When you stop into a Starbucks, do you stick with the standard whole milk in your drink or do you order low fat or skim milk instead? In some markets, Starbucks customers so overwhelmingly opt for lower fat options that the coffee chain has decided to test 2% low fat milk as the drink default in about 300 of their stores to see how consumers respond. The stores are located in four key markets: Orange County, California; Jacksonville, Florida; Oregon; and London, Ontario. Milk options other than low fat will still have to be added as a customization to your drink, including skim, whole and soy.

If the program is a success, the switch could be applied to all stores, which would alleviate some of the criticism about Starbucks' high-fat drinks, although it is unclear as to whether the regular Frappuccino drinks will change their recipes, as well.

It's the eternal battle amongst dieters - low carb/no carb? lowfat/reduced fat? Low cal? There is a strong argument for every one.

According to the early findings of research that has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that compared people on lowfat diets versus people who follow a Mediterranean diet -- not "The" Mediterranean Diet, but "A" Mediterranean diet, the general term for a diet that includes large amounts of fat in the form of olive oil and tree nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts.

Though the complete study is not yet through its entire four years, participants so far who have been following Mediterranean lifestyles have experienced increases in HDL, decreases in LDL, and decreases in inflammation.

This is, of course, not new information, but encouraging for those of us who don't seem to find that lowfat diets work for our body types. Healthy or not healthy, it sure works for me, since Mediterreanan is in my top five cuisines!

When Alanna sent me a note to let me know about a Lifehacker post on making low-fat cupcakes, I knew I would have to give it a try out of sheer curiosity. After all, Lifehacker is not exactly a food oriented site and to take a break from their regularly scheduled content to mention cooking seemed to be a sign that their technique was worth trying. Notice that I said technique and not recipe.

These light cupcakes are sort of a food hack (or a diet hack) using two ingredients: cake mix and diet soda. If you're not curious, or are so put off by the ingredients that you don't want to hear how the cupcakes turned out, you may as well stop now. Otherwise, read on...

The interesting thing about LightFull Smoothies is that they're designed to be filling, while other smoothie drinks are usually designed to deliver a few servings of fruit, or a richer alternative to juice - not to fill you up. As a result, you can drink an ordinary smoothie, still be hungry, and oftentimes, worse off than before because of all the sugar. This is not likely to happen with LightFull. All of the smoothies are made with natural ingredients. They are sweetened with fruit purees and a tiny amount of sugar, as well as other natural sweeteners like erythritol, which is naturally found in grapes, pears, melons. Each smoothie has 6 grams of protein and 5 or 6 grams of fiber, which is at least 20% of your recommended daily intake. They also only have 90-100 calories each, and almost no fat (0-1g, depending on flavor), so you can indulge in each delicious flavor without any guilt - just the fact that you're doing something good for your body that happens to taste better than you expected.

Cafe Latte - Two thumbs up!

• Nicole: This was my favorite flavor. It had a very smooth, creamy coffee taste that was slightly sweet and had none of the bitterness that coffee-flavored drinks often have. I had to drink it slowly, though, because it was much more filling than any blended coffee drink I can remember.
• Sarah: Of the four flavors, I liked this one the most as well, but that might also be a personal bias toward all things coffee.

Easy Exotic: A Model's Low-Fat Recipes from Around the World is the cookbook by Padma Lakshmi, the new host of Bravo TV's Top Chef series. The book was originally released in 1999, and features recipes that Padma cooked or ate when she traveled the world as a working model. For the home cook, this translates into healthy dishes that are easy to prepare - not always completely "authentic," but with enough flavor to spice up your daily cooking routine. It includes about 60 recipes, some of which are more traditional, and some of which are simply influenced by the traditional. All are easy to prepare and make liberal use of fresh herbs and spices. The countries touched on are Spain, France, Italy, Morocco and India, and there is also a generic Asian category, which is more about general flavors than specific dishes. Some of the other dishes include Chicken Tagine (Morocco), Chole (India), Rajma (India), Spanish Tortilla Cake, Sauteed Steak in Red Wine (France) and Penne all' Arribbiata (Italy). A half-dozen or so dessert recipes wrap up the book, because models have sweet-tooths, too.

While reducing the fat in baking gets easier with time, especially after you practice with a few recipes and accept the possibility of failing every once in a while, you have to wonder how far you can push the limits. While there are fat free cakes, like angel food, the texture in those is decidedly different from that of a traditional cake, which you expect to be moist and tender, not airy. After much testing, cookbook author Sarah Philips, came up with a whole book of all-natural, low fat recipes (The Healthy Oven Baking Book). This cake is a variation on one of the recipes from that book - and it has almost no fat.

In an effort to offer healthier kids options, as well as to keep parents happy, Burger King is introducing a line of 8-oz. bottled milks to go with its kids' meals. The lowfat milks will come in chocolate and plain versions, both branded with the Hershey's logo. Company spokespeople say that they are hoping the recognition from the Hershey's brand will further encourage parents to pick up milks, instead of sodas, for their kids. The biggest selling point, however, is probably the fact that the bottles are resealable. They are sturdier and can travel much more easily than either paper milk cartons or soda cups - a fact that will be a relief to many parents who are planning to take family road trips with their kids this summer and won't have to worry about spills!

The first option is to limit yourself to one slice of pizza. Good luck with that - though it is a good idea to pair a pizza with something lighter, like soup or salad, to prevent yourself from reaching for that last slice.

The second option is to eat low fat, low calorie pies. This is actually a great way to get your fix without blowing your diet or your top button. The taste is the same or similar to regular pies, especially if you sprinkle on some of your own toppings, like a bit of parmesan cheese or red pepper flakes.

Despite the fact that study results were released this week indicating that eating a strictly low fat diet will not lower the likelihood of developing cancer or heart disease, companies do not anticipate a decrease in the demand for low fat products.

All that the 8 year study of over 40,000 women proves is that there is no link between a strictly low fat diet and the onset of these diseases. By strictly low fat, I mean that the diets of the study participants did not take into account anything other than the fact that they followed a diet made up of less than 30% calories from fat. They could have had higher than the daily recommended number of calories, never exercised or simply been genetically predisposed to the diseases. In other words, while the low fat diets were not shown to lower the risk factors, they did not raise them.

So, should you still watch the amount of fat you eat?

In neighborhood bodegas throughout New York City, the shelves are stocked with cookies, chips and other snack food items. They carry staples, like bread and milk, but only one in three bodegas carries anything other than whole fat milk and fewer stock good quality fruits and vegetables, if they have any at all. Many of the city's residents - particularly those of lower incomes - do most of their shopping at these neighborhood convenience stores, rather than frequenting larger supermarkets. This means that these shoppers often have limited or less frequent access to healthier foods.

No. Effin'. Way.

I am not poking fun at the JAMA, because, like, they're doctors and stuff. However, I am poking fun at everyone who 1) finds this information the least bit surprising, and 2) will twist the information and use it as license to reach for a dozen doughnuts with utter abandon.

No, no o ye of little restraint.