benefits, it’s mind-blowing how effortless you can make it.

Buckets filled with popcorn

Customize your popcorn the way you like it

Everybody likes different flavors and that’s the beauty of being alive, we’re all different in one way or another.

When it comes to popcorn, I enjoy it most by adding zero-calorie sweeteners, taco seasoning, zero-calorie syrups, hot sauce, zero-calorie sweet chili, salt, and cacao powder.

This is what I love, but you can customize your perfect popcorn snack the way you like it.

Just make sure to avoid high-calorie sugary toppings and butter. Adding these can make eating popcorn bad for your health.

Some more ideas: cinnamon, black pepper, chili powder, sea salt, burrito seasoning, turmeric powder, garlic powder, curry powder, etc.

I’m curious what other customized popcorn ideas you can come up with! Time for some creativity.

Air-popped popcorn tastes great

This one has to be on the list because that’s the main reason why we have a snack in the first place.

Air-popped popcorn tastes like a small crunchy bite-sized, cloud nine you can eat. It’s like heaven, but you can enjoy it while being alive instead.

You can use it between meals as the perfect snack or add it to any meal to upgrade it to the next level.

Be wary of adding popcorn to substances like soup.

The cloud-nine disappears and your popped awesomeness will turn into pretty sad, not so crunchy, shriveled-up popcorn. Avoid this at any cost.

Final words

When I used to think about popcorn, I taught about going to the movies, having a first date with my girlfriend, or having a fun night in with some Netflix and chill.

Since I learned that popcorn can go a lot further, than just the movies, I was sold.

At the time of writing popcorn has been a staple in my daily diet for years, it truly makes my days better and that’s why I love to share that joy with the rest of the world.

Popcorn is simply the best fitness snack. Air-popped popcorn is the best way to make it.

Popcorn is a food high in healthy, whole-grain carbohydrates, that can fuel your day for hours.

I’ve made my fair share of bad decisions in life but buying a popcorn machine, was not one of them.

In this article, I did my best to share that joy and provide you with reasons to indulge in some more popcorn yourself. Popcorn is not bad for your health, as long as you don't add a bunch of sugar.

As if you need more benefits, popcorn is freaking awesome.

I hope I convinced you to get a popcorn machine for at home, the office, or any place you might want to make popcorn.

May your future be full of poppin’ awesomeness.

What’s your favorite topping for popcorn?