10 Girl Scout cookies, from healthiest to least healthy

by Tanya Ryno (Subscribe to Tanya Ryno's posts)
Nov 26th 2007 11:00PM

Categories: Healthy Habits, Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

If you are a disciple of Atkins, South Beach, the Zone, or any other restrictive diet plan, this post won't pertain to you. However, if every now again you like to indulge in a good cookie, read on.

Question: Ever ate so many cookies you just got tired of them?

Of course not.

Because, duh, cookies rule and the folks who make Girl Scout Cookies agree. They've made it their mission to provide the tasty treats to Girl Scouts to sell to us each and every year. In fact, the act of selling the cookies is directly related to helping all girls realize their full potential enabling them to become strong, confident, and resourceful citizens. Ironically, the act of eating the cookies can do quite the opposite for us, so buy the cookies to help fund a good organization and sell the cookies to become independent and learn business, but otherwise read the labels and know the serving size before downing a box of the yummy treats -- although who eats only two cookies?

You can expect to see Girl Scout cookies for sale right after the holidays.

Girl Scout Cookies(click thumbnails to view gallery)

From healthiest to least healthy, Real Simple Family, gives us the lowdown on which cookies you should purchase and which you should be more careful of when consuming.

Cafe Cookies (five er serving) contain little saturated fat.
Trefolis have 150 calories per serving (five cookies).
Little Brownies (four per serving) are sugar-free.
Thin Mints (four per serving) have the same amount of sugar and fat as two-cookie serving of Samoas.
Do-Si-Dos (two per serving) are low in saturated fat.
Tagalongs (two per serving) are high in fat, but it's mostly the good, unsaturated kind.
All Abouts (two per serving) are also low in saturated fat.
Thanks-A-Lot (two per serving) have the same number of calories as twice as many Thin Mints.
Lemonades (two per serving) have four grams of saturated fat.
Samoas (two per serving) have high amounts of fat and sugar.

Thin Mints have to be my favorite ... I put boxes of them in the freezer. When I want a snack, I pull out a serving and enjoy! Tagalongs are great too ... oh and so are the Trefoils.

Source

Comments (39)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Grandma Linda 11-27-2007 @ 10:59AM

Girl Scout cookies have not been good for the past several years. It's as though the food industry has taken it upon themselves to decide how much sugar and salt is good for me.
There was nothing like a stack of the shortbreads and a glass of cold milk.

sandie 11-27-2007 @ 11:08AM

My FAVORITE girl scout cookies are the do-si-dos. I LOVE them so much. I get so excited when it is cookie time.

dude 11-27-2007 @ 11:18AM

Maybe that's why Samoans are big people.

GS Leader 11-27-2007 @ 11:26AM

I agree with the post, however, it was disappointing that the quality of the cookies diminished when the ownership of the bakery changed (several years ago now). It was as if the new owners thought that changes needed to be made to the cookie ingredients (and the packaging) to ensure an even longer shelf life. What the new owners don't realize is that Girl Scout Cookies are consumed rather quickly (or they are put in the freezer). I used to run the annual cookie sales for my GS Service Unit. What I learned is that consumers were turned off by the changes the new owners made. Our GS Service Unit customers dwindled to just those who buy the cookies to support GS. We lost the customers who used to buy the cookies because they liked them more than what they could buy elsewhere. If you like the tag-a-longs and the thin mints now, you should have tasted them before. They were my #1 and my husband's #1, respectively. My troop used to sell 20x what we can sell today of these two cookies alone.

daisy 11-27-2007 @ 11:48AM

Every year I get asked to buy cookies, from my friend's, neighbor's or co-workers kids. And I do the same thing every year. I hand over $5 and tell them to keep the cookies. I have a hard enough time keeping my weight down during the holidays without having a box or two of cookies around. Besides I would rather use my calories on an extra holiday drink or two!

I am a formerly very overweight child that is a normal in shape woman that works hard at it every day. I swear by drinking plenty of water, avoiding carb laden meals in the evening and trying to get exercise whenever you can. I also try to wear a pedometer to keep track of miles and try to do 10,000 steps every day.

Bunny 11-27-2007 @ 12:57PM

There are 2 different bakeries in the U.S. that make Girl Scout cookies. Each Council chooses which bakery to use; most stick with the same year after year. My Council in Northern California has always used Little Brownie Baker and the cookies are still wonderful. Our All Abouts, BTW, are rectangular rather than round, and I have never heard of Thanks-A-Lot cookies.

In San Francisco, their Council has used the other bakery and I have never liked their cookies.

I was a leader for 15 years, "retired" in 2004. I was on the Product Sales Training Team for 5 years (charter member, until Team dissolved when Product Sales training was taken over from Product Sales by the regular Training department).

trick 11-27-2007 @ 12:18PM

samoas are high in fat because they have coconut, a fatty fruit, but that kind of fat isnt that bad

alioness13 11-27-2007 @ 12:27PM

I did not know the insider info about the bakery but I did notice a change in the cookies. So much of a change that I have no problem walking past the table... I don't even look twice. They were the only cookies that I ever liked. Now I am completely cookie-less!

John 11-27-2007 @ 12:28PM

I don't care WHAT is in Samoas - they are delicious! I carefully watch my my diet and exercise all year long, but when my Samoas are delivered I eat an entire box by myself and wash them down with a few glasses of cold milk. YUMMY!

paul 11-27-2007 @ 12:29PM

How about they are the worst cookies in the world? Isn't that reason enough to stay away from eating them? YUK!

Kathy 11-27-2007 @ 12:56PM

Samoas, Tagalongs, Cafe Cookies are my favorites, and so what, they're expensive and come around once per year. Some of life's pleasure shouldn't be taken for granted, but enjoyed in the time you have here. All things in moderation, and enjoy them when you can.

lita 11-27-2007 @ 1:06PM

The cookie gallery should have included photos of all the cookies mentioned for those of us who are not familiar with every kind of GS cookie.

Having said that, I have a "thing" for the Samoas....

L. A. Hansen 11-27-2007 @ 1:23PM

I have wanted to sound off about this since last summer--the "sugar free" brownies are the worst tasteless attempts at cookies I have ever tried--I am diabetic (insulin dependent) and of all the "sugar free" food I have tried, these tasted old, stale, and completely without taste that was remotely pleasing. Send them back to the kitchen to try another recipe.

Trevor 11-27-2007 @ 1:38PM

Let's not forget "Caramel Delights"!

J.B. 11-27-2007 @ 2:05PM

I love them ALL
But I will not buy them because right after the Holidays is a bad time to sell them. EVERYBODY is on a diet from the Holidays and not in the mood for more calories.
Why dont they sell them around May when people are not that diet obsessed anymore.
wrong timing in my book.

S321 11-27-2007 @ 3:16PM

I stopped buying the girl scout cookies when they stopped selling chocolate chip cookies. All due to being politically correct. Stopping a few people from buying cookies wont stop the obese epidemic.....

betty 11-27-2007 @ 3:38PM

well well .all we had to do is say no .lol those children eyes & mouth saying please .just one box thats all i tell them im on a restride diet .if that dont work i just walk away .do i feel bad .yes butiv learn only way to do it .or ill be a sucker & buy the whole big box

Jennifer 11-27-2007 @ 4:06PM

As a former GS who has eaten more than my fair share of GS cookies, I have to say that I too have noticed a difference in the quality of the cookies. So sad!! I used to buy multiple boxes but now I usually just buy one box of thin mints for old times' sake and am disappointed when I eat them...but I keep buying them hoping they will live up to the cookies of my past.

nikkicookers 11-27-2007 @ 5:40PM

dude, they stopped selling the chocolate chip cookie girlscout cookies forever ago. They were never that great anyway. Choc Chip can be bought all year round. Samoas........ mmmmm, that's right!

nikki
nikkicookers@aol.com
http://www.fitconnect.com
"health & fitness social networking"