I've always wanted to calorie count but find the procedure tedious and error-prone. The reason is that manufacturers use the per-serving specifications to hind the true caloric content of their product. You know, they state 120 calories in a serving of 25 chips. Who wants to look at a label and then count out chips? Some use fractions: 95 calories in a third of a bar or a half of a cup. Really now! If I always bought the same products in the same quantity, it might be easier for me but I'm always buying different products or different sizes.

The solution is to have the manufactures add up the total caloric content and state that on the label. Here's how it might work. Let's say you are a family of four. Before you go shopping, you add up the caloric requirements of your family based on weight. You then buy a quantity of product equal to that total. Now, the family members share the products according to their needs. They might, for instance, set aside x cups of ice cream into individualized plastic container. Of course, if everyone can be trusted to take no more than their share, there would be no need to apportion. Active teenagers may even be given an entire package of their own.

There are a few problems. One is that a product may not be consumed within a shopping cycle (jar of olives, gallon of oil, sack of rice). This is where a computer program would come in handy. Having input the total calories of a product, the computer would then calculate how long it should last before the next purchase.

If you are single or living with one other person, then the scheme is even easier because you essentially half everything you consume or you split it 1/3 to 2/3 with the larger portion going to the more active or larger member of the pair.