LESS IS MORE! welcome to Breaktime again. Now that it's not too hot to go into the kitchen, I guess you'd call it 'baking and cooking' season again.

That means everybody who's making money on us poor unfortunates who are counting calories and watching how much sugar there is in everything have got all the old products and some new ones too, to appeal to our appetites and 'impulse' buying temptations. One of the really good things is I discovered is 'sugar free' cinnamon rolls with icing! And they're good!

Of course keeping an eye on calories, costs, and what's good for us includes not only reading all the labels but price shopping too. One of the first things that is glaringly obvious is that less is now more - more money, that is. I was already resigned to the fact that in spite of hot chocolate being on sale about every other week for ninety-nine cents, the sugar free is never-ever on sale.

While the several brands of those convenient little envelopes are on sale for that appealing ninety-nine cent price, the sugar free chocolate is never less than a dollar forty-nine and most of the time it's two and a half hard earned bucks. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to it (it makes a great tasting sugar free latte that's better than Starbucks when you add it and sugar free ice cream to your afternoon coffee.

None-the-less, the larder being just about depleted, I knew that trip to stock up some things was due. A growling stomach, an empty pantry, and a few (not even subtle) requests from my family sent me on a much needed trek to the grocery store yesterday.

Of course I wore comfortable shoes since I stock up on stuff that has a long shelf life to keep from having to come back so soon, and check into everything they happen to have on sale this week. All this time consuming stuff is in addition to 'reading every label in the store' (which my husband accuses me of!)

Well, why should the Pure Food and Drug Association make them put all that information on the labels if nobody read them or wanted to know what's in all that stuff. Like, the amount of sugar, sodium, and that other stuff I couldn't pronounce even if I knew what it was. Then of course there's the legalese on anything from aspirin on up which keeps all the organs in your ailing body from suing them for ruining your kidneys, liver, or absolute Stephen King horrors warnings if you're pregnant or even have ideas about getting that way.

The main thing I look at is the amount of one serving in a thing and the number of calories in it. Did you know you can eat sixteen of the new 'lower calorie' Pringles and only consume one hundred and forty calories? That means I can have eight of the little goodies for only seventy (dangerous, fat producing) calories. Bought them, put them in the cart - on to thinner, healthier, and hopefully some good bargains. (Remember those? Back in the pre-economy in the toilet days?)

It only took me about two aisles to see there is every kind of fat-free, sugarless, full of vitamin C good stuff available to keep you in good enough shape to toddle up the aisles and buy all their good stuff.

I had another great epiphany on aisle three. LESS IS MORE! It costs money to be thin and healthy and look good. You can go broke right there in the grocery store without investing in an expensive spa or plastic surgery!

More often than not, the little quickie envelopes of hot chocolate are on sale for ninety-nine cents - but not the sugar-free ones. The sugar free ones are two dollars and forty-nine cents and are never-ever on sale!

I checked my list of the 'I wants' from my family, got as healthy as I thought we could afford and ran for the parking lot. (While I still could!). Good luck on your next adventure in eating. Break's over!