Book Review

Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko

I'm always on the hunt for books on eating healthier and I *try* to cook half-way healthy meals for my family. However, life gets in the way and I turn to convenience foods, especially when it's lunch time. I don't need a diet book necessarily, but a guide to making better choices. I came across the perfect book while browsing at Wal-Mart the other week called "Eat This, Not That!" by David Zinczenko. He is the editor of Men's Health magazine and author of "The Abs Diet".

This book is so informative and eye-opening. It lists what choices to make at different restaurants, from Dunkin' Donuts to Applebee's to McDonald's. It is amazing how much sugar and sodium is in foods! For instance, at Chili's, order the Sizzle & Spice Firecracker Tilapia with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and peppers and steamed broccoli. It has 470 calories, 23 g. of fat and 1520 mg. of sodium. The Citrus Fire Chicken and Shrimp Fajitas with The Works has 1360 calories, 73 g. of fat, and 4,570 mg. of sodium!

The book also shows what to eat at Thanksgiving (pumpkin pie is better than pecan pie, though I personally LOVE pecan pie!), at the ball park, at the mall, out of your kid's Halloween bag, and so forth.

Another section shows what are good choices at the grocery store in terms of cereal, protein bars, snacks, and the like. What I like best is it shows photos of the products (for those of us who are visual learners). It's easy to get overwhelmed at the grocery store, standing among the sea of cheese, yogurt, and snacks. The book cuts through the confusion of food labels, and some foods that are marketed as heathly actually aren't. A South Beach Diet Deluxe Pizza has almost 3 times the amount of fat and almost 200 mg. more sodium as a Healthy Choice Gourmet Supreme Pizza.

As stated in the introduction, it is a book not meant to be read and put away, but meant to be used. The author encourages us to use the book as a reference and keep it in your car when you are cruising for something to eat or going to the store.

Of course, there is a website for the book at http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis and you can sign up for a weekly newsletter chock-full of information and tons of links.

The latest newsletter arrived in my in-box this morning and there is a new book coming out August 19 called "Eat This, Not That for Kids". I will definitely be getting that book too!