The Girl Scout Cookie Dilemma

Cookies – I Like Them
As the founder of a nutrition company…as a coach to elite athletes and figure competitors…and as a former athlete myself, I find it very hard to say what I’m about to say. But I have an admission to make . . .

I love cookies.

Oh, it’s scandalous, I know.

Or is it? As faithful Precision Nutrition readers know, all nutrition plans must have some flexibility – hence our 90% adherence rule.  So guess what I’m eating in those 10% meals? Damn right – cookies. Not just any cookies, mind you – but Mrs. Fields cookies. The Ferrari of cookies, if you will. Chocolate chip or macadamia nut, those are my kryptonite.   Warm, chewy . . . delicious.

There, I said it.

I mention this not to bare my soul to you, therapeutic though it may be. I mention it because a few months ago some Girl Scouts came by my house selling, you guessed it, cookies. Being a Sunday, my nutritional day of rest, I decided, “Hey, why not. It’s for a great cause.” I picked up a box or two for a few dollars, and the girl scouts headed over to the neighbor’s house for the next pitch, delighted with the sale.

The thing is — and I hate to say this because it’s a cool thing they’re doing — Girl Scout cookies just aren’t that good. They’re usually a little stale and kinda bland, and a little undersweetened, perhaps. (Bet you never thought you’d hear me say that.)

Hence the dilemma: the product is, ahem, slightly lame, but it’s for a good cause. Therein lies the problem. If I don’t buy the cookies, I feel like a jerk. If I do buy them, I’m never quite satisfied with the purchase. And I get it; it’s just a small thing. I know. But indulge me for a moment.

A Good Cause AND A Good Product
The question I often ask myself is this: why couldn’t they just sell me some Mrs. Fields cookies? I’m sure she’d license the recipe, don’t you think? Okay maybe not, but couldn’t the scouts hire some food scientist to reverse engineer the recipe and do it themselves? Surely one of their moms has a better recipe?

In other words, why aren’t the girl scouts selling me truly delicious cookies? Seems to me it wouldn’t be much harder – they’ve got all the production and distribution figured out, and that’s a huge part of the challenge. It’s just the recipe that’s letting them down.

And here’s the whole point…if they could somehow manage to create cookies that are even BETTER than Mrs. Fields, why would I ever buy anything else? For every 10% meal, I’d be eating those delicious Mrs. Fields-like cookies that I got from the Girl Scouts.

Great product + good cause = killer combination.

Then it occurred to me: why do fundraisers always have to be so lame? Why can’t GREAT products be sold for good causes, too?

As a co-founder and director of a charity (the Healthy Food Bank), the question is especially relevant to me right now. You see, some of you will recall that a few months ago, we founded a non-profit organization called the Healthy Food Bank to buy basic nutritious food for food banks around North America. What we didn’t tell you is that we had another amazing project in mind, right from the very beginning.

The Gourmet Nutrition Magazine

That’s right.  As of today, our new magazine is officially off the ground.  And you’ve gotta see it to believe it.  Here are the details:

>>The magazine is produced by the very same team that produced Gourmet Nutrition V2. The same photography team, the same design team, the writers, the editors, and even some new faces.

>>This magazine is stunning in every regard, from the design to the photography to the writing.

>>The magazine includes delicious, gourmet recipes in each issue.

>>The magazine also includes captivating articles covering everything from nutrition and food science to gardening and cultivation.

>>And finally, the magazine is donating ALL of its profit to the Healthy Food Bank, to buy good food for people in need.

The magazine is called Spezzatino and you simply must check it out.  Download a free sample of it now by clicking this link: http://www.spezzatino.com