We Americans spend more than $30 billion a year to control our weight. We buy into gimmicks and fads to help us eat less, weigh less and lead healthier lives.

Dan Floyd, of Portland, is now living a healthier life and the changes aren't costing him a dime.

He's using a new, online tool offered free of charge through Safeway Grocery stores. It's so new in fact, that Floyd, a Safeway employee, is one of the first in the Portland area to sign up. It's called FoodFlex, available at Safeway.com

We joined Floyd at a Safeway store in Milwaukie. He started his shopping trip in the fruit/produce department and grabbed apples and bananas. Through Floyd's Safeway club card, the program tracks the nutritional content of everything he buys.

He explained, "you can track your purchase history and then benchmark your nutrition against the USDA guidelines."

For the first time, Floyd is realizing what he's really consuming.

"I don't want to say it - but I've learned my total fat and sodium were a little bit off the charts!"

So he's making changes. FoodFlex also helped him pinpoint his trouble spot, tortillas, and it helped him find an alternative. He's now buying multi-grain tortillas, and cutting both his sodium and fat intake. He beams, "it's great!"

Kimra Hawk, a Registered Dietitian at Providence Saint Vincent Hospital, says we all need to know what's really in our food.

She explains, "it can be critical to know, whether you're watching your calories or if you're someone watching your sodium or fat." Why? Because we tend to underestimate what we're really eating. "We're overeating fats, and saturated fats, and sodium."

It's a habit we take with us to restaurants. Who really knows how many calories are lurking, for example, in a Taco Bell Taco?

That's where a cellular phone service, also free of charge, will help you. Simply spell out the exact name of the restaurant and food item in a text message on your cell phone, then send it "Diet 1" (34381). We spelled out "Taco Bell Taco" and sent it to "Diet 1." Instantly, we had results. The nutritional information matched the values given on Taco Bell's own website.

Hawk also likes the free programs for your handheld PDA or home computer, available at the United States Department of Agriculture web site.

"People want to see nutrition information at the point of sale."

She says we should all demand information about what we're putting in our carts, or on our plates.

"You can really make an informed choice when you're standing there and it's time to order."