Cookies

CookiesThe grocery store is full of cookies!!?Chocolate covered cookies, fruit cookies, trans-fat-free cookies, 100 calorie pack cookies, and all sorts of cookies. Everyone loves them. But we have never really seen a list of do’s and don’ts for buying them or compared them side by side.We found that you really have to be aware of how many total calories you are bringing to your house and that big boxes of cookies are not a good idea!Portion Control100 calorie packs are a great option if you eat just one per day. Who can argue with portion control on cookies? Although we do think you have to be honest with yourself? If you are one of the only one eating these in your house, how many packs would you eat in a day? The boxes that come with 6 to a pack are going to add 600 calories to your week.Another option, which we consider the very best of all, is to not store any cookies in the house and when you really want one you can drive for it. Starbucks and other places usually offer biscotti and other one-pack options that are only 100 calories each. Be aware that the really large ones that are the size of your hand almost always weigh in at 400-500 calories for each one. So smaller is better!Look at calories per packageWe noted that the cookies that are packaged in to-go portions bring a lot of calories in the house. We took a look at the Nutter Butter Sandwich Cookies 2 Go Packs of 12. Each 2-ounce portion is about 260 calories and 11 grams of fat. So, you are bringing over 3000 calories in the house! If you eat these by yourself and they are excess calories, which is likely for most people, that would add almost a pound to your waist over just one week. The same type of Oreo packs bring 2000 calories into the house.Cookie “Rules”If you look at the chart below, which compares the cookies by how many calories they have in an ounce, you will see that the fat-free and low-fat cookies are the lowest in calories. But this doesn’t mean that fat-free is calorie free. Cookies are still a lot more calories per ounce than the treats mother nature provides on her trees:Melon    8.5Berries    9Oranges    13Apples    14Pears    16Grapes    19Banana    25Raisins    84Sugar-free is not calorie free. The Snackwell Sugar-Free Shortbread cookies are not low in fat by comparison below. We were surprised to see their fat and calorie count.