Precision Pro Kitchen Scale

I hesitate to endorse a ‘nutrition’ oriented product on a feminist website due to the ongoing tyranny of the emaciated female form in marketing, eating disorders, and fear of accusations of insensitivity, insecurity, close-mindedness, and size-ism. However, here are the facts of my situation: an undiagnosed medical condition made me overweight, and now I want to lose that weight. Half of the pounds evaporated as the result of successful (non-bariatric) surgery, but I would like to lose the entire quantity and return to my healthy size. A recovering bulimic roommate hid my body scale in the mid ‘90s, and I have not owned a scale since but prefer to go by clothes size.

I have always objected to strict dieting as a step on the slippery slope to anorexia. It also feeds an oppressive ideology (see Susan Bordo) and is ultimately ineffective because the metabolism lowers at a rate corresponding to the decrease in calories unless the dieter exercises. (And here is the inevitable) BUT now I seek helpful tools to assist in weight loss and maintenance. While aesthetic and emotional motivations may be suspect, concern regarding heart disease, the number one killer of women in the United States, is entirely legitimate. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute provides a site to help create an individualized heart-healthy diet. The EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale is another useful device.

Here’s why I like it: reasonably priced, it is also small, discreet, and multifunctional, as well as simple and thoughtfully including a tare feature (subtracting the weight of a dish or storage container). It works on any continent, or with your recipe of choice, offering four measurement modes: grams, ounces, kilograms, and pounds. In addition to the cross-trainer, free-weights, walking, bicycling, medical supervision, and the uninhibited enjoyment of the food that I do consume, I appreciate the use of this scale on the road to regained health.

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