[00:00:00] Jenn Trepeck - Host: Welcome to Salad with a side of Fries. I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck, talking wellness and weight loss for real life. We're here to clear up the myths, misinformation, bad science and marketing to teach you how to eat and how to cheat. Are you ready? I'm having salad with a side of fries. This week we're talking about cloud protein popcorn.

[00:00:26] That's cloud with A-K-H-L-O-U-D. So this is Klo Kardashian's popcorn brand. And I will admit, I do watch their show. I am very entertained by the family dynamics, all the things. And I also am normally not wowed or wooed by celebrity food brands or celebrity brands in general. So I didn't buy this. I knew about it, but like thought nothing of it.

[00:00:54] Then I was at a friend's party and they had it, tried it. [00:01:00] It was so good actually. So a few of you guys, Stephanie, my friend Stephanie, who has joined me on a few episodes, we were both at this party and I was like, oh, I'm getting hungry. And she was like, did you try the popcorn? It's Chloe. It's protein popcorn, and it's really good.

[00:01:14] And I was like, seriously? Okay. So I tried it. It was really good. I enjoyed it. I did not ask the host for the bag to look at the label. I didn't wanna be that person at the party, right? Like everybody knows what I do for a living, but you know, so I figured we'll do that together. Looking at this label. And essentially, from what I knew of it before, it was, you know, it's popcorn that they sprinkled protein powder on.

[00:01:42] And so I was sort of like, okay, I could do that myself, right? But then I tasted it and I'm like, Nope, this is actually legit. Like it tasted good. So. I feel like I need to say too, if you're shocked that I ate popcorn and didn't read the label first, I'm gonna say, [00:02:00] welcome to real life. Right? A couple handfuls of whatever I was having weren't gonna make or break my health because of everything else that I do.

[00:02:09] Right? I enjoyed it. You're allowed to enjoy something and onward, right? But of course we're gonna look at it together. So I gave you the rundown of what I knew of it. You know what? I had heard that it was like this popcorn with some protein powder on it. When I go to their website to get the info, they have a banner that says seven grams of protein per serving.

[00:02:29] Whole grains, non GMO, gluten-free, real ingredients, no seed oils. I'm like, okay, cool. Generally we like all of these things. Right. Quick note. Remember, seven grams of protein is like one ounce of a cooked meat. So to be clear, this is not a full snack. This is not a meal of protein. This is potentially a healthier version of something that you might otherwise desire.

[00:02:59] [00:03:00] So we do have a nutrition nugget just on popcorn that you can go back to for more on like the corn that's used in popcorn and all of that stuff for today. I wanna pop over to their nutrition facts and look at what they actually have in here. So they have three flavors. There's olive oil and sea salt, sweet and salty, kettle corn and white ched.

[00:03:19] So the one that we had at the party was the sweet and salty kettle corn. So I'm gonna start there on the nutrition facts. Okay, here we go. Serving size is one cup. There are five servings in the container. That's also, I just wanna point out, one cup popped is not a huge serving.

[00:03:36] Kelly Carter: Typically popcorn's like three to five cups when you're looking at servings.

[00:03:41] Yeah,

[00:03:41] Jenn Trepeck - Host: probably. I think it's like three cups popped versus like Yeah. Yeah. One cup, right? So just a note, you're probably not only eating one serving here. Okay, but here we go. Okay. One cup, 150 calories, nine grams of fat, of which there's four grams of saturated fat, [00:04:00] 12 grams of carbs with one gram of fiber, five grams of sugar, all of which are added sugar, and seven grams of protein.

[00:04:08] The micronutrients, it's basically nothing. They mention a little bit of iron and potassium, but really not that much. Now, before we get into the ingredients, the fat is more than we would typically want from a single packaged food. The fiber is less than what we want from a single packaged food. The protein's, okay?

[00:04:26] Right? Remember one ounce, so all in, if you had one cup of this. If you needed a as a snack and you are hungry, this one cup would maybe last like an hour, maybe an hour and a half, you know, tops, and then you'd be like looking for food again. I also think, as we said, like this is really easy to eat more than one cup, and.

[00:04:53] As with anything, this is where food and packaged foods get really wonky because in food [00:05:00] labels, one plus one can equal three because they're allowed to round in really weird ways. And so long story short, just take it into consideration. Okay, so then the ingredients. It says popcorn milk, protein isolate cane sugar, olive oil, coconut oil, mineral salt from Himalayan salt and potassium salt.

[00:05:24] So where does this leave us? Okay. I like that we can pronounce all the things right. There is nothing in here that has sent us researching new ingredients, so I like that. If you have a challenge with whey, you'll probably, you know, or lactose, I should say, you'll probably be fine with this because it's protein isolate in their like about, or our story section of the website.

[00:05:47] They call it cloud dust. If they're, you know, little milk protein isolate, I wish it didn't have the cane sugar or had it lower on the list. But also I don't hate it as long [00:06:00] as it's not our everyday all day nutrition, and especially even too, everybody gets to decide for themselves, but compared to some of the other sweeteners and chemical sweeteners and things that are put in these, like I'm not mad at cane sugar really.

[00:06:15] You know, everybody gets to decide on all of that. But I will say the cane sugar thing made me especially curious if this is just because it's the kettle corn flavor, or if they have this sugar in all of the flavor. So I took a quick look. The olive oil and sea salt flavor. So the olive oil and sea salt flavor has a little bit less total fat, less saturated fat, because it doesn't have the coconut oil, it also doesn't have the sugar.

[00:06:42] It actually has three grams of fiber instead of one and 13 grams of total carbs. So a touch more there. The cheddar cheese flavor, no sugar or added sweeteners. It does have more ingredients because of what's in that cheese powder. So [00:07:00] interesting. It's the white cheddar flavor with the lowest net carbs though.

[00:07:05] So that one has nine grams of net carbs. So just making it into, you know, our typical guideline of single digit net carbs for a single packaged food. So I appreciate in general that the three flavors have different nutrition facts, because I think so often companies have these different flavors and.

[00:07:22] They look virtually the same, and you're like, how is that possible? So I think if you're looking for popcorn and want something with a bit of flavor and a bit of protein to help balance those carbs, I'm a fan. I say Go for it.

[00:07:35] Kelly Carter: I would say too, however, I would actively measure what One Cup looks like, just yes.

[00:07:43] That's usually what I tell my clients is do it once. So you get a good like visual, because especially the sweeter one that. Probably be my go-to. I don't know if I could stop at one cup if it's so good. I know.

[00:07:56] Jenn Trepeck - Host: So when I tried it, we were using like actual drinking cups and [00:08:00] like putting a little bit in like the cup and then kind of eating it outta the cup.

[00:08:03] So I maybe had like two of those and then I was sort of like, okay, I don't want any more of this. Okay, okay. But I was like, I actually want dinner. Like it was time to go eat something legit. Right. So I guess it also becomes a function of like, is this a staple of your every day? You know, like I'm also a firm believer that not everything has to have protein powder in it.

[00:08:28] Like it's fine, enjoy popcorn as popcorn, you know, but if this, you enjoy it and it gives you a different flavor of popcorn, you know, especially for the kettle corn compared to other kettle corns out there, like I would think I would choose this one. But again, it's sort of what role is it playing in the scheme of.

[00:08:47] All of the food choices you're making.

[00:08:49] Kelly Carter: I love that take because protein is having a moment because I feel like carbs. Yes. Having a moment of like, don't eat the naked carbs. So everyone's like, let's just add protein to [00:09:00] everything. Again, if you're thinking I'm gonna have popcorn for dinner. Yeah, that's, uh, let's not, yeah, let's not.

[00:09:09] Jenn Trepeck - Host: But that's the scoop on cloud protein popcorn from Klo Kardashian all in. I would eat it again. Awesome. Well, as always, everybody, I'm your host, gen tre. Connect with me on Instagram or all social media. I am at Gen Tpic, J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K. Website is a salad with the side of fries.com. Pick your platform, send a message.

[00:09:31] I truly love hearing from you and Kelly Carter. Thank you again for being here and hanging out for our episode and our nutrition nugget. No problem. That was fun. Oh my goodness. Awesome. Alright, friends, if you're not already become a member, join us in the Happy Healthy Hub. You'll go to a salad with the side of fries.com/membership.

[00:09:53] This shows your support for this podcast, this community, but above all, it supports your health. On top of this week's episode, in [00:10:00] full video with the behind the scenes pieces and your 24 7 access to ask me anything, you'll get this week's recipe for the wholesome no bake carrot cake bite. Well, friends, that's it for today's episode of Salad with a Side of Fries.

[00:10:14] Congratulations for making yourself and your health a priority. Thanks so much for joining us. Be sure to click subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platform. Share us with a friend and we'll be back next week. Always remember you deserve it and you are worth it. Happy, healthy.