Eat This, Not That Review

What You Should Know

The author of the ìEat This, Not Thatî series of books ñ from the original version to the kids and supermarket guides ñ is Menís Health magazine editor-in-chief Dave Zinczenko. In line with his job, Zinczenko oversees the editorial contents of Menís Health in its 36 international editions with the additional responsibility as editorial director of its spin-off, Womenís Health.

The book itself is marketed as the ultimate guide for individuals who, for one reason or another, regularly take their meals in dining establishments. It contains graphic pictures of the foods you can eat (left side) and the foods you cannot eat (right side), when given two similar choices, in a single page. Basically, ìEat This, Not Thatî is touted as the ultimate guide to healthy eating outside of the realm of home-cooked meals. This, in turn, can lead to weight loss without drastic changes to your present lifestyle.

List of Ingredients

Since this is a book, there are no ingredients to it. However, the food choices presented in the book do have recipes and ingredients outlined in them to explain the differences in calorie count, among others.

Product Features

The 304-pages paperback book has a list price of $19.95 although you can find discounts at various online book retailers. Amazon, for one, retails it at just $11.97 with shipping subject to the $25 condition.

In addition to the food pictures, ìEat This, Not Thatî readers are provided with the ratings of popular dining establishments in relation to their menusí nutrition quality as well as the secrets of the restaurant industry. As such, it comes off as part nutritional guide, part expose, and part picture book of the many foods available throughout American restaurants. There are also information on sodium, sugar, fat, carbohydrate and calorie counts for each food choice.

Pro’s

It is easy to carry, which makes it good for traveling.
It has pictures of the food choices so you donít confuse one with the other.
It is not a diet plan that demands discipline on your part.

Con’s

ìEat This, Not Thatî caters to mainstream American food, which leaves out the ethnic and exotic foods also available in restaurants.
You will be confused with its fuzzy math especially on the calorie counts.
It employs sensationalism to make its point ñ the ìdonít eat foodsî are usually depicted as having the fattiest and richest garnishing and dressings while the ìeat foodsî usually are recommended in small portions (say, one-third servings only).
It makes misleading claims such as following the bookís diet recommendations will lead to lessening of belly fat, reshaping of the body, and building of muscles/lean mass.

Conclusion

All in all, ìEat This, Not Thatî is a good book for gourmands and photographers who wish to see excellent pictures of American food. It provides a guide towards the more popular eating establishments in the country while supplying the necessary nutritional information on the menus. However, this book is not for those who seriously wish to lose weight and to maintain ideal weight for many reasons. First, it does not provide an exercise plan. Second, it can encourage eating processed foods against fresh foods, which is detrimental to weight loss. Itís good for pictures but not good enough for weight loss.