Eat This Not That
If you are trying to watch your weight and eat healthier, it can be easy at times to be overwhelmed by all the conflicting information out there. And if you are sometimes unable to avoid eating out it can be very difficult to weigh the available choices and make good selections. David Zinczenko, editor or Mens Health magazine has written a very user friendly book to help you out. Much of the book consists of two page spreads with recommended options (Eat This) on the left and less healthful options (Not That) on the right. There are pages for many fast and slow food restaurant chains as well as for various supermarket aisles and photographs of all items are provided so it is very clear what menu items and products are in each category.
I was frankly surprised by some of the recommendations, for example a Big Mac from McDonald’s turns out to have more than 200 fewer calories and almost 20 grams less fat than a Whopper from Burger King. (Given the generous dallop of Thousand Island dressing on the Big Mac, I would have intuited just the opposite. I was also shocked to learn that regular Stouffer’s lasagna is actually a better choice that Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine ravioli. Zinczenko provides a lot of solid nutritional data and makes a number of recommendations for truly healthful choices as well as zeroing in on the lesser of two evils, as in the burger comparison. Buying this book certainly is no substitute for learning about nutrition and cooking healthy meals at home but if, like most of us, you sometimes have not choice but to eat out and sometimes can’t resist indulging Eat This Not That can be a big help in making better choices. Recommended.
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1Marie
wrote on 19 April 2008 at 21:14
It’s so true, it can be soooo hard to eat healthy and well, when there’s so many places were you can easily take out.
But it is surprising how a ‘Big Mac’ can have fewer calories!
2Janna
wrote on 19 April 2008 at 23:39
I actually got this book a couple weeks ago.
My main criticism is that it’s not very realistic in the substitutions it suggests.
In my experience, someone who followed this book would end up feeling very deprived and unsatisfied.
Perhaps there are people out there who would be ok with all of it, but I know I am certainly not one of them.
3RhodesTer
wrote on 20 April 2008 at 21:18
I wonder, if this book were in a book called “READ THIS, NOT THAT”, would it be in the READ THIS section or the NOT THIS section? Probably the first one - it seems helpful. But then again, Janna was deprived and unsatisfied, so what do I know?
4Damien Riley
wrote on 21 April 2008 at 1:02
Nice post. The trouble with Big Mac’s though is the price. They are $4!!! One can never fill me up.
5Lisamm
wrote on 23 April 2008 at 14:01
It sounds like this book would be really helpful for families who eat out a lot. We don’t go out that much but I’m pretty careful with what the kids order when we do. My husband- he’s a different story. He knows what not to eat, but just can’t help himself.
6Will
wrote on 23 April 2008 at 17:43
Except for some surprises like you detail above, I think for me, and maybe many others, the problem is not knowledge of what is healthy, but that darn devil named appetite. I find if you keep healthy food around, you will eat healthy food. Then when you do get hungry and stop at a restaurant, the choice you make won’t have as big an influence on your overall diet. The other thing I discovered long ago is that healthy food can have as many calories as unhealthy food. For those of us cursed with a love of food and a big appetite, a constant effort is required.
The number one thing I would recommend if you want to improve diet and health is this. If you drink soda, even diet soda, stop. Always keep soda on the not that side!
7A. Caleb Hartley
wrote on 24 April 2008 at 11:25
A friend of mine brought this book into work and I couldn’t stop flipping through it. It’s a GREAT quick reference for those of us who - like you say - sometimes DO NOT have a choice but to hit that drive through on the way to the next appointment in our stupidly-busy lives.
I suggest it highly!
Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley
8PB
wrote on 28 April 2008 at 19:02
Hey, I have a book for you to check out. It is called “Gadget Nation” it is written by Steve Greenberg. It is really very interesting.