I have always been a fan of root beer. When my sister and I were kids, our intake of sugary drinks was actively monitored by our mom and so there wasn't much in the way of soda in our house. When we'd go out to eat, my dad would often get a root beer while we had to content ourselves with milk. We'd beg for sips from his glass on those occasions and so I associate root beer with comfortable family outings and special treats.

When I heard that Thomas Kemper, craft brewer of quality sodas (out of my hometown of Portland, OR) had developed a low calorie root beer that was sweetened with Splenda and honey, I was really excited to taste it. The box arrived last week with three artfully arranged bottles of soda and I popped the whole thing into the fridge to chill.

A couple of hours later it was cool and ready to taste (I must say that drinking soda out of a glass bottle is far more satisfying than out of a can). Twisting off the cap, I took a long pull and swallowed. It was nice and fizzy, but sadly didn't live up to the flavor profile of Thomas Kemper's sugar version of root beer. It is missing the sharpness that root beer typically delivers. This product is totally drinkable and for those folks who are watching their calorie and sugar intake, I would say that it's a terrific option. But personally, I would rather have a single, sugar-based root beer once a month than drink this version on a more frequent basis.

This root beer is available starting this month, and they will be following it up with low calorie versions of their ginger ale and black cherry soda in April.

Our friends over at healthy lifestyle and fitness blog That's Fit have just done a review of Celestial Seasonings Zingers To Go Tea Mix, and thankfully, blogger Brian White has given the powdered drink mix a thumbs up. The drink mix is a ready-mix herbal tea that simply requires water and something to use to mix it all up. The mix makes one 16 ounce drink that has nothing but all-natural ingredients like Stevia as the sweetener, which adds no calories to the drink. Sure sounds better than the 180 or so calories in a soda!

I'm actually quite surprised that more people aren't using these types of drinks as replacements for soda. You would think that the convenience of a small powdered packet as well as the dirt cheap price (Zingers To Go is $2.50 for 10 packets) would make this a no-brainer, not to mention the fact that it's far healthier than any canned soda.

Hopefully, people will turn around.

The Cheesecake Factory is known for their enormous portion sizes and high-calorie cheesecakes. The large sizes seem to add value to the meals for diners, while the cheesecakes, depending on who you ask, are a big slice of heaven on a plate. Both of these things, however, are a source of irritation to nutritionists and consumer watchdog groups.

Since fans of the Factory wouldn't tolerate a decrease in the portion size, but the company wanted to offer something a little lighter for those who are watching what they eat (and possibly to placate the groups watching them), they introduced several "weight management" salads. The lower calorie offerings have less than 590 calories each. The Weight Management choices include: Asian Chicken Salad, Spicy Chicken Salad, Pear and Endive Salad (pictured), California Salad and Seafood Salad. Each is slimmed by using low-calorie dressings and cutting back on the amount of cheese, nuts, hard0boiled eggs, avocado and other high-calorie components, although it doesn't seem like they're entirely eliminated in any of the dishes, which is probably why they're just called "weight management" and not "light" or "diet,"

To avoid putting on the extra pound or two during the holidays, which are notorious for making large quantities of tempting and sometimes fattening foods readily available, all you really need to do is apply some common sense and avoid giving in to the excuses that the season offers.

• First and foremost, make sure to drink plenty of water. Not only will it offset the extra calories that you might consume if you were to drink only holiday drinks (eggnog, cider, cocktails, wine), but it will help fill you up and make you less likely to overeat in general.
• Don't stand near the buffet and nosh at parties. Take one plate full of what you feel that you should eat, then let it be. Try eating slowly over the course of the evening. It'll make you feel fuller.
• Before going out, especially if you know that your favorite fried latkes and other high-calorie favorites will be on the menu, eat a healthy snack to fill up. Try not to skip meals before on the excuse that you're going to eat a lot later. You'll eat less if you're not hungry when you walk in the door.
• If you're the one entertaining, make sure to have plenty of healthy snacks - low fat dips, veggies, etc - in addition to more decadent options so you give yourself and your guests a few good options. Look for lightened versions of favorite recipes (Cooking Light and Eating Well are good places to start), too.
• Last but not least, don't panic if you "give in" and have an extra slice of cheesecake or a few too many holiday cookies. One meal on one day is not enough to ruin your diet or your health, so it's not worth beating yourself up over. Keep a positive attitude and try to make better choices next time. • Be the designated driver. Stick with nonalcoholic drinks during a party and you'll save your friends and your waistline

In my mind, Perfect Light Desserts: Fabulous Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More Made with Real Butter, Sugar, Flour, and Eggs, All Under 300 Calories Per Generous Serving has more than just a few good things going for it. Obviously, it is geared towards slightly less fattening/lower calorie treats. The recipes use less butter or sugar than they might otherwise, and often make substitutions like swapping egg whites for whole eggs. No artificial sweeteners or other ingredients are incorporated into the pies, cakes, cookies and other baked goods, so the recipes will taste just as satisfying as their high-calorie counterparts with less guilt attached.

Author Nick Malgieri is known for his much more decadent desserts and it is somewhat reassuring to know that he really stands by these recipes, in much the same way as dessert maven Alice Medrich stands by her hugely popular book Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts. To add another chef to the mix, David Lebovitz is also recommending it and has provided the recipes for Banana Cake and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (which look quite similar to my favorite low-fat oatmeal cookie recipe) on his blog.

If you like to bake, this is definitely one to add to your wish list for the holidays - although if you sneak out and buy yourself a copy, you'll get to "wow" your family and friends in a way that they'll appreciate at parties and other festive (food-related) occasions.

Once the Halloween candy hits the shelves, you know that the holiday season is starting up and won't be over until after New Year's. In addition to candy, there are cakes, pies and huge family dinners to contend with. There are ways to prepare for a meal, but how can you prepare for a season of not-so-healthy eating without worrying about your health or weight?

Some people wait to see how much damage has been done before cutting back in January. One friend told me that she tries to have a salad with low-fat/low cal dressing, or a low-fat soup for lunch as the holidays approach and throughout the season - as opposed to sandwiches, burgers and even leftovers - which gives her a sense of flexibility when it comes to her aunt's pecan pie and potatoes with gravy. That's quite a long time to prepare for a few big meals, though.

Do you try to change your diet to offset seasonal indulgences?

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.

With the marketing of "low-carb" potatoes, it's no surprise that scientists are now working on low-calorie fruit. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, are working on producing apples with higher levels of sorbitol and lower levels of sucrose and fructose. Sorbitol apparently has nearly half the calories of sucrose and fructose, all of which occur naturally in fruit. Fruits like apples aren't particularly high in calories to begin with, so I'm a bit curious as to what the other goals of this research are.