Portion controllers
Anyone who's made a trip down the grocery store aisle lately can vouch for the fact that virtually every snack comes in 100-calorie-pack form.

Provided you’re a fairly disciplined person, 100-calorie packs "can give you the pleasure of food without weight gain, because people tend to consider the end of a package the end of eating," says Gullo. "But if you need to have more than one package, they don't work for you. You shouldn't give an alcoholic light beer, and you shouldn’t give a binge eater light snacks." In fact, a new study found that people who were given a large box of individually packaged snacks ate 81 percent more than those given a smaller box of packs, suggesting that we'll eat as many packs as we have in front of us. If you can't stop yourself from consuming bag after bag and don't want to ban snacks altogether, Gullo suggests hiding them in a hard-to-reach location.

The same thing applies to candy. Having one individually wrapped mini chocolate bar is certainly better for your waistline than eating the full-size, several-hundred-calorie version. But small things come in bigger packages, making a mockery of self-restraint.

Also easily abusable: I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Spray. Most nutritionists aren’t opposed to misting vegetables with it, especially if it gets people to eat greens they'd otherwise avoid. But don't be fooled by the zero-calorie label. "There are no calories if you spray five times. If you spray 20, it has cumulative calories. Don’t spray and spray and step on the scale and expect miracles,” says Slayton, who knows of one celebrity who gained weight after going through a bottle every three days.

Another culprit is every girl's best friend, frozen desserts. Gullo had a client so obsessed with Tasti D-Lite, she called the company to buy her own machine. While the ingredient list is fairly harmless, the portions are another story. "The company has come under fire in the press for the sizes they're serving and how much mix goes in the machine," says Slayton. "I have clients who swear they're getting the small-size vanilla. I take it out of their diet and replace it with a grocery pop that has the same number of calories that Tasti D-Lite claims a small has, and they lose weight." To ensure she's not overserved, 35-year-old Amanda, a teacher, takes matters into her own hands. "I tell them I want only a little bit and then keep an eye on them as they dispense it, practically leaning over the counter to make sure I can see what's going on. When it looks like there's a lot in the cup, I yell, 'That's good, that's good, thanks!'" she says.

Frozen yogurt chains, to their credit, are cleaning up their acts. Pinkberry and Red Mango are dairy-based and claim to contain live cultures, which populate your body with healthy bacteria that keep your digestive tract running smoothly. But because they still contain sugar — and because people behind the counter swirl with abandon — your best bet would be a preportioned plain low-fat yogurt sweetened with honey.

Just as there are two candidates who emerge from the pack in every political race, there are two portion-control-designed foods that stand out from the crowd for being worth their salt. "Baked Lays may be high in sodium and pretty much all starch," says Bowerman, "but they can satisfy someone's craving for salt and crunch." And since they're typically sold in individual 130-calorie bags, people aren't as likely to tear into more than one serving. "There's just something so gratifying about ripping open a bag and eating the whole thing," says Nicole, 25, a freelance writer.

And if there's one processed food that truly lives up to its name, it's Lean Cuisine. Even the higher-fat entrees like macaroni and cheese — which Jana Klauer, a physician specializing in nutrition in New York City and the author of "How the Rich Get Thin" (St. Martin’s Griffin), says contains an impressive amount of protein — get the thumbs-up from many nutritionists, especially if you add a side of vegetables or a salad to improve the nutrient tally. "They are automatic portion control and allow you to enjoy a food you like that would have more calories at a restaurant or if you made it at home," says Gullo. "I don’t know if the Michelin Guide is going to include Lean Cuisine, but it does have value."

Fake sweets
A few years ago, nutritionists deemed white sugar the weapon of diet mass destruction. Many women turned to artificially sweetened drinks and desserts instead. It sounded like a win-win: same taste, fewer calories.

It turns out it's not so simple. "Artificial sweeteners stimulate both a physiological and a psychological need for sweetness, making you crave more sweets. So you just end up eating more and more," says Klauer. Making matters worse, artificially flavored foods are sweetened to a very high degree. "Now, when people turn to fruits and other foods that are naturally sweet, they don't think they taste sugary enough," says Bowerman. "So they keep going for the fake stuff."

One especially popular fake sweet is Diet Coke. But despite much anecdotal evidence that would suggest otherwise, studies have shown that people who drink diet soda are fatter than those who drink the regular kind. This news comes as no surprise to Gullo, who says he’s seen patients give up Diet Coke and lose up to six pounds. Maybe it's because the soda's sodium had been causing them to retain water, "or they figure they're saving calories by drinking diet soda, so they feel entitled to have a high-calorie treat later," says Klauer, who lumps Diet Snapple in the same category as diet soft drinks. Instead of soda, Klauer recommends sparkling water. Because it's carbonated, it feels like you're drinking soda. When Karmally has clients who don't want to give up diet soda, she urges them to stop at two a day.

You could also reach for another diet junk food: sugar-free Jell-O. It's a preportioned sweet that comes in small tubs. "At ten calories a serving, Jell-O is a great dessert," says Gullo. Just be mindful of how much Reddi-Wip you squirt on top (after all, to most of us, Jell-O is merely a vehicle for whipped cream). In large quantities, the negligible calorie count per serving even in the fat-free version adds up — and the full-fat version contains evil trans fats. "It's poison!" says Klauer.

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