This is a good question. Sometimes I do count garlic, because I use a lot of it. A 3-gram clove of garlic contains about 4.5 calories. But I’ve never counted spices, and I’ve just learned that, for example, a tsp. of cumin seeds, which I might well use in one serving of a recipe, contains almost 8 calories, and here I have never counted them! I just goes to show that there are a lot of ways to eat more calories than we are aware of.

Sometimes I look up everything and add it all up perfectionisticly. Other times I might estimate 20-25 calories for “herbs and spices.” You have to know yourself and how much you are likely to fudge things at any given time. The idea is to keep yourself honest without making yourself crazy. Or at least that’s my goal for myself.