Patel

Olive oil. It’s a kitchen free-pass. You splash it around in the pan or drizzle it over your salad. Who cares how much you’re using? It tastes good so it must be fine. Olive oil is healthy fat. It tastes better then butter. But here’s the thing: whether you use extra virgin olive oil or … Read more

Meatballs are a complicated part of our everyday diet. For most, they’re just some protein block. But they can differ greatly. They depend on what type of meat go into them, how much salt is snuck in the sauce, and how big or small the portion are. Depending on whether you ate 12 tiny appetizer-sized … Read more

The saltine cracker box, found on most kitchen counter tops, are an easy way to have some crunchy salt in your pantry (or atop a bowl of soup). The next time you pick up a handful, you may think, “Oh, that’s just air, no big deal,” but compare calories per volume of food consumed and … Read more

Here’s one possible situation: You’re pulling a tray of fresh-from-the-oven cookies out of the oven. The smell in the kitchen is heaven; it’s all buttery and sugary goodness… But now you wonder how many of these cookie should go into your body today. “I just want the cookie to taste good,” you think, “but I … Read more

It feels like a tedious addition to a hectic morning when I has to actualy weigh each slice of bread, but it’s also the best tool against making a guesstimate of my carb consumption. Maybe you think a slice is a slice, whether that slice comes from an artisanal boule shaped by hand at neighborhood … Read more

For breakfast, if you’re craving something sweet but trying to keep things under control for the day, you might be tempted by a waffle. Waffles are airy, so it looks like they shouldn’t be heavy, but they’re dense. It look light, but it is actualy more like a piece of dough that holds fat and … Read more

There’s a kind of anxiety you get when there’s a box of Ritz crackers sitting on a table at someone’s house. Inside that box is a bag of salt and processed wheat goodness, which tastes great but contain a lot of calories. The issue isn’t the desire. It’s the arithmetic. No one wants to reach … Read more

There’s always that pause before picking up the pan: Bacon tastes amazing but it’s also chock-full of calories, salt, and smoke. Not all bacon are created equal. That slab of turkey bacon appears to be a healthy thin slice. That chunky cut of pork might appear to be applewood smoked. But those numbers don’t add … Read more

A bagel looks like a harmless decision. You pick one up at a corner store and maybe cut it in half, which is a responsible portion. You spread on some cream cheese or tomato slices and head out the door to start your day. This lasts until 11 AM, when you’re crashing or your tracker … Read more

There’s a problem in the office breakroom donut box: Human body processes don’t match up with good intentions. You’re going to have one. Then another, and another. (Three pastries from the marketing team.) And it’s not always about being hungry. It’s math. The problem is never just the hunger. It is the math. They overestimates … Read more