Few things are more enjoyable than sitting in a darkened movie theater munching on a big tub of popcorn. But beware – the yummy popcorn is loaded with salt, fat, and calories, even in the small sizes.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest recently released a new report that examined popcorn from three leading theater chains, and the findings are not pretty. If you happen to be watching a movie at Regal Cinemas, that large tub of popcorn has 1,200 calories, 980 mg of sodium and a whopping 60 grams of saturated fat. That is three-quarters of an entire day’s calories in one sitting. It would be healthier for you to walk out of the theater and eat a McDonald’s cheeseburger instead.

Even a small size of popcorn is loaded with bad stuff. The small holds 11 cups of popcorn which has 670 calories, 55 mg of sodium and 24 grams of saturated fat. You would still be better off getting that cheeseburger.

The culprit behind movie theater popcorn is the oil it is cooked in. Theaters commonly use coconut oil which contains 90 percent saturated fat. Load on the salt and butter and you’re looking at one very unhealthy snack.

In contrast, air-poppoed popcorn with no butter added is low in calories and saturated fat and has the added bonus of containing healthy fiber.

Even the “healthiest” of the movie chains tested still contained lots of fat and calories. The small size from AMC theaters came in at 6 cups of popcorn with 370 calories.

Cinemark fared a bit better than its competitors because it uses nonhydrogenated canola oil for its popcorn. Their large tub clocked in at 910 calories and just 4 grams of saturated fat. The bad news? 1,500 mg of sodium – just about what you should be consuming in an entire day.

Experts say that to make your movie theater popcorn healthier, ask the concession stand to prepare a portion with no salt. However, to really be healthy you will just need to skip the popcorn altogether. No, not as fun as munching on a big tub watching your favorite flick, but a lot healthier.

If you think that choosing the salad on the menu is a surefire way to save on fat and calories, think again. In many common restaurants salads can be loaded with toppings that make them heavier than regular entrees. Here is a list of the least healthy salads from restaurants you probably go to on a regular basis compiled by Modern Home Modern Baby:

PF Chang’s Chicken Chopped Salad with Ginger Dressing. This salad weighs in at 940 calories, 68 grams of fat and an astounding 2225 mg sodium. While the underlying ingredients are not so bad, the ginger dressing loads up the calories.

Quizno’s Chicken with Honey Mustard Flatbread Chopped Salad. While flatbread may sound healthy, at Quizno’s it’s not. This salad has well over 1,000 calories and 71 grams of fat.

TGI Friday’s Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad. I have to admit, this sounds like a pretty tasty salad, but after looking at the ingredients you’ll probably want to say away from it. This meal packs on 1380 calories, mostly from the nuts and cheese. If you are trying to lose weight, this is not the salad for you.

On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef and Smoked Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing. You probably know that taco salads are not good for you, but did you know just how bad they are? This one has an incredible 121 grams of fat and 1,680 calories. You might as well have had the cheeseburger.

California Pizza Kitchen Thai Crunch Salad. Topping the list in terms of calories, this salad has an amazing 2115 calories. Once again, the basic salad ingredients are not to blame, it’s the toppings: peanuts, crispy wontons, crispy rice sticks and peanut dressing. While tasty, they pack on the fat and calories.

If you want to lose weight, it’s okay to eat salad – just be careful about what goes on there. If the salad is called “crispy” or “fried”, stay away from it.

If you’re trying to lose weight, chances are you avoid pizza like the plague. But fear not, there are ways of preparing pizza that make it much healthier.

While pizza may never be considered a health food, Men’s Fitness has come up with a few ways of making it or ordering it that can keep you in fighting shape.

The basic ingredients of pizza are not bad for you – it’s the quantity of the ingredients that causes problems. You can minimize the bad stuff in a few simple steps:

• Don’t go crazy on the cheese. Of course you have to have cheese on your pizza, but f you stick to a single layer the extra calcium it adds to your diet can actually be healthy.
• Load up on the sauce to the get the cancer-fighting benefits of tomatoes.
• Sticking to thin crust pizzas lowers the overall calorie count of your meal.
• Stay away from the pepperoni and sausage. If you can order veggies on your pizza you’ll be much better off.

To see more healthy pizza tips, check out Men’s Fitness.

There’s something about watching football that just screams out for junk food. Chips, wings, pizza – as long it’s greasy, it goes with the game. But if you’re trying to stay fit this fall, you can’t just pig out in front of the tube.

Here are a few easy-to-make ideas for healthy football snacks from Dr. Margaret Lewin, Medical Director of Cinergy Health:

• Toasted pumpkin seeds – Check out this recipe at Epicurious
  and add your favorite seasoning (see readers reviews for variations).
• Seasoned nuts such as Black Pepper Almonds ? sweet and spicy; check out a recipe here.
• Veggies – cut up raw vegetables such as carrot sticks, celery, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower and add some healthy dips such as:
  • Muhammara – a Middle Eastern dip with roasted red peppers, garlic, cumin and pomegranate molasses ? Epicurious has a good recipe.
  • Guacamole
  • Bottled salsa
  • Smoky Chipotle Hummus – check out this recipe.
  • You can also bake your own low-fat chips for any of the dips listed above.
• Portobello Bruschetta – these take a bit more time to prepare, but fly off the plate when you entertain. Recipe is here.

If you’re up for something sweet, try:

• You can make your own sports bars with dried fruit and peanut butter. To make it even healthier try using brown rice syrup rather than corn syrup (see readers? reviews for variations).

• Maple pecan popcorn – try using less salt, a healthy brand of microwave popcorn and heart-healthy margarine and mixed unsalted nuts.

See – it’s not so hard to be healthy while watching football. Now put down the chips and start cooking!

If you don’t have the time to spend hours working out at the gym, you may want to consider intense interval training. New studies suggest you may be able to get fit in as little as 6 minutes per week if you exercise at the right intensity.

That’s the surprising conclusion by a growing number of sports scientists. New research suggests much shorter, more intense exercise could provide the same benefit as longer, less strenuous workouts.

The effectiveness of interval training has been known for years. Athletes have been incorporating one or two interval sessions a week into their regular exercise routine. What’s new is that many researchers now believe you only need a few minutes of strenuous exercise per week to do the job.

One of the leading proponents of shorter, more intense workouts is Dr. Martin Gibala at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. In one recent study, Gibala had one group of healthy but not athletic college students ride a stationary bike at a moderate level for between 90 and 120 minutes. A second group of students completed a series of short, very intense intervals by cycling for 20 to 30 seconds for as hard as they could. These students would then rest for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat the cycle four to six times.

Each group exercised three times a week, but while the first group spent up to two hours on the bike, the second group only spent 2 to 3 minutes pedaling. After two weeks, researchers found that both groups had achieved nearly identical increases in their endurance. Researchers also found both groups exhibited molecular changes in mitochondria that signal increased fitness.

Another benefit of the intense interval sessions studied by Gibala was weight loss. High-intensity exercise increases energy expenditure well into the recovery phase. Other scientists have found interval training also improves cardiac health, even for those with heart disease.

To get these results, however, researchers say you have to go all out during training. It’s going to hurt and you’ll be out of your comfort zone. You also need to be in relatively good shape before starting a program like this as it can take a toll on your body.

One established interval method to try is called Tabata, developed by a Japanese scientist who did research in the field. You can check out this New York Times article for more information on intensity training.