Product reviewed: EatSmart Digital Nutrition Scale
The unique EatSmart Digital Nutrition Scale is perfect for two of my patient types: strict carb counters and newbie calorie counters. Not only does it reliably and accurately weigh food,
but also it displays 12 nutrients from 999 foods stored in the scale’s memory.
With a few extra steps and a Nutrition Facts panel, patients can find nutrient values for their actual portion of packaged foods. The scale’s memory feature keeps a running tab of ingredients in a sandwich or other mixed dish. Since users weigh their actual portion of food, they quickly learn the nutrient counts of their real-life choices and won’t be able to assume that a hefty bagel, for example, provides the same calories or carbohydrates as the medium bagel listed online or in a book.
Although the EatSmart Digital Nutrition Scale is not intuitive to use, the instruction manual is helpful. It took several attempts before I could tally the nutrient counts of a full meal without having to use the manual for each step. People who are intimidated by technology or dislike working with numbers could face challenges using the EatSmart Digital Nutrition Kitchen Scale.
The scale comes with a nutrition guide, but unfortunately it is out of date with references to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid. It also fails to use person-first language when referring to people with diabetes; before sharing this scale with my patients, I would remove the nutrition guide.
