Eat This, Not That

[jessie]

My friend recommended this book (Eat This, Not That) and I picked it up at Borders this week (much cheaper on half.com btw). Its an interesting, quick read with alot of colorful photos -- it shows you healthy and not so healthy choices at several fast food restaurants. And it makes you feel really good when you know you've been picking something on the good side of the page :-) Anyone else have the book?

[stingo]

Is the book from Men's Health? They run this feature in their magazine, and it's very interesting indeed.

[jessie]

I'm not sure if its from Men's Health. It may have been featured there?

[stingo]

I'll have to look at the magazine - I just thought it was one of their regular columns.

[kfisherx]

Yeah I have seen it at Boarders. It is an okay book for people too lazy to learn about macros or otherwise about the very basic mechanics of nutrition. I would not really recommend it to most people I know though because the very basics of nutrition are pretty simple and I would rather see people learn that instead.

[Lost Dog]

It's a good book for people who know zero about nutrition and would never read a "real" nutrition book. The people here are not the target audience.

Like Tom said, it's from MH books and is based on the monthly article of the same name.

A good thing about it is that it make people aware of the staggering difference between two "similar" meals from two places.

If someone learns something from the book, sees some progress, hopefully it will spark interest in looking deeper. This is the philosophy of the MH and WH magazines, give info at a variety of information levels, so anyone from the complete newbie to the intermediate reader gets something out of it.

We often laugh at the conflicting info in the same issue of the same magazine, but there's conflicting info here, too. We have low carbers, people who eat anthing in moderation, health food nuts, vegans, etc. If we (and they) walked a hard line, we (and they) would alienate a good percentage of people. Instead, we highlight the various ways to eat (or otherwise be) healthy and let people learn, grow (or shrink), and decide for themselves, which way is best for them.

Back to this book... I'd like to point out that my gym is filled with young men who used to be able to eat anything. 20-30 years old. Decent muscle and, now, a little pudge. This book is for them. That's probably all they need -- realization.

[stingo]

In reference to Karla's post, I think it was meant as more of a situational type of book. I'd think that if someone is choosing between McDonald's and Burger King for a meal choice, that convenience is a primary concern, and nutrition at best a secondary concern. The book may not be able to help them eat healthy, but it will help them to make a healthier choice (lesser of two evils basically). Then, as Roland indicated it might start a quest for more knowledge into the realms Karla has suggested. I'd liken it to kids reading comic books (oops, I guess that shows how old I'm getting - graphic novels today) - it may not be Shakespeare, but they're reading.

Roland, I also like your point about the conflicting info - it's rather like religion in a way. Something works for somebody, and suddenly it's the Holy Grail (it must be important because it's in caps) - that universal truth to which everyone must subscribe. Non-believers are scorned for their lack of faith in this Grail, as they (the non-believers) have found that doing the opposite thing has worked for them.

[GinaKina]

I saw it at Borders...I just picked it up at the register and looked at the cover. It didn't particularly spark my interest, since most of it seemed obvious to me. I could see how it would help someone who doesn't know ANYTHING about nutrition and eating right.