Eat This Not That!: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds - or More! by Matt Goulding and David Zinczenko (2007, Paperback)

Eat This Not That! is a wonderful little book by two authors who have already proven themselves. David Zinczenko (The ABS Diet) and Matt Goulding both work for Men's Health Magazine and know nutrition. The book is small enough to carry EVERYWHERE with you in your glove compartment, purse, backpack, gym bag, or briefcase so you can know what to choose IN the situation. It is worth the money to own more than one if you need to leave one at the office too.

The book covers how to make wiser choices in your everyday life. Each page is full of photos of restaurants, as well as what to eat at ballparks, pictures of what to eat for breakfast, what cheese to eat, what Mexican food, what snacks, what to eat at the mall, what kids drinks are better than others, and much more.

This book is an answer for people who want to make better choices, but have a hard time sticking to a strict diet. Anyone can easily start losing weight by making some simple, wiser choices to get the weight loss momentum going. If you don't need to lose weight, you can still see what simple healthier choices can do for your overall health, stamina, energy, focus, and attitude.

Eat This Not That! is a terrific gift for almost anyone. Even looking through the book very quickly you can have "aha!" moments of how to make better choices immediately for yourself and your family. If you are often in the car running short on time, or running your kids somewhere so you go for fast food every week, this book can make a huge difference in your life.

There are tips about feeding children better, about what specific foods help prevent diseases, about specific foods to eat when you work out, when you're stressed, when you need a brain boost, and more.

Compared to some of the other diet books, this is the simplest one I've seen for making small changes and improvements immediately. You can implement these changes in ways that you and your family will greatly benefit without feeling deprived.

I've purchased many different diet, calorie and cookbooks, and never could find the time to use them because buying the cooking ingredients were time-consuming and very costly. Being single, I really don't have to cook much and eat out often. This book guides me in the right direction, to help make the right choices. This book is fantastic! Easy to use and up-to-date. I love the fact that it has information on fast foods, restaurants, and what to buy at the grocery store. The comparisons of what to eat and not to eat in the same category, are listed side by side. For instance, I thought eating a tuna sandwich from SubWay was less in fat and calories...NOT...however, their roast beef sandwich would be a better choice, when I don't want chicken or turkey. It even lists information on all types of cereals, snacks, candy, and health bars! I carry this book in my big purse so I'll always have it handy.

This one is a keeper!

I really like the core message of this book... A year ago I started calorie counting but got sick of it very quickly, then I bought Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss which has a very similar strategy to this book's - showing you pictures of good and bad choices of similar styles or calorie counts.

From a year ago I've lost 35 lb, I'm basically at my ideal weight, and I haven't had the slightest bit of trouble keeping it off and I don't feel like I'm "dieting". In fact, I feel like I enjoy what I'm eating far more than ever before - I'm very impressed! I picked this book up because I'm pretty food-conscious now and I like to be aware of additional practical healthy choices.

What I like about this book compared to the Dr. Shapiro one is that it's extremely practical - at one point a Quarter Pounder is recommended as a "healthy" choice. I'd more or less agree with this approach; I think things like burgers can be healthy, filling options if you know what you're doing - whereas a Dr. Shapiro would have you eliminate all meat from your diet.

Where I think this book falls down a little bit is if you were trying to put together a mental "theme" of what to eat and what not to eat based on this book, you really couldn't. Sometimes shrimp is shown as a healthy option, sometimes it's not. Sometimes you're better off eating a turkey burger, sometimes you're not. It comes out after reading a bunch of suggestions that you shouldn't eat fries or mayo - but you still get the feeling that it's a bit potluck. The Dr. Shapiro book exaggerated the differences between good and bad foods to teach common patterns - this book just presents a bunch of data points and you need to find your own patterns. The Dr. Shapiro book focused primarily on calories - this one adds things like sodium which in my mind are usually not your first concern. I also find this book to be a little more annoyingly pseudoscientific, citing the results of some studies that sound like one-offs and talking about "foods that cure". Different target audience I guess.

After reading a few of these books you start to figure out your own patterns and make your own guidelines. Here are mine, which have worked wonders for me:

Don't eat anything fried - no french fries, fried chicken, potato chips, etc. Only rarely eat ice cream. Don't eat condiments that are bad for you and don't add that much to the experience: mayo, cheese, butter, oil. Don't eat pizza. Eat bread, pasta, and rice less often. Eat tons of seafood: fish, shrimp, etc. Don't feel like you need to avoid meat or burgers. Be extremely active with substituting off anything bad at restaurants. Splurge when it's worth it - i.e., when you have the opportunity to eat something really good. I don't forgo dessert after a really good restaurant meal. Seek out tons of healthier meals that you would honestly prefer eating over what you eat regularly now. Find a few healthy things you like at every restaurant you frequent. Have a wild guess of how many calories are in everything you eat, so you never sit down and eat a 4,000 calorie large pizza yourself :). Don't keep anything convenient that's unhealthy in the house.

This book will help you when making decisions on what to order should you go out to any popular restaurant. From what to eat and what not to eat. It shows you guidelines on fat content, caloric content and much much more. It makes your decisions easier. I found that what I thought was healthier to pick from was in fact NOT the case at all. For instance, wouldn't you think a chicken wrap sandwich is healthier than a small cheeseburger? Nope! Surprised? You must get this book and read it and perhaps carry a purse big enough to carry it around because you will want to refer to it often.
YOu can give advice to others and use it as a way to back up your opinions.
It used to be that if someone asked you to go out to eat at a restaurant to dine you would turn them down because you are on a diet and we all know that eating out consists of "refined foods" that add weight to the mid section of our bodies. Well not entirely true. YOu can go to Olive Garden and this book will show you what to order and what to stay away from, Chili's too, In&out too, etc.... Heck it mentions so many eateries you'll be surprised. There is a section on what to eat even at home. What types of foods are best for weight loss so you can eat all day without gaining weight. Its a must have book and I reccomend it highly.
You may ask yourself why I chose to rate this book good instead of excellent. WEll the truth is: There is some information that could be in there but isn't so one book can't possibly carry all the needed information so with this book alone you won't get all the information you need but it sure has the basics and then some.
I hope this helped. Thank you for reading.

Eat This Not That is great book for making healthy eating choices. It's a book that's designed for everyday living. The book has great ideas for eating out or cooking at home. For instance, if your going to eat a Dominos Pizza order a thin and crispy instead of a deep dish pizza or buy whipped unsalted butter instead of margarine. Making wise choices is the main idea of this Brilliant Book. It's colorful illustrations and compact size makes this an ideal book for taking with you. "Eat This Not That" is not your average diet book, that restricts you to eat only very specific foods. Just a fun book that helps you make wise decision whether your at home, at your favorite restaurant or fast food. Even though it's not your typical diet book, I think you will loose weight gradually and keep it off.