"Eat This Not That" by David Zinczenko with Matt Gooulding is described on the cover as a "Restaurant Survival Guide" and "The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution." The restaurant survival guide is pretty accurate if surviving a restaurant is choosing lower calorie foods over those with sometimes more calories for a meal than you should be eating all day. The no-diet weight loss solution is based on just eating the healthier choices provided which will automatically cut calories and thus, lead to weight loss if all other factors remain the same.
Obviously, losing fat has a number of variables. Your exercise is a huge one, and what you consume is another. This book will help you make smarter choices when dining at your favorite restaurant so that you consume less calories. It does not have all the choices you will face when staring at a menu, but has some of the best and worst for you to compare.
The book starts with a brief introduction regarding restaurant choices and how Americans have gotten fatter over the years. It then tells you how this book can help. I agree, the book can help. The book then shares a couple of "top swaps" before explaining the new rules of eating out. This section provides some good tips to help you stay on your diet and eat healthier. This section also shares some secrets the restaurants don't want you to know, such as how many calories supersizing adds, what's in a Chicken McNugget, or what's in a Wendy's Frosty.
Next comes a chapter on the best and worst restaurant foods in America. Things such as the Best Kid's Fast Food which they list as McDonald's 4-Piece McNuggets with Apple Dippers, Caramel Dip, and 1% milk. (Personally, we've gotten this for our daughter, but don't give her the Caramel Dip - why ruin a perfectly good apple?) The best fast food burger is listed as Wendy's 1/4 Pound Single and best sit-down burger is Red Robin's Natural Burger. Number one on the worst list was Outback's Baby Back Ribs full rack with a whopping 3,021 calories.
The next section of the book is an alphabetical list of restaurants with some of the best and worst foods. Thus the "Eat This and Not That." There are full color pictures throughout that tended to make me hungry when I looked at the book before eating. I mean, come on, some of those bad foods look so good. However, so did many of the better choices. There are also little tidbits and interesting facts throughout the book. It's easy to read, and pretty interesting. (That is if you are interested in what you are eating and what it contains, especially calories.)
Each restaurant has one main dish to eat vs. a bad one, and then a few other picks and other passes. Take Olive Garden for instance. The Eat this choice is the Venetian Apricot Chicken and the choice to pass is Garlic-Herb Chicken Con Broccoli. Other picks include the Lasagna Classico, Grilled Chicken Spiedini, and Herb-Grilled Salmon. Other passes were Spaghetti & Meatballs, Chicken Scampi, and Grilled Shrimp Caprese.
Next comes the menu decoder. This is a great section that explains a lot about what you see on the menu and will make you much more aware of the choices you are making. And finally there was a little bit about eating at airports, vending machines, amusement parks and such places.
Obviously, if you eat at the same restaurant frequently, you will run out of good choices listed in the book. However, with the information here, you will be so much better prepared to select the foods that fit with your dietary goals. I really like the book and think it's a handy guide regarding restaurant food.
Alain Burrese, J.D. is a performance and personal development expert who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior's Edge. Alain combines his military, martial art, and Asian experiences with his business, law, and conflict resolution education into a powerful way of living with balance, honor, and integrity. He teaches how to use the Warrior's Edge to Take Action and Achieve Remarkable Results. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles and reviews and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com/ and http://www.aikiproductions.com/
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