As far as I am concerned, this is one of the biggest benefits of home cooking, Ellemm. The concept of knowing what goes into my food is huge. When dining out - which I love to do, by the way -- I'm starting to realize that it is WAY TOO EASY to eat way too much without knowing it... Not only are the servings too large, the plates too big, and the entire ambiance often designed to encourage us to overindulge, but beyond that, too often the menu items' ingredients are tricky.

We can think we are being healthy because we order a salad, for example, but the dressings and/or ingredients themselves can contain enough hidden fat, sugar and sodium to totally throw our weight management attempts out the window.

I think that's why the author who writes all those "Eat This Not That" articles for Men's Health finds people like the segment so much.

I just saw one of his segments on the Today Show this morning which featured Home Cooked Lower Calorie Versions of Our Favorite Grilled Foods.

In every example given, the home-cooked versions always saved at least 600 calories. Who doesn't want to do that?