It’s time for Girl Scouts to set up all around the city with their indulgent classic cookies and new additions.
If you’re watching your figure or monitoring sugar intake, knowing which cookies are healthiest — and which aren’t — could help restructure your sweet tooth craving and keep you on track with your health goals.
When it comes to eating healthy, it’s all about making the right choices, which includes desserts. According to a 2015 study, food enjoyed in “moderation through portion control may be more effective than elimination or restriction.”
Here are the top three healthiest and unhealthiest Girl Scout cookies
According to Healthline, rankings are based on nutritional facts per cookie and not serving size for a more accurate assessment that includes saturated fats, total calories and added sugars.
Healthiest
- Shortbread and trefoils: They were the lowest in calories per cookie (30 and 32 calories, respectively), and lowest in saturated fat and added sugars.
- Thin mints: They have just 40 calories a cookie and only slightly more saturated fat and added sugars than No. 1.
- Do-si-dos: They have between 53 and 57 calories per cookie and are a little higher in sugar content than Thin Mints.
Unhealthiest
The unhealthy options include one of their latest additions the Raspberry Rally. The following cookies not only have a high-calorie count, but they also have more added sugars.
- Adventurefuls: They have 60 calories per cookie and have a fairly high sugar and saturated fat content.
- Raspberry Rally: The latest addition to the Girl Scout menu is the second unhealthiest with 80 calories per cookie.
- Samoas: It’s one of the classics on the menu and the unhealthiest. While it’s lower in calories (75 per cookie) than the Rasberry Rally, Samoas have 6g of sugar per cookie.
“From a psychological standpoint, when we restrict ourselves or make something completely off limits, it could set us up to overeat or binge later,” Rachel Goldman, PhD, a licensed psychologist and clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, told My Fitness Pal. “This doesn’t happen to everyone, but it makes sense if you think about it. If you can’t have something, then many times you want it even more.”
In conclusion, if you want the cookie, have and enjoy the cookie in moderation.
