Eat This Not That

I just discovered this series of books and I'm so glad I did! These books compare and contrast various restaurant, store-bought and some home-cooked food and helps you make the healthiest choice possible. I chose the "For Kids" title since we have kids and getting them to eat healthier is my main challenge right now.

This book is really amazing, scary, exciting and enligtening all at the same time. I've just started reading, but I'll share a few of the things that have jumped out at me so far.

There is a large section on restaurant foods, kids meals, etc. and some of the calorie and fat amounts in this stuff is astounding. It actually makes me angry that there is someone out there deciding that this food is appropriate for kids or anyone for that matter.

Check out this kids meal from Denny's, the "Kid's D-Zone Big Dipper French Toastix." It is a pile of french toast sticks with 2 slices of bacon. It has 770 calories and 71 grams of fat!! Kids ages 4-8 should have within the range of 39-62 fat grams per day so this meal is SOOOO above and beyond what ANYONE should have at one sitting.

Another thing that I'm learning about is evil condiments, namely mayo and ranch. These two things can turn an okay meal into totally not okay meal. I like to think a chicken sandwich is a pretty healthy choice. Well, not if it has mayo on it. Unless it is light, the mayo and ranch that restaurants use is jam packed with grossness, adding fat grams into the double digits. More often than not, a hamburger is a better choice than the chicken sandwich.

A really big surprise to me was the Arby's recommendation. When I first saw these two pages, I thought they had it backwards! Turns out, the Arby's Melt, a roast beef sandwich smothered with cheese sauce and piled on a onion bun is a pretty good choice. That doesn't sound healthy to me at all! But it beat out the Roasted Turkey and Swiss Sandwich on wheat bread big time. 303 Calories vs 708 Calories and 12 grams of fat vs 30 grams! WAY less sodium too.

And I learned something really sad about a cookie. Last time I took the kids to Fazolis, I decided their chocolate chip cookies looked yummy, so we got one. Well, little did I know that Fazoli's Chocolate Chunk Cookie is probably the most caloric cookie in the history of cookies. It has more fat and calories than a Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonalds!!! That's ONE COOKIE! It was good, but not THAT good.

I'm so glad to be learning about where these evils are lurking and I'm going to do my best keep them away from me and my family.

I'll be back soon with more "fun" info...