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What - Without The Pie?

Your daughter scoots in the door, drops her laundry on the floor and heads upstairs to take the first of a seemingly unending series of afternoon naps. Ah, yes - memories of the joys of past spring breaks come rushing back. But, not to worry. This year, you have a secret weapon:

Double Cheeseburger Pizza.

Oh, sure - it took a bit of work to perfect. But, Sarah won't be able to resist her two main food groups combined into a singular dream meal... Just as the pizza hits the table, Sarah saunters into the kitchen. Aha! You knew she'd be hooked.

Or, so you thought.

But, she takes one look, raises a skeptical eyebrow and announces, "No thanks - I'm on the Peach Pie Diet."

She then launches into a preemptive nutritional justification of her dietary preferences. "Oh, yeah, all the kids at school are on it. And, Mom! Did you know that a single slice of peach pie is only 13% of my daily calories and that it contains 4% of my dietary fiber and protein, and has Vitamins A, C, E and K? It also provides tryptophan, lysine, beta-carotene and lutein."

What?

"Oh, yeah - And, it has iron, magnesium, potassium, copper, zinc and manganese. Over 63 grams of good old water too. But, the best part..." She takes a huge bite and mumbles on. "This new recipe I got from Kim is killer - absolute killer!"

What's a mother to do?

Well, first - sit down and enjoy a nice big slice of Double Cheeseburger Pizza before it gets cold. You're going to need the energy. Next, get online and hustle over to NutritionData. It's where your daughter got her information and the only real hope you have to level the eating field.

What can NutritionData tell you about food? Virtually anything. Consider:

-A slice of Papa John's pepperoni original crust pizza has 338 calories, including 131 from fat, and 825mg of sodium.

-A Burger King double hamburger, no cheese, has 450 calories, including 210 from fat, 75mg of cholesterol and 620mg of sodium.

-A larger banana has a measly 121 calories - only 4 from fat - and no sodium. It does have 17 grams of sugar.

-A slice of Louis Rich turkey bologna contains 52 calories, 302mg of sodium and no dietary fiber.

-One ounce of regular flavor microwave popcorn is tasty - and packs 107 fat calories.

NutritionData is a fabulous site and has more food assessment tools than you'll ever need - unless, of course, your daughter is on the Peach Pie Diet. At NutritionData you can search for foods by category, as in the selected samples, to assess their nutritional value. Or, you can search for foods that are rich in a particular vitamin, mineral or nutrient. The site also provides a daily needs calculator to help you gauge your caloric and nutrient requirements based on your individual lifestyle.

There appears to be only one glitch - they have no entry yet for Double Cheeseburger Pizza...

To explore all its resources and tools, see this from NutritionData.