The Daily Balance

When the Mister joined in on all of my healthy practices and endeavors this year (i.e. joining me at the gym, taking an active interest in cooking, etc.), I knew it wouldn’t be long before the gadgets came out. See, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but the Mister is a bit of a ‘techie” (no, not trekkie– although, he is one of those, too ).

Little did I know just how much he could infiltrate his techie ways into our healthy living routines. I showed you last week how I’ve started using ‘Lose it!’ on the iPhone,  but the gizmo that I’m about to share today has already proved its worth in my kitchen. Another point for the Mister!

What is this mysterious gizmo, you ask? My friends, it is nothing more than a simple digital food scale.

See, once the Mister started helping me with the cooking, he couldn’t understand why I didn’t even bother to accurately measure my ingredients before chucking them into the bowl/pot/whatever wasted so much time making sure I measured everything perfectly. Using his technology-seeking mind, he knew there had to be a tool to help. Enter: the digital food scale. After researching several models, he finally decided on the EatSmart Precision Pro.

EatSmart Precision Pro (image credit: buy.com)

We’ve been using it for several months now, and I’ve gotta tell ya — this thing is pretty awesome!

Let me break it down for you…

Have you ever tried to bake a delicious treat only to end up with something that didn’t achieve the accolades the recipe promised? Yea, me too. Well, after reading an article from Cooking Light touting the benefits of the kitchen scale, I learned the culprit could very well be the flour. See, baking with flour leaves VERY little room for error (especially with light baking), and even a couple extra tablespoons will leave you with a treat that would serve better as a doorstopper. With a digital scale, you’re able to slowly add the flour until the scale reaches the gram weight you desire. No more measuring cups!

I’ve also found that the digital scale has kept me accountable with my portion sizes. For example, my huge overflowing bowl of Puffins? Yea, that’s like 3 servings. My heaping mounds of peanut butter? Probably close to 2 or 3 servings — way more than my wishful thinking would like.

I’ve also discovered first hand just how much food manufacturers deceive us! I know, right?! The horror! Yes, sometimes a “cup” does not equal the gram weight for one serving (and I’m sure you know better than to think the under-estimate!)

While it’s fun to double-check portion sizes and keep myself accountable, I mainly use the scale for cooking and portion control. For example, I know that my Shrimp Summer Salad weighed 1710 grams total. So, for 1/6 of the recipe (suggested serving size, and also only 141 calories), I know to serve myself 285 grams. See how easy?

Do you use a food scale? What foodie/fitness gadget can’t you live without?

10 Responses to “Try it – ‘Weighing’ in on the benefits of using a food scale”

1. Sagan said:

   I don’t have a scale, but my parents have one and they never use it, so I think I might go by their place and sneakily stow it away, hehehe. It would be so useful.

   With the flour, one of the main issues is that people don’t realize you’re not supposed to scoop the flour out of the bag with a measuring cup. The proper way to measure it out is to use a spoon and spoon it into the measuring cup. This leaves you with a much smaller amount of flour than if you had just scooped it in.

   I couldn’t live without my pedometer. I also adore my marble rolling pin (marble is the ONLY way to go for rolling pins!) and the little silver metal circles that I use for poaching eggs in the saucepan.

   Posted on June 30, 2009 at 11:10 am | Reply
2. Rose said:

   I’ve never used a food scale, but you got me thinking about the benefits of one.

   Posted on June 30, 2009 at 12:08 pm | Reply
3. AlliJag said:

   I just won a scale – your post got me SO EXCITED to use it!

   Posted on June 30, 2009 at 2:16 pm | Reply
4. Menden (Skinny Menny) said:

   It’s amazing how much different your perceived portion size and the true portion size can be! I actually measured 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (the suggested serving size) one time, and my jaw almost hit the floor. Uh, yeah, I was eating more like 4. At least. Ha!!

   Posted on June 30, 2009 at 2:54 pm | Reply
5. Biz said:

   I love my food scale and can’t live without it – literally. I am diabetic so I weigh all my food to get an acurate carb count, which in turn lets me know how much insulin I need – and also to control the portion size too!

   Posted on June 30, 2009 at 3:21 pm | Reply
6. Quinn said:

   I have been wanting to try to use one, but are they terribly expensive? I’m also not mathematically inclined at all, so I sort of fear I would get an error.

   Posted on June 30, 2009 at 3:57 pm | Reply
7. Fitzalan said:

   I used a food scale pretty consistently for about 2 years. And then I noticed I was addicted to it. Much like I became with the real scale. Numbers and me do not get along…I get obsessed. So, mine is now gathering dust in my pantry and I have to admit–it is a good thing.

   Happiness Awaits

   Posted on June 30, 2009 at 4:05 pm | Reply
8. Fitzalan said:

   I used a food scale pretty consistently for about 2 years. And then I noticed I was addicted to it. Much like I became with the real scale. Numbers and me do not get along…I get obsessed. So, mine is now gathering dust in my pantry and I have to admit–it is a good thing.

   Happiness Awaits
   Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!

   Posted on July 1, 2009 at 4:06 am | Reply
9. Kelly said:

   I do use a food scale but it’s less for health purposes and more for accurate cooking. A lot of recipes (especially in baking) use weight measurements so it makes for a much more accurate recipe. Best of all, with a food scale I can just dump things in one bowl and see how the weight goes up rather than dirtying measuring cups. Such a convenience.

   I would say the foodie gadget I cannot live without is my food processor. I use it CONSTANTLY not only to mix up bread doughs and puree dips but also to shread lettuce and slice vegetables. So handy.

   Posted on July 2, 2009 at 10:24 am | Reply
10. What I Need is a Diet for Idiots | A Womans Life said:

    [...] Try it – 'Weighing' in on the benefits of using a food scale | The … [...]

    Posted on March 4, 2010 at 8:11 pm | Reply