Portion Distortion
Research on the psychology of overeating indicates we actually have very little idea of what a normal amount is to eat, so we look for cues from our surroundings such as who we are sitting beside, and serving size.   In other words, the amount of food we consume is less to do with what our stomach is telling us, and more to do with what our eyes are seeing.  
This concept is really interesting when you look at it in the context of cinema snacking. Next time you visit your local cinema, have a look at the snacks on offer.  Notice how big everything is:  all the sweets and chocolates are in large bags.  There was a time when this size bag of sweets only made an appearance in the form of Milky Moos or Foxes Glacier Mints on a childhood family trip down the country.  And that bag would have been for the whole lot of us in the car!  Ah the good old 80’s.  

Nowadays, it has become the norm that all your favourite sweets and chocolates come in this 150-200g size bag to purchase as a cinema snack.    While the nutrition panel on the package may advise you that a serving size is about 1/8 of the bag, who has brought their kitchen scales to the cinema to weigh out a serving?  The fact of the matter is, large packaging entices us to eat more.  As we take cues from our environment being presented with a large serving size sends us a subliminal message: ‘this is an appropriate amount for you to eat’.    
The ‘pic-n-mix’ counter is even more bad news as research shows that people eat most of what they serve themselves.   One American study showed that when nutrition experts were given larger bowls, they served themselves one third more ice-cream than those given smaller bowls, without being aware of it.    The ‘pic-n-mix’ set up is designed to entice you to serve large portions, with the sheer variety of sweets, jellys and  chocs available, in addition to large paper bags to fill.
 
Distracted eating
At the cinema, the odds are against us really.  On top of the fact that all the portions are super big, we are also in a distracting environment, i.e. engrossed in a movie.  Research indicates we take in about 40% more food when we eat while distracted watching TV.  An interesting study looked at the effect of people eating large serving sizes in a distracting environment.  They showed that not only do we overeat the foods we like when served in larger portions, but we even overeat foods we dislike!  Moviegoers were shown to eat almost 50% more popcorn when it was served in large containers.   But was even more fascinating was the fact that even when served stale 14 day old popcorn, people still ate one third more when given a large container compared to a medium container!   This study shows that environmental influences (e.g. large serving size and being distracted by a movie) are even more powerful than taste preferences in determining how much of a food we eat. 

Buyer Beware
Unfortunately, the cinema isn’t like a supermarket.  Most snacks are behind the counter, so you’ve bought them before you can read the label.   In addition, many of the snacks such as popcorn, and drinks do not come with nutrition information on the side.   So we’ve done the work for you here, with just some of the cinema treats on offer highlighted.  Just keep in mind the the average man requires 2500kcal and 95g fat and a woman 2000kcal and 70g fat per day. If you are trying to lose weight, then this drops to approximately 2000kcal and 60g fat for a man and 1500kcal and 50g for a woman.   Prepare to be shocked:

• A normal bag of popcorn purchased in a newsagent is about 30g (e.g. Perri or Manhatten popcorn).  My local cinema serves popcorn in small (70g, i.e. over 2 x 30g bags), medium (150g, i.e. 5 x 30 bags), or large (200g – almost 7 x bags!), covered in salt and butter.  Popcorn can be a very healthy snack as its high in fibre, and is actually a wholegrain.  However, its health properties become less prominent when we add in salt, and then fat.   And then consider the large serving size:  a 200g bag of popcorn contains at least 1000 calories (or half an average woman’s calorie requirements for the day) and 3g or more of salt. 
• Cinema Nachos (160g serving) with a pot of cheese sauce adds up to a whopping 854calories, 45g fat and 5g salt (remember our maximum daily salt intake should no more than 6g as it is directly linked to high blood pressure).
• The 150g bags of crisps on offer is not far behind with 775 calories, 50g fat and 3g salt (half the daily recommended maximum).
• A 250g bag of peanut M&Ms comes in at a whopping 1300 calories, 131g sugar (26 teaspoons!) and 67g fat (a womans guideline daily amount for fat intake is 70g), while the 175g bag of Maltesers, despite being a ‘lighter way to enjoy chocolate’  is no wimp at 885calories, 94g sugar (19 teaspoons) and 43g fat.  The moral of the story here is share... – with the whole row!
• Onto ice-creams – the individual 150ml tubs of Ben & Jerry’s are about 250-300 calories each depending on flavour.   But remember, if your cinema serves ice-cream by the scoop, your may end up eating much bigger portions than this.   Cornetto comes in slightly better with 200 calories per cone.  If you really want to cut the calories, look out for the old traditional ice-pops that some cinemas are now stocking such as Loop the Loop or Tango Twisters which have less than 100 calories per ice-pop.
• Finally, rehydrating in the cinema can be hazardous! - a small coke/fanta (300mls) is 130 calories and 6 teaspoons of sugar, a medium (500mls) is 215 calories and 11 teaspoons sugar, while a large (750mls) will give you 323 calories and 16 teaspoons of sugar.  So the message here is go for ‘diet’ or preferably stick to water!

Snack Savvy
So the moral of this story is – be snack savvy when you visit the cinema, particularly if you are watching your weight.   Arrive armed:  stop off at a newsagents and buy a 30g bag of popcorn (if popcorn’s your thing) and some fruit before you get to the cinema (try popcorn and a banana combined – you’ll either love it or hate it!).    Even consider bringing in a low fat yoghurt, rather than going for the ice-cream available in house.  It sounds obvious, but try to have eaten before you enter the fat-sugar packed cinema foyer, so you are not so tempted to overindulge.   Also be aware that portion/packaging size can affect how much of a snack you eat, whether you find it tasty or not, so always choose small, or even consider going without - once you are in front of the theatre screen and get absorbed into your movie, you’ll have already forgotten about food!  

© Joanne Corbett, BSc, DBS, MSc, MINDI