Pumpkins and Popcorn

TOPS NEWS

At the October 23 meeting of Imperial TOPS NE0267, Lorna was the Best Loser for the week, and Donna won a little cash in the Ha-Ha drawing.

Week’s Challenges

The first challenge of the week is to stretch for 5 minutes at least two times a day. The other is that if you want to eat processed food for snacks, make sure it’s no more than 100 calories each day.

No-Gain Week!

All the TOPS members had weight losses, for a total of 7 pounds lost, with 5 TOPS and 1 KOPS present.

Program

Barb presented a program on pumpkins and popcorn. Pumpkins are a good source of fiber, beta carotene, potassium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. Jolly Time popcorn celebrated their 100th anniversary this year.

How To Roast Pumpkin Seeds: (from ohsheglows.com)

• Clean the seeds. (Plunk the seeds plus guts into a big bowl of water and use your hands to break it apart. The seeds will float to the top of the water.)
• Boil for 10 minutes in salt water.
• Drain the seeds in a colander and dry lightly with a paper towel or tea towel.
• Spread seeds onto a baking sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil (1/2 to1 tsp.).

Roast seeds at 325F for 10 minutes. EAT!




Fun Popcorn Facts: (More at Popcorn.org.) 

• Americans consume some 16 billion quarts of this whole grain, good-for-you treat. That’s 51 quarts per man, woman, and child.
• Compared to most snack foods, popcorn is low in calories. Air-popped popcorn has only 31 calories per cup. Oil-popped is only 55 per cup.
• Of the 6 types of maize/corn—pod, sweet, flour, dent, flint, and popcorn—only popcorn pops.
• Popcorn is a whole grain. It is made up of three components: the germ, endosperm, and pericarp (also know as the hull).
• Popcorn needs between 13.5-14% moisture to pop.
• Popcorn differs from other types of maize/corn in that is has a thicker pericarp/hull. The hull allows pressure from the heated water to build and eventually bursts open. The inside starch becomes gelatinous while being heated; when the hull bursts, the gelatinized starch spills out and cools, giving it its familiar popcorn shape.
• Most U.S. popcorn is grown in the Midwest, primarily in Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri.
• Many people believe the acres of corn they see in the Midwest during growing season could be picked and eaten for dinner, or dried and popped. In fact, those acres are typically field corn, which is used largely for livestock feed, and differs from both sweet corn and popcorn.

Next week will be a Halloween-themed program. Everyone is to bring some helpful health snippet or Halloween-related item or recipe. Lorna will present the program on November 6, which will also be the last day of the Stuff Your Turkey contest.

Join Us!

TOPS Club meets from 9 to 10 a.m. on Thursdays at the Imperial Community Center, with weigh-ins beginning at 8:30. The first meeting is free. See tops.org for more information.