I have been watching my weight for as long as I can remember and am always on the lookout for new products and ideas that will make eating healthy a little bit easier. I love perusing the recipes on foodnetwork.com, learning about fun new products on hungrygirl.com and reading new food research anywhere I can. My years of research have taught me how to maintain a healthy lifestyle every day.

Not that I had a choice. When I was still in school, living a healthy lifestyle was impossible. From the drinking, to the partying, to the daily late night pizza runs; my body was begging for something green. And growing larger and more icky every day. I can’t even believe I made it out alive…and that my blood didn’t turn into some sort of vodka marinara sauce.

But that’s beside the point.

Today I was playing around on Yahoo and saw the headline: “Healthy Dining: Eating Healthy on the Go.” I immediately clicked it. Eating out is one of the hardest things for me; I never know what is going into my food and how to stop myself before downing a giant family-sized portion. I was so excited to read some real tips that would help me make better choices at restaurants.

And then I read it.

Um. Duh? Sour cream is bad. Salsa is good. How did I never figure that out? (Can you sense the sarcasm?)

Come on, Yahoo. Did you really pay someone to put together a list of the most obvious dietary facts of all time (avoid fried food and eat steamed veggies instead)? Do you really think Americans are that dumb that they don’t know that fried calamari is a bad choice?

We are not a largely overweight country because we don’t know that fried and mayonnaise-based foods are bad for us; we’re fat because we choose to ignore those facts. Everyone with a brain knows that fish is healthier than burgers and marinara sauce is better than Alfredo. We all know that getting thin crust pizza is healthier than the meat-lovers deep dish.

Why don’t you present us with some real information; something that will actually help us on our weight loss journey?

And then I realized that I had fallen into the Yahoo trap; the article was obvious to me because I already knew everything I needed to know to be successful. I was looking for easy answers when the easy answers were literally right in front of me.

I have all the tools I need to stay healthy. There are no new secrets to dining out that I don’t already know. Losing weight and treating my body well is as simple as making good choices. I already know what I need to know to make those choices, so I don’t need some “writer” for Yahoo to help me figure that out.

And for those people who do need a little kick-start, maybe this article is a good reminder of where to begin. Or not. It could just be Yahoo luring in the readers–and the money–with flashy headlines