The Dieter's Kitchen

There are a few items that no dieter's kitchen should be without.

1. An heavy-duty scale - no less than a two-pound limit and measurements in pounds, ounces and grams and kilograms. A scale is vital when it comes to measuring amounts of so many food items -- cereal, meat, bread slices you cut yourself, vegetables. It is indispensible for recipes written for the European market. But most of all, it helps keep you on your diet. After all, do you really know what 6 ounces of white meat of turkey looks like when you're slicing it from the carcass? Or how much is 56 grams of Raisin Bran? Unless you have a gifted mind for weights and measures, I think you'd be surprised by some of the portion sizes you've been eating. I certainly was.

Favorite Kitchen Scale -- 30004 Stainless Steel Kitchen Scale 8-lb.

2. Measuring Cups. Keep on hand a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup and one or two sets of graduated measuring cups. If you just can't do without, let's say, orange juice which is good for you but relatively high in calories (about 124 calories for 8-oz.), make sure you know exactly how much 1 cup is before that first gulp. The same goes for the amount of milk you use in your cereal. Even skim milk has 80 or 90 calories per cup depending on the brand. A half-cup of milk and 2 ounces of cereal, depending on the cereal, approaches or exceeds 200 calories. Measure before eating.

3. Measuring Spoons. How much is 1 level tbsp. of butter? mayo? cream? olive oil? peanut butter? Have you been indiscriminately dipping your knife into the jar thinking your are taking just a little bit? Do you randomly pour from a container guessing at the amount you're using? Stop right now. I can guarantee this is where so many extra calories are creeping into your diet.

Yes, it's a pain to measure so many things, but it's necessary. I keep these utensils on my kitchen counter in a draining rack. I use them so many times a day, it's too much work to keep hauling them out of the cupboards and the drawers. So I simply keep them in view. It also serves to remind me of my goal. Do I ignore them many times? Obviously I do or I would'nt be on a diet. But that's besides the point. When I lose weight, I lose because I use these diet aids. They work.

Chow for now!