Can Your Movie Choice Make You Fat?

Having trouble choosing between the comedy and the tearjerker on movie night? Consider this: Laughs are better for weight loss.

Why? Because you'll snack less. When a group of people in a study watched a sad movie, they ate close to 30% more buttered popcorn than when they watched a happy film. In another piece of the study, people watching the saddies also ate more M&M's.

That doesn't mean you have to cut out every Lifetime movie ever made if you want to reach your weight goal. There's an antidote to overeating while sad, and it may be as simple as reading nutrition labels. Not because some of what passes for food is so junky that it's laughable, but because reading the nutrition facts on the popcorn caused people to eat less.

That's great, but we also recommend taking your snack strategy to the next level: Even better than just reading labels and eating less popcorn is to switch to air-popped corn. Spritz it with a little oil and add spices -- you'll get rid of two-thirds of the calories that movie popcorn packs in there (lobby for the change at your neighborhood theater, too!).

So read labels, and be mindful of your mood when snacking. And may we suggest that you have your hand entwined with your significant other's, not in the popcorn bag.