Just Measure It Up

"I should have checked the milligrams…live and learn. " Cynthia, Working Girl

When my boyfriend left he took his food scale. I defy any other girl to echo that statement. I am really sure I am alone on this one. I used to think that food scales were for high end chefs or crazy dieters who worried about the trace calories in sugar free gum. I grew up with a mom who doesn’t even measure for recipes! However, I have to come to change my opinion on this matter. Simply, you cannot manage what you can’t measure. I am not saying I measure everything, and I don’t whip one out in a restaurant or anything. Although in a hilarious story, Tim Ferris author of The Four Hour Body did just that as an experiment to see what his date would say. Years ago, I would have left the restaurant…but now I might ask if I could use it too.

It helps me to know what I’m eating because quite honestly some of those rough guidelines do not work. A serving of chicken is about the size of a fist? This visual is not very helpful to me at all. Plus, I used to just throw things together, and end up with way too much food since I just couldn’t tell what was what. This is wasteful and not good for a single woman living alone unless she wants to eat the same meal multiple times during a week. I don’t recommend this either – we all need variety and balance. A food scale is simply a way to make sure you are getting the right amount of food you need. 

So I did have to replace mine when my boyfriend moved, but the good news is that they are pretty reasonably priced at Bed, Bath and Beyond.