Is there anyone who does not know that pastelitos are fattening or a double cheeseburger with bacon is not artery friendly?

I doubt it. Yet we devour them.

Nutrition knowledge is not always in the driver's seat when we are hungry, stressed or away from home, according to an August USDA research report, ``Is Dietary Knowledge Enough? Hunger, Stress, and Other Roadblocks to Healthy Eating.''

Waiting too long between meals is a major calorie buster. You should eat every four hours. When the gap becomes five hours, you add approximately 52 calories per meal. A differential of six hours adds 91 calories.

If you wait too long to eat, your blood sugar drops, leaving you cranky, hungry and in a rush to eats carbs for a quick fix.

Another culprit: Eating out. The bigger portion sizes at restaurants, plus the bread basket, adds about 107 calories to the average meal.

Being busy at work is not waist reducing. Those who worked 40 hours a week, when compared with the unemployed, had longer gaps between meals and ate more, the study found.

I doubt most employers will reduce work hours to assist with stress and weight loss, but meal spacing is in your power. Carry a nutrient-rich snack to work on days when late lunch or no lunch is the only option. An apple and cheese, a few baby carrots, cucumbers with hummus, a small yogurt, 3-4 crackers and peanut butter or 12 almonds all have fewer than 120 calories.

When eating out, leave the extra calories at the restaurant by avoiding the breadbasket (or the butter), bringing home a portion of a large entree or sharing dessert.

In short, avoid roadblocks by knowing their location.

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