I’m always looking for new Calorie Bargains to help you live a healthier lifestyle – here are my latest finds.

Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier (Human Kinetics, 2005)

The Why: Ever wonder why and how the exercises in the gym actually affect your body? Which muscles the movements actually work? There’s a series of books on anatomy from the fitness experts at Human Kinetics. One of the more interesting of the series is Strength Training Anatomy, which gives you an intimate look at strength training from the inside out. The book has more than 400 color illustrations that show the muscles used during each exercise and how they interact with the surrounding joints. According to Human Kinetics, “Like having an X-ray for each exercise, the information gives you a multilateral view of strength training not seen in any other resource.” What a great book! Actually, all the books in the series are really great, especially Yoga Anatomy. You can also buy the book with a CD-ROM that includes 34 animations.

The Health Bonus: The book helps get you excited and motivated to get yourself into a gym and get fit.

What We Liked Best: The illustrations are amazing — each chapter focuses on one of the major muscle groups, with a total of 115 exercises for arms, shoulders, chest, back, legs, buttocks and abdomen.

What We Liked Least: It doesn’t do the exercise for you.

What It Replaces: The “quick fix,” do 10 minutes a week fitness books.

The Price: $19.95 for the book, $34.95 for the book with the CD.

Other Offerings: Bodybuilding Anatomy; Women's Strength Training Anatomy;

Stretching Anatomy; Yoga Anatomy.

Where to Buy: All bookstores, including Barnesandnoble.com, Amazon.com and www.humankinetics.com.

Kellogg's Special K Bliss Bar (Orange)

The Why: The bar tastes very good and satisfies your “snack attack” cravings.

The Health Bonus: It’s portion-controlled, which results in a low-calorie snack.

What We Liked Best: The taste.

What We Liked Least: The ingredients.

What It Replaces: Candy bars.

The Price: $3.49 per six-bar box.

Other Offerings: Raspberry.

Where to Buy: Supermarkets and Amazon.com.

Nutritional Information: 90 calories, 2g fat (0 trans fat), 17g carbs (9g sugar), 1g protein, 70mg sodium.

Ingredients: Multigrain cereal (rice flour, wheat flour, whole oat flour, sugar, salt), sugar, corn syrup, bran flakes (wheat, sugar, wheat bran, salt, malt flavoring), rice cereal (rice, sugar, salt, high-fructose corn syrup, malt flavoring), orange-flavored fruit pieces (fruit [apple puree concentrate, orange juice concentrate], glucose syrup, sugar, oat fiber, palm kernel oil, rice starch, pectin, lemon juice concentrate, natural orange flavor), vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, sunflower oil with tocopherols for freshness), fructose, dextrose, contains 2 percent or less of cocoa processed with alkali, whey, sorbitol, glycerin, natural orange flavor, soy lecithin, nonfat milk, salt, sorbitan monostearate, artificial vanilla flavor, polysorbate 60, niacinamide, BHT for freshness, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6).

You Bar

The Why: This is a really great idea. You get to build your own energy bar. Pick the base, all the ingredients, and you get your very own personalized bar. The company is innovative and smart. We ordered a bar with almond butter, a few nuts, raisins and cherries. The bar was only 170 calories (which you can control also in your choice of ingredients) and it was delicious. We can’t say enough about this fabulous company.

The Health Bonus: All-natural ingredients that you choose!

What We Liked Best: The possibilities are endless, and the company guarantees the taste.

What We Liked Least: There are almost too many choices, and it’s a bit pricey.

What It Replaces: Energy bars with loads of ingredients you don’t need or want.

The Price: 12 bars for $40 ($3.33/bar) plus $7.99 for shipping and handling.

Other Offerings: If you have trouble choosing, you can select from their “Popular Bars”: Honey Cashew, Great Date with Chocolate, Breakfast Bar.

Where to Buy: www.youbars.com.

Nutritional Information: Varies.

Ingredients: You pick them from this list:

1. Choose one or two “bases”: dates (fat-free) or soy-nut butter or peanut butter or almond butter or cashew butter or cashew macadamia butter or sesame butter (tahini).

2. Choose up to three protein options: whey (milk) protein or soy protein or egg white protein or rice protein or special requests (½ whey & ½ soy) or none.

3. Choose up to two from nuts & seeds: sesame seeds or pecans or roasted soy nuts (edamame) or walnuts or cashews or Ghirardelli Semisweet Chocolate Chips or almonds or peanuts or flaxseeds or sunflower seeds or pecans or none.

4. Choose up to two dried fruits and berries: goji berries or raisins or sweetened dried cranberries or dried pineapple or prunes or dried apple or dried banana or dried apricots or dried cherries or shredded coconut or acai powder or none.

5. Choose up to two sweeteners: clover honey or organic molasses or organic brown rice syrup or agave nectar or Splenda or none.

6. Choose up to four seasonings: natural cocoa powder or ground cinnamon or carob powder or peppermint oil or coffee crystals or Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips or none.

7. Choose up to two grains/cereals: organic oat bran or granola or nutty rice cereal or none.

8. Choose one infusion, if desired: vitamin infusion or greens infusion or fiber infusion.

Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (In the Kitchen!): Hiding Healthy Foods in Hearty Meals Any Guy Will Love by Missy Chase Lapine (Running Press, April 2008)

The Why: It has fabulous recipes for “normal” foods that you’ll love, such as Legal Donuts, Sinless Smoothies, Boosted Buffalo Wings Wrap and Charmin’ Chicken Parm. Last year the author, Missy Chase Lapine, helped parents of finicky eaters by showing them how to hide healthy food in the meals kids crave. This new book focuses on another undernourished group — men. These hearty meals successfully cloak ingredients that specifically target men's health issues: foods proven to help the heart, lower cholesterol, ensure a healthy prostate and other concerns. Now everyone in the family (kids and adults alike) can benefit from The Sneaky Chef's bag of tricks.

The Health Bonus: The notations under each recipe title give you clues as to the health benefits, such as “anti-oxidant boost,” “low carb,” “low sugar,” “omega 3s,” etc.

What We Liked Best: The style and practicality of the recipes.

What We Liked Least: No nutritional breakdowns (calories, etc.).

What It Replaces: Traditional recipes for similar dishes.

The Price: $19.95.

Other Offerings: The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals (Running Press, 2007).

Where to Buy: All bookstores, including Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.

Nutritional Information: None.

Ingredients: More than 75 recipes using important healthful foods.

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CHARLES STUART PLATKIN is a nutrition and public health advocate, founder and editor of DietDetective.com, the health and fitness network and author of The Diet Detective's Calorie Bargain Bible (Simon & Schuster, 2007). Copyright 2008 by Charles Stuart Platkin. All rights reserved. Sign up for the free Diet Detective newsletter and iTunes podcast at www.DietDetective.com.