Eat This, Not That! Book Review

I thought I'd try my hand at a book review of sorts. My sister-in-law was intrigued by this book and asked me to blog about it. I figured it is related to food, so why not?

We can't remember exactly where we first heard about this book (the yellow one (shown below) was put out first), but J and I were very curious about it right off the bat. It was timely since we were both trying to lose some weight and the book had some very reasonable, but sometimes surprising suggestions. If you've caught the Today show when they've interviewed this guy, you may have heard some of the comparisons. For instance...

Eat This at Starbucks:

Black Forest Ham, Egg and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich

and a Grande Sugar Free Nonfat Vanilla Latte

510 calories

16 g fat

21 g sugars

Not That at Starbucks:

Bran Muffin with Nuts

and a Grande 2% White Chocolate Mocha

890 calories

37 g fat

82 g sugars

I actually like the three books equally. If you eat fast food a lot, I'd suggest starting with the yellow one, Eat This Not That The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution first. If you eat at home more, I'd start with the Eat This Not That Supermarket Survival Guide. And obviously, if you have kids, I'd go with the Eat This Not That! for Kids.

What I like about these books:

• Reader friendly with glossy pages and nice pictures
• Some really reasonable, comparable, doable swap outs
• Not everything on the "eat this" page is organic or the most expensive
• Countless tips and facts throughout the book

What I don't like about these books:

• Some of the swap outs are kind of silly (give your kid grilled fish instead of chicken nuggets...by all means, if your child will eat that, do it, but I was looking for which nuggets are the least offensive...)
• Some of the swap outs can be confusing (the "eat this" item had more fat and higher calories than the "not that" item...which he often explains)

Supermarket Guide

Food Swaps - lots of fast food options

Kids

I've never read a self-help book of any kind without taking it with a grain of salt. No pun intended, but that was good, wasn't it? But I was very pleased with these books. We own weight loss one, we're going to buy the kid one soon and I'd like to get the supermarket one as well. I'd recommend checking it out at the library or bookstore and perusing it first. I think you might be hooked.