It is Girl Scout cookie time, which is an annual excuse to eat for a good cause. Faced with eager young entrepreneurs hovering near card tables stacked with boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and Peanut Butter Patties, even a super model would be hard pressed not to stock up.

So when Kimberly Kilpatrick offered to help me sort through this year’s offerings from a nutrition standpoint, I accepted. Kilpatrick is a clinical dietitian at Baptist Memorial Hospital - DeSoto.

“It is important to look at the calories, fat and carbs. All of those are equally important,” she began.

Her short list of healthier options included Cinna-Spins and Do-si-dos.

At 100 calories per serving and 2 grams of fat, Cinna-Spins are as close to diet food as Girl Scout cookie get. Even better, a serving equals 15 cookies and includes just 1 gram of artery-clogging saturated fat.

A single serving of Do-si-dos includes just two cookies, 110 calories and 5 grams of fat, including less than 2 grams of saturated fat. It is a crisp sandwich cookie with an ingredients list that includes peanut butter and oatmeal.

If diabetes is a problem, Kilpatrick suggested the sugar-free chocolate chip cookie. Three cookies pack 160 calories and 9 fat grams, including 3 grams of saturated fat. But it delivers zero grams of sugar and 7 grams of sugar alcohol. “Just because it says sugar-free or low-fat, it doesn’t mean you can have all you want,” she warned.

While Kilpatrick declined to label any of the cookies as a bad choice, food nutrition labels don’t lie.

A single Lemon Chalet Creme cookie has 80 calories and three grams of fat, including 1 of saturated fat.

Samoas, which I could consume by the box, run 150 calories for a two-cookie serving. Not horrible, until I read they have 8 grams of fat, 5 of it saturated. Thin Mints, a perennial favorite, run 150 calories for four cookies. They have 7 grams of fat, almost two-thirds of it saturated.

High calorie or low, Kilpatrick said it all really comes down to portion control. “With all the cookies, watch how much you are eating,” she said. That means limit the cookies to once or twice a week.

When selecting Girl Scout cookies and other treats, how often do you consult nutrition labels and how important is the information in making your selection? Let us hear from you.

Just don’t let yourself slip into sweats, pour a glass of milk and eat a sleeve or two of cookies.