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At some point, almost all Low Carbers will find themselves tracking. Whether it's counting carbs for the first time as a LC noob, weathering a stall by getting refocused, or "just what you do" to stay on course, tracking is a fact of the low carb lifestyle for most. While we utilize a variety of tools for tracking, scales are often central. Eyeballing a serving size is not the same as weighing it out, as anyone who has ever been bitten by a case of the Carb Creeps can tell ya.

That's why I was pleased when I got the opportunity to review the EatSmart Nutrition Scale. Tracking is one of those areas I could stand to improve upon for my own program, but am seldom motivated enough to do it. Maybe a shiny new scale would help? I do have scale, of course: a sorry little $3.99 contraption that I bought specifically to mix up a batch of Maggie's Cereal. It did the job, just barely. But the idea of replacing it with a superior product was definitely appealing.

The scale arrived promptly, and was smaller than I expected. It's very sleek and definitely looks better on my counter than the old-school EKCO scale I used before by light years! Plus one for presentation.

EatSmart's Nutrition Scale Features

The scale arrives ready to go, powered with 4 replaceable AA batteries. The glass top removes for easy cleaning. It's very attractive and seems to work well at weighing your food, easily switchable from grams to ounces. It also shuts itself off after a bit of inactivity to save the battery life. It's a nicely designed scale.

But the main attraction, of course, is the nutritional calculations. The EatSmart scale is unique in providing both the preprogrammed food and/or the ability to enter information directly from a nutritional label, both allowing you to calculate the nutritionals for the exact serving size you're weighing. 

"Normal Mode" has 999 foods with nutritionals preprogrammed from the commonly used USDA database. Alternatively, the "Nutrition Calculator" mode uses the information you enter directly from the label to give you a number for whatever nutrient you're entering, based on the amount of food on the scale.

Preprogrammed foods are entered by numeric code, found in the guidebook that comes with the scale. When you zero out the scale (by pushing the "Tare" button) and add your food, nutritional information is displayed. The 1/2/3/4 button on the left keypad allows you to toggle between the following nutritional info:

1. Calories, Carbohydrates, Fiber - Yay! We're number 1!
2. Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium
3. Total Fats, Saturated Fats, Cholesterol
4. Calcium, Protein, Vitamin K - Protein Power fans, they've got you covered.

In the Normal Mode (i.e. using the included food database), you can also use the scale's memory function to easily weigh out a whole meal adding one item at a time and get a cumulative total. Start by adding an empty plate and pushing "Tare" to zero out the scale. Then add the first food to your plate, enter the code for your food, and save it to memory. Again, zero out the scale (while leaving the food on your plate atop the scale), add additional food, save it to memory, and repeat until you're ready to access the total. It's very convenient. (See EatSmart's demonstration video.)

In the Nutrition Calculator mode, you just enter the serving size from your nutritional label, enter the figures per serving size of whatever you're figuring from the label, and add the food. The scale doesn't allow you to specify what nutrient you're actually entering (or let you to save it in any way), but it does calculate from the amount of food added what the total numbers are for the nutrient you're figuring. So it's aptly named Nutrition Calculator, as that's exactly what it does. Clear and repeat to figure another nutrient.

So in addition to getting the exact nutritionals for your meals based on actual serving size, you could also use this scale to help you figure nutritionals on your favorite LC recipes, or figure the nutritionals on a serving from one of your recipes where you already had the nutritional info available. Very handy!

The Booklets: Keep One, Toss the Other

The scale comes with two booklets. The Food Code Booklet provides food codes for the scale, along with operation instructions. That one's a keeper, and should be stored close to the scale for ease of use.

There is a good variety of common foods included. For example, under Eggs, we've got:

• Fried
• Hard-boiled
• Omelet
• Poached
• Raw
• Scrambled
• White Only
• Yolk Only

Us Low Carbing folks love our eggs, man. And I counted 45 different choices for cheese! So, yeah, many of the foods you eat will already be in there. And there is a section in the back for recording codes for favorites to make using the scale quicker. That was a nice touch.

The second booklet is called A Practical Approach To Healthy Eating - Guidebook To A Nutritious Lifestyle. I winced upon seeing the title. While the folks at EatSmart are clearly at least aware of us Low Carbers, I was highly doubtful the nutritional advice would be on-target for us. Unfortunately, I was right.

The recommendations in the Nutrition Guidebook are based on the 2005 USDA Food Pyramid guidelines. So for males, we got a suggestion of 350 grams of carb a day (w/35 grams of fiber), or 275 grams for women (25 grams of fiber). (p 7) Ugh! I'd be packing on a pound a day at those rates, man. Tips scattered throughout incorporate the same ol' tired low-fat gospel that we've been hearing for years: eat lots of whole grain breads, crackers, noodles and pasta, look for fat-free, reduced fat, yada yada yada. We also hear the old calories in/calories out mantra as well. No surprises whatsoever here.

The section on Diabetes downright disturbed me, although it shouldn't have. We're told, "Most people with diabetes should limit carbohydrates to 40% to 50% of their total caloric intake. For a 2000-calorie-per-day-diet....that's a daily intake of only 200-300 grams! Use the EatSmart Nutrition scale to weigh out approximately 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal..." (p 33) I knew the American Diabetes Association has only recently "embraced" low carb for diabetics in their 2008 guidelines, so I looked it up. Sadly, the 45 to 60 grams of carb per meal is exactly what you'll find recommended at the ADA website.  That reflects progress, I guess? Sigh.

I understand EatSmart's decision to go with the currently accepted party line on nutrition. It's certainly safer, and lots of people buy in, I suppose. Heck. They probably even consider it good advice! But seriously: if I were giving this scale as a gift, I would likely pitch the Nutrition booklet before wrapping it up. If it were a gift for a diabetic, I definitely would pitch the booklet and maybe replace it with something helpful, like Dr. B.'s Diabetes Solution. Do no harm, man.

Conclusions

I found the instructions easy to understand, and the scale was indeed attracitve, functional and simple to use. While I would have liked to be able to save my own custom foods to the database (since we know it's not going to include some staple ingredients for LC recipes) or use the Memory function with the Nutritional Calculator mode, overall I found it very pleasant to use. The scale and a notepad makes pretty short work of tracking and figuring nutritionals and recipes.

I would consider EatSmart nutritional scale a premium product, retailing at $75 (see discount below), including a 2-year warranty. The price was a little higher than many nutritional scales I found, which commonly seemed to range from about $40 - $60, but none had the features this one did. If you're looking for a high quality nutritional scale, I would consider this a very good choice.

I debated on docking a star for the Nutritional booklet, but ultimately opted to give EatSmart a full 5-stars because you're not buying the booklet. You're buying the scale. And the scale I can feel good about recommending.

LCE Discount - We Like Those!

For for LCE Readers, EatSmart has agreed to provide a 15% discount if you use this link (which automatically applies the coupon LCEATING to your order): http://www.eatsmartproducts.com/coupon/lceating. That brings the price of the scale to $63.75!

If you do end up purchasing one, let us know what you think. And happy tracking, fellow travelers!