I have found that a little brown gravy allows me to eat a lot more food at every sitting. I can probably eat double the white rice and chicken breast per meal if it has gravy. Tastes better, chews faster, and you just eat more. Calories are low - 60 calries per cup. Sodium is a little high, 1000 mg per cup, but it's split between 4 meals, I don't salt anything, and like Troponin says in his book, a little sodium is good.