When starting a program many find it helpful to weigh their food–at least for a while. The idea is not to go through life weighing every thing you put in your mouth. That’s not realistic. (We don’t need people whipping out their portable scales at the salad bar!) But because our ideas about “normal” portion sizes have been so corrupted by the servings offered in restaurants, it can be a helpful reality check to spend a day or two learning what an ounce of cheese or three ounces of chicken actually looks like.

Here’s what I like…as a food scale, the Eat Smart Scale works beautifully (a substantial upgrade from the rickety postal-style scale I’ve been using). It weighs up to 3 kilograms (about 6 1/2 pounds) of food in either ounces or grams. But it’s the nutrient analysis thing that sets it apart. Once you place the food on the scale, you can also enter in a 3-digit code that identifies the food. (Codes for 999 common foods are listed in an accompanying booklet.)

The scale will then tell you the exact number of calories, carbs, fiber, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and vitamin K found in that serving of food. You can keep a running total of your intake of these nutrients by saving each food into the scale’s memory. I encourage my clients to keep totals of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, and the Eat Smart Scale makes it easy for you to get an idea of where you might be missing some important nutrients.

The average person makes about 200 food decisions a day. Thinking about food constantly and deciding what we want to eat makes us hungry. Plan your daily meals, drinks and snacks ahead of time. If you spend less time thinking about food, you will make fewer bad decisions.

Make a point to make all your food decisions in advance. Don’t let yourself wander through the cafeteria, pantry or menu asking, “What sounds good?” For one week, make all the decisions at least a day ahead and stick to them.