Girl Scout Cookies. Those colorful boxes. Those sweet, young smiley faces in the grocery store vestibule. How can you ignore them?

Yes, bathing suit season is a mere few months away, closer if lucky enough to have Spring Break plans where it’s warm. Or at least where there’s an indoor hot tub or Jacuzzi near-by.

But can you really start watching what you’re eating NOW?

Isn’t it ones civic duty to support our future? Teach the next generation of budding professional woman the skill of sales and marketing?

Isn’t it part of the unspoken camaraderie among workmates to order a box or 2 from each mom and dad wielding their daughters order form placed for all to see in the breakroom?

And the school staff who wouldn’t dare say no to puppy dog eyes from a child scared to usually speak up in class but has somehow found her voice to ask you to buy her cookies?

YES. It’s our duty.

And as a dietitian mom to a Girl Scout Daisy, it’s my job to buy a box of every single flavor. After all, it’s for research right?

And where it may not be my job per se to sell to coworkers and friends, there is that underlying pit in one mom’s stomach when her first born, shy daughter sets a modest goal to sell 60 boxes of cookies and you know without your help, that might not happen. In addition, cue insecure memories of myself selling only a few boxes.

So my dietitian hat was thrown to the side for the sale, however, it was hard to keep off.

My mind raced as I delivered the goods, watching the happy recipients unable to contain themselves ripping open boxes for their first sweet, crumbly taste of the season right in front of me. Just knowing that by day’s end, an entire sleeve of cookies if not more may be that of a memory. The eater immediately wondering “where did they all go.” Then enter shame.

What have I done?

I’ve become an enabler in the disguise of a Girl Scout cookie dealer.

Thankfully because I’m a Misfit dietitian though and also a lover of the Girl Scout cookie, I swept my own guilt aside and instead took a deep, long look at what I was selling.

Did you know the Thin Mint® is the most popular Girl Scout cookie?

And honestly they’re the (2^nd to) best value for your wallet and your waist!

At $4 per box these days (they were $2 when I was selling them 30+ years ago, maybe even $1.50), the Thin Mint® will score you 28 cookies per box. Only the Trefoils® gives you more at 36 cookies. But who eats Trefoils®? They’re the shortbread cookie by the way.

In addition, you get 4 cookies as a serving size for 160 calories. I can’t find historical data on this, but I honestly don’t remember the cookies being as small as they are now from when I was selling them. Which is just ironic, given that the portion size of every other thing in the food world has exploded.

Oh and did I mention, Thin Mints® are Vegan? BONUS!!

The Trefoils® by the way are the best cookie for your waist line. Although if you eat a whole sleeve of these too, that negates everything. You can eat 5 cookies for 160 calories, with only 6 grams coming from added sugar. That’s only 1.5 teaspoons. The Thin Mints® by the way have 9g of added sugars or slightly over 2 tsp.

What’s the worst?

I’d have to go with one of the newest flavors, premium priced at $5, the Girl Scout S’mores™ cookie. You only get 16 per package. Two cookies provide 150 calories and 10 grams of added sugar or 2.5tsp.

This is NOT the cookie you want to mindlessly eat. And honestly they’re good. If I hadn’t pre-portioned these ie. grabbed 2 and duct taped, then hid the box, I would have eaten more.

Almost all the cookies had 7-9 grams of total fat, except the lemony Savannah Smiles®. But when you take out the fat, you got to replace it with something that tastes good. The SS has the most sodium at 130mg for 5 cookies. Although at 130mg, this is still considered a low sodium food. However, it also contained 10 grams of added sugar, which is why the Trefoil won best in show for nutrition.

So I have to know, what’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie?? And how do you control eating the whole box?

If you haven’t figured out how to NOT eat the whole box, but don’t want to give them up completely, you might need a little Misfit Nutrition in your life. I’ve got a 7 day Work With Me package that even though it’s called the Sprinkle Plan, it’s perfect for Girl Scout overindulgence especially if there are boxes still laying around your home or office (without duct tape on them).

Misfit Hugs,

Kim