loudstyle

Anything that gets delivered to our home in the form of a box or a large envelope sets the children into a carnal frenzy. They stand beside it jubilantly and crazy-eyed like cavemen around a first fire.

A food scale is something we always planned on getting but just never did. I always wondered, though, how close we were with our guesstimates.

Before I even finished reading the brief manual, Charlie had already determined the total weight of three storm trooper figures, a bar of soap, my car keys and his little brother's tongue.

Before giving my assessment of this scale, it is only fair to disclose that I have never used any other scale before. This was a virgin trial. It should be understood that this review comes without comparison to any other scale.

EatSmart Carb-Factor Scale

It's small, plastic, seemingly unsturdy and may even weigh less than my 3-year-old's tongue.

That said, this is the food scale for me. I honestly don't have the time or interest in plowing through a 50-page instruction manual only to struggle to set the clock. This is a bare bones scale. No clock. No calculator. No digital library of foods. No Internet access. And no, it won't dress you or cook your meals like the machine on The Jetsons did. It just gives you what you really need – the total carbs – and for an affordable price of $25.

And if a genius like me can be up and running in about three minutes, then it must be easy to use. The scale comes with a guidebook that lists 700 foods with corresponding carb factor. The 'tare' feature makes it very simple to subtract the weight of a cup or bowl, etc.

So were our guesstimates way off? Not really. We were over-estimating bananas and milk by a few carbs and under-estimating apples by a bit. But, with so much guess-work with this disease, it is nice to know at least Charlie's carb intake will be precise.

And for the record, Ben's tongue weighs 38 grams.