- Diet professionals say balanced taking in is about generating superior decisions most of the time.
- Treats like cookies can be eaten in moderation.
- Information like overall energy, saturated body fat, and additional sugars can be used to assess which food items are relatively healthier.
- Even so, it’s also vital to savor and get pleasure from what you’re feeding on so you really don’t experience deprived.
Yes, we know. Cookies are not regarded a “healthy” foodstuff by any stretch of the creativeness.
However, that does not suggest we can not have a handful of treats once in a while, nor does it mean our food plan is “unhealthy” when we do.
In truth, in accordance to Maya Vadiveloo, PhD, RD, an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and meals sciences at the College of Rhode Island, healthy having is about creating good choices most of the time with occasional treats, like cookies, eaten in moderation.
To help you make the most educated choices if you do decide to indulge this Female Scout Cookies year, we’ve set with each other a checklist of the pertinent dietary data for just about every wide range of cookie and rated them from healthiest to unhealthiest.
Our rankings are based mostly on dietary facts for each cookie fairly than per serving to make a lot more correct comparisons.
Primarily based upon Vadiveloo’s assistance, we viewed as these factors as overall energy, included sugars, and saturated body fat when ranking the cookies.
You should notice that for some cookies, you are going to see two distinctive names listed with somewhat different dietary information. This is since some Woman Scout Cookies are created by two different bakers, utilizing distinctive recipes.
We’ve rated identical cookies alongside one another when probable, but we uncovered that 1 cookie (Woman Scout S’mores) was just as well various in its recipes and nutritional profiles to include each bakers less than the very same ranking.
Availability will range depending on which region you are living in.
Shortbread (ABC Bakers)
Serving measurement: 4 cookies
Nutritional info for every serving: 120 energy, 4.5 grams full unwanted fat, 2 grams saturated extra fat, grams trans excess fat, milligrams cholesterol, 110 milligrams sodium, 19 grams carbohydrate, grams fiber, 6 grams sugar, 5 grams extra sugar, 1 gram protein, 1.3 milligrams iron
Trefoils (Tiny Brownie Bakers)
Serving dimensions: 5 cookies
Nutritional info per serving: 160 calories, 7 g total body fat, 2.5 g saturated extra fat, g trans unwanted fat, mg cholesterol, 110 g sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, g fiber, 7 g sugars, 6 g additional sugars, 2 g protein, 1 mg iron
Why we rated this cookie as we did
Shortbread and Trefoils have been the apparent winner amid all of the Girl Scout Cookies. When compared with other types, they had been the most affordable in energy for every cookie (30 and 32 energy, respectively). They have been also the cheapest in saturated body fat and additional sugars.
Thin Mints (ABC Bakers)
Serving sizing: 4 cookies
Nutritional details for every serving: 160 energy, 7 g overall body fat, 5 g saturated fat, g trans excess fat, mg cholesterol, 105 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, <1 g fiber, 10 g total sugars, 10 g added sugars, 1 g protein, 1.6 mg iron
Thin Mints (Little Brownie Bakers)
Serving size: 4 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 160 calories, 7 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 120 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, <1 g fiber, 10 g total sugars, 9 g added sugars, 2 g protein, 1.2 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
Thin Mints actually stack up pretty well against most other Girl Scout Cookies. At only 40 calories per cookie and only slightly more saturated fat and added sugars than our No. 1 pick, they earn the honor of being our second-healthiest cookie on this list.
Do-si-dos (Little Brownie Bakers)
Serving size: 3 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 160 calories, 7 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 11 g sugars, 10 g added sugars, 3 g protein, 0.8 mg iron
Peanut Butter Sandwich (ABC Bakers)
Serving size: 3 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 170 calories, 8 g total fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 105 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 9 g total sugars, 8 g added sugars, 3 g protein, 1.2 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
While these two peanut butter sandwich cookies were a bit lower in saturated fat than Thin Mints, their higher added sugars and calories per cookie (53 and 57 calories, respectively) caused us to rank them No. 3 on our list.
Serving size: 3 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 160 calories, 7 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 105 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 10 g total sugars, 10 g added sugars, 3 g protein, 1 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
At 53 calories per cookie, ABC Baker’s Caramel Chocolate Chip tied with the Do-si-dos on calories, but the Caramel Chocolate Chip’s higher amounts of saturated fat pushed them to No. 4.
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 140 calories, 6 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 20 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 7 g total sugars, 7 g added sugars, 1 g protein, 0.7 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
Lemon-Ups were only slightly lower in saturated fat and added sugars but higher in calories than Caramel Chocolate Chip (70 versus 57), leading them to earn the No. 5 slot.
Peanut Butter Patties (ABC Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 130 calories, 7 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 15 g carbohydrate, <1 g fiber, 8 g total sugars, 8 g added sugars, 2 g protein, 0.8 mg iron
Tagalongs (Little Brownie Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 140 calories, 8 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 80 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrate, <1 g fiber, 8 g total sugars, 7 g added sugars, 3 g protein, 0.7 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
With higher saturated fat and calories (65 and 70 calories, respectively) than any of the previous cookies, Peanut Butter Patties and Tagalongs ranked No. 6 in our lineup.
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 140 calories, 7 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 19 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 7 g total sugars, 7 g added sugars, <1 g protein, 0.1 mg iron
Why we ranked them as we did
While Toffee-tastic was virtually identical to Tagalongs in our chosen criteria, we ranked Toffee-tastic at No. 7 in order to keep the two versions of the previous cookie (Peanut Butter Patties and Tagalongs) together on this list.
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 150 calories, 7 g total fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 110 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 10 g total sugars, 10 g added sugars, 2 g protein, 0.8 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
Little Brownie Baker’s Girl Scout S’mores had close to the same amount of calories and saturated fat as Toffee-tastic, but their higher added sugars made them rank as less healthy.
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 140 calories, 6 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 10 g total sugars, 10 g added sugars, 1 g protein, 1 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
While this cookie was slightly lower in calories compared to Girl Scouts S’mores, it was higher in saturated fat and had the same amount of added sugar, placing them at No. 9 on our list.
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 150 calories, 7 g total fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 70 mg sodium, 20 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 9 g total sugars, 9 g added sugars, 1 g protein, 1 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
While they had a bit less added sugar, Lemonades came in higher in calories and saturated fat than Toast-yay, making them our choice for the No. 10 slot.
Adventurefuls (ABC Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 130 calories, 6 g total fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium, 17 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 11 g total sugars, 11 g added sugars, <1 g protein, 0.8 mg iron
Adventurefuls (Little Brownie Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 120 calories, 6 g total fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 80 mg sodium, 16 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 9 g total sugars, 9 g added sugars, 1 g protein, 1 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
While these look better at first blush due to their lower calories per serving, they’re actually among the highest in sugar and fairly high in saturated fat.
Raspberry Rally (ABC Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 160 calories, 6 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 11 g total sugars, 11 g added sugars, 1 g protein, 1.3 mg iron
Raspberry Rally (Little Brownie Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 160 calories, 8 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 10 g total sugars, 10 g added sugars, 2 g protein, 1.1 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
Raspberry Rally ranked the worst as far as calories (80 per cookie). However, they were spared from being last on the list by the fact that Caramel deLites/Samoas actually have significantly more sugar.
Caramel deLites (ABC Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 140 calories, 6 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, 19 g carbohydrate, <1 g fiber, 12 g total sugars, 12 g added sugars, <1 g protein, 0.7 mg iron
Samoas (Little Brownie Bakers)
Serving size: 2 cookies
Nutritional information per serving: 150 calories, 8 g total fat, 6 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 60 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 11 g total sugars, 10 g added sugars, 1 g protein, 0.6 mg iron
Why we ranked this cookie as we did
With a whopping 12 g of sugar per 2-cookie serving (for the ABC Bakers version), these cookies edged out Raspberry Rally to claim the dubious honor of being the unhealthiest Girl Scout cookies.
Beyond simply comparing nutritional information, nutritionists recommend the following for making sure you keep your cookie intake in balance:
- Focus on eating an overall healthy diet. Vadiveloo recommends the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans , the Mediterranean diet, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and theAmerican Heart Association healthy diet guidelines as all being good choices. - Avoid labeling foods as “off-limits” or “bad.” This can often backfire, leading to cravings and overeating, says Vadiveloo.
- Practice mindful eating. Vadiveloo suggests eating cookies when you aren’t ravenously hungry so you can savor the experience. This will allow you to eat fewer cookies and feel more satisfied.
- Buy only your favorite cookies. While certain cookies have a better nutritional profile than others, Vadiveloo says it can sometimes be a better choice to buy the cookies you truly like. Eating a cookie you don’t enjoy can leave you feeling deprived and resentful, ultimately leading to overeating.
- Keep an eye on portion sizes. Nutritionist and author Shereen Jegtvig, who teaches at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, says it’s important to note that suggested serving sizes are usually only a few cookies rather than the entire box.
- Gluten-free cookies aren’t necessarily more healthy. While they’re better for those who have a genuine need to avoid gluten, Jegtvig says gluten-free cookies are nutritionally no better than their gluten-containing counterparts.
- Buy fewer boxes. Jegtvig suggests buying fewer boxes so there’s not a temptation to eat more than what you originally intended.
- Make a donation. If you want to support your local Girl Scouts but don’t want the temptation of having cookies in your home, you can donate cookies to U.S. military members serving overseas. You pay for the cookies and the Girl Scouts do the rest. You can also make a monetary donation to the Girl Scouts.
- Balance your calorie intake. Jegtvig suggests cutting back elsewhere or exercising a bit more to make up for the additional calories.
While cookies are by no means a health food, it’s possible to include them as part of an overall healthy eating plan.
Nutritional experts suggest you focus on eating them only in moderation.
Reading the Nutrition Facts label can help you make smart choices about how much and what you should eat.
In addition, when you do indulge, make sure you take the time to fully enjoy your cookies so you feel satisfied, which will help prevent overeating.
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