If you're looking for a cookie that tastes great, has no sugar or artificial flavorings, and has the calories of a celery stick, don't stop by the Girl Scouts' table outside the supermarket.
It's cookie time, and the Girl Scouts again have resisted calls to substantially change their iconic product, despite charges that they're peddling obesity.
In a recent article on Forbes.com, Dr. Michelle Sandberg, a pediatrician in San Jose, California, chastised the organization for contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic.
“As a pediatrician who works with overweight and obese children, I see firsthand how difficult Girl Scout cookie season is for children struggling with their weight. Girl Scout cookies are sold seemingly everywhere, and with the added guilt that purchasing them is for a good cause. This provides yet another challenge for children trying to eat healthy in a culture where junk food is everywhere," Sandberg told writer Bruce Y. Lee.
Sandberg said she plans to give money to the Girl Scouts without buying cookies, and Lee, who is also a doctor (and director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), suggested the Girl Scouts drop the cookies and sell fruits and vegetables, sports and exercise equipment, or books.
"Surely, there are other ways of raising funds. Girl Scouts, their mission, and their ideals may be sweet but do their products necessarily need to be?" Lee wrote.
To that, the Girl Scouts reply, as Bob Cratchit did to Scrooge: 'Tis only once a year, sir.
"Girl Scout cookies are sold for a short time every year and are considered a snack or special treat. As with all treats, they should be enjoyed in moderation," the organization's website says.
(For the record, the food cops aren't singling out the Girl Scouts; they've also been urging Cookie Monster to give up the cookies on "Sesame Street." But he's not letting go of them either — though he claims to be eating more fruit.)
So which Girl Scout cookies are the better choice for those seeking to eat healthfully? That takes some detective work, as the cookies are baked at two locations, and each bakery uses slightly different recipes.
One of them, Little Brownie Bakers, no longer uses high-fructose corn syrup in its cookies; the other, ABC Bakers, apparently does.
The calorie count can differ by bakery, as well. Two of ABC's Caramel deLites have 130 calories. Two Samoas, the Little Brownie Bakers' version, have 140.
How do you know which bakery supplies your region? You have to ask your local troop, the Girl Scouts website says.
As for another nutritional villain, trans fat, you might wonder why the Girl Scouts say their cookies are free of trans fat, while some list "partially hydrogenated palm kernel or cottonseed oil" — i.e., trans fat — as an ingredient.
That's because each serving contains less than 0.5 grams, which the Food and Drug Administration says qualifies as "zero trans fat." (Go figure.)
As to the calories, those with the most include Toffee-tastic and Tagalongs, at 70 per cookie, and Thanks-A-Lot and Lemonades, with 75 each.
The Shortbreads manufactured by ABC have the fewest: just 30 calories each. Little Brownie Bakers' version is slightly higher; a Trefoil has 32.
The Cranberry Citrus Crisps sound healthy: They contain 9 grams of whole grain and no high-fructose corn syrup. But four have 150 calories. That's just 10 fewer calories than four Thin Mints.
You can go with the Thin Mints and burn off most of the difference by doing jumping jacks for one minute.
If you don't care about calories at all, the bakers of Girl Scout cookies have some suggestions: Samoas truffles with dark chocolate, coconut and bacon, and Samoas coconut cream-filled croissant donuts.
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