Newspaper food...

I'm in Central Market today (HEB for some of you) and a lady is popping what looks like air-popped tortillas. It sounds like a popcorn machine and sort of smells like it, and people are buying them like crazy BECAUSE they have no fat, they're low in calories (15 per tortilla) and sweetened with Stevia, so no "sugar"; Weight Watchers lets you eat four of these for no points. So, of course, I have to buy some, get them home, and they taste worst than rice cakes - since rice cakes don't have any taste, how can these taste worse?? Well, at least rice cakes are crunchy; these disintegrate in your mouth before you have a chance to chew them. Your supposed to spread something on them - nutella, peanut butter, cheese, whatever - so then what's the point of a no-calorie, no-fat food? They don't taste good by themselves and they don't have any nutritional value so you could at least justify eating them. Just because they're low calorie, they are empty calories; no matter how many you eat, you won't satisfy your hunger because they aren't satiating -you'll just go looking for something more. Flavor means the world, especially when you are trying to cut back on calories and food portions; you want to eat foods that taste good and are good for you. I'm speaking from experience - I've eaten enough bland food to last a lifetime in an effort to lose weight, and I'd like to save you the misery. Smaller portions of your favorite foods spaced regularly throughout the day, eaten slowly so that you can actually taste what you're eating, will give you the results you want. Put the paper in the trash! Melissa