Girl Scout Cookies!

The topic for today was going to be recent research on decision fatigue and the implied best grocery shopping strategies.  However, I've been advised to keep my posts light and perhaps a little less academic, so this one's topic is Girl Scout Cookies!  Hey, it's still about decision making, right?  What are you going to do when your neighbor or coworker (or his/her adorable daughter) approaches you with their clipboard and hopeful smile? 

A Google search reveals that this year's cookies will begin to be available in late February in the Cincinnati area, so that explains the articles I've been seeing online about the Best and Worst nutritional choices when it comes to Girl Scout cookies. 

The article I'm referencing primarily is by the editors of EatingWell magazine (http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/best-38-worst-girl-scout-cookies-184400020.html).  This and other articles agree that the BEST nutritional choice is to select the Shortbread cookies, which are called Trefoils in certain locations.  These are best because a standard serving of 4 Shortbread cookies has 120 calories and 4.5 grams of total fat of which 2 grams are saturated.  This cookie also has a notably short ingredient list -- just 10 total ingredients, with sugar appearing only twice in the list. 

The cookie dishonored with the label of "least healthy choice" is the Caramel deLite, also called a Samoa in some locations.  This variety has a serving size of only 2 cookies, which deliver 140 calories, 7 grams of total fat (of which 6 grams are saturated), and an ingredient list that starts with sugar.  Caramel deLites also contain trans fats, though per serving they register under the threshold of 0.5 grams per serving, allowing them to be labeled as containing 0 grams. 

All of the other cookies are judged to fall within these two extremes based on their standard serving size, which, not coincidentally, has between 110 and 160 calories.  Well, here's a radical idea... How about disregarding the company's suggested serving size and relying more on the per-cookie stats?  The EatingWell rankings do take that into account in their rankings -- note that the winning Shortbreads allow four cookies per serving and the losing Caramel deLites only two.  However, think about what this means if you're willing to consider eating less than the suggested (standard-calorie-amount) serving?  Two Shortbreads only have 60 calories and 2.25 grams of fat.  Other contenders emerge:  two Savannah Smiles have only 56 calories and 1 gram of total fat; even decadent Thin Mints have 80 calories and 4 grams of fat if you eat only two. 

Try portion control!  Here's another example.  One of the perks of my nutrition program was that we all received a handful of counseling sessions from our own health coaches.  Mine was wonderful, encouraging me to try almond milk (instead of dairy or soy) and to include dark chocolate in my diet (70%+ cocoa, of course).  I began buying a brand called Endangered Species (http://chocolatebar.com/), specifically the Dark Chocolate with Cranberries and Almonds.  This product is sold at Whole Foods and in Kroger's organic section.  It comes in individually wrapped pieces, with a serving size of four pieces (200 calories).  I swear I have never eaten more than two in any one day.  I break each one into four and savor each bit.  They have so much flavor that two pieces (really eight, the way I think about it!) are more than enough to satisfy.  It's quality over quantity.  Let me know how it works for you!