Let's All Go to the Movies!

Just a few ideas for your theater survival kit.

Going to the movies since starting my allergy diet has been tricky.  Just the smell of the fluffy, buttered popcorn from outside the movie theater still makes me weak in the knees.  I used to skip meals just so I could eat a giant bag of popcorn at the theater, but for a person who knew she had a corn allergy, I suppose that wasn't always the best idea.  Chocolate has dairy and...well, chocolate.  Candy has corn and wheat.  What's a girl to do??  Going to the theater with a full stomach is your first line of defense.  What if you get to your seat and all around you are bags of that delicious salty popcorn that makes you want to grab the bag beside you and pour it down your throat?  Come with a back-up plan: a theater survival kit.  I know you aren't supposed to bring your own food or drink into the theater, but my rationalization is, I'm sure they would rather have me still coming to the theater than avoiding it completely.  So I pack discreet snacks that I can pull out in case I am about to go insane and binge-eat popcorn.  I buy a bottle of water to go with it and I'm set.

As salty snacks mimic the effect of popcorn so well I like to bring roasted chickpeas.  I started eating these as a filling snack while doing my Whole Living cleanse in December and have been hooked ever since:
http://www.wholeliving.com/130298/roasted-spiced-chickpeas
Canned beans don't come out as crunchy as desired but they require much less prep time, especially if the decision to see a movie is last-minute.  Keeping them on hand throughout the week isn't a bad idea either.

If you need to hear the sound of a soft crunch as you eat, even if it's the wrong texture, kale chips are the way to go.  Everyone seems to have their own recipe but I keep mine simple:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Wash a bunch of kale, cut away the rib and cut the pieces to 3 or 4" long.  Drizzle with a tablespoon of oil (I switch it up, sometimes grapeseed, sometimes olive....), toss until well coated, and lay out on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  They will shrink so you can keep them really close together when you first lay them out, just don't overlap them.  I simply sprinkle one side with sea salt, not much at all because the salt seems to intensify on the finished product.  I sometimes add sesame seeds and then it's off to the oven.  Bake 4-5 minutes and turn them over.  Bake another 4-5 minutes until they are crisp but not brown (aka-burnt).  Cool and enjoy!  These do have a slight odor to them that is not the most pleasant to some, so be sure to sit in the middle of understanding friends. 

Homemade trail mix or store bought nut-free trail mix can round out the sweet n' salty category.  A homemade cookie may help curb your sweet tooth too, but at the theater I'm usually all about the salt.  I'm still searching for an appropriate substitute for chocolate.  When I find it, you'll be the first to know.

When you have food allergies you don't need to avoid the things you loved to do, like going to the movies.  You just need to be prepared and you won't be so tempted to blow your diet on a couple hours (or less, depending on your reaction) of satisfaction.