Eat This, Not That!

I am a visual learner. Some people can listen to a speaker or news cast and remember what was said. Others can read dense text and remember what they read.

Me, I like pictures. Not graphic novels instead of the written word – I devour novels – but I like magazine articles with pictures more than just an editorial because the image helps me hold the words into a context.

So you can see why I was delighted with Eat This, Not That! The subtitle sums it up:  “Thousands of simple food swaps that can save you 10, 20, 30 pounds – or more!”

Whether that’s true or not, the design makes it easy to figure out how to make smarter eating choices.   It’s not a traditional diet book, nor is it just a list of nutritional values.  There are different sections for specific restaurants, supermarket, types of eating situations, drinks, and “what to eat when”.

Each page has big clear pictures of a few foods  with little explanation circles to point out nutritional counts and why some are better (or worse) choices.  Here’s the cute part — on the left page are the things you should choose over the things on the right page.  Hence the “Eat This, Not That” of the title.

No matter where we find ourselves when food is available, there will be some choices that are better than others in terms of calories, fat, carbs, sugars.  Sometimes it’s the lesser of two evils – but a wiser choice is always there.  The hard part is knowing sometimes what that actually is.  Having specific ideas of what to eat where, and what to avoid – reinforced by color pictures and brief nuggets of info – will help the next time I go out to eat or am stuck in an airport looking for food.

It may be simplistic but for me, this is going to help.  Stop by a bookstore and take a look at a copy for yourself.