Rating: 
Summary: Interesting reading, but massively slanted.
Review: Well, we are duly warned.While the information in this book is clearly well thought out and presented, the tone of the book throughout is demeaning. I couldn't make it through more than a chapter at a time without putting it down in disgust. I guess I would have to say: just the facts, please.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting reading, but massively slanted.
Review: Well, we are duly warned. While the information in this book is clearly well thought out and presented, the tone of the book throughout is demeaning. I couldn't make it through more than a chapter at a time without putting it down in disgust. I guess I would have to say: just the facts, please.
Rating: 
Summary: How did I manage to live this long?
Review: While reading this book I was surprised at how many foods in restaurants that I thought were "good" or "healthy" were not as they seemed. I felt the authors focused a lot on saturated fats (trans fats) more than any other nutrient. But they certainly brought to my attention the sodium content in my favorite restaurant dishes were quite high. Good menu suggestions for each type of cuisine, substitutions are given to help make your favorite dish just a little lighter, and they let you know what you need to avoid when ordering from a menu. I have found this book very helpful with my dining out dieting.
Rating:
Summary: Eye opener to the poor choices we make in restaurants
Review: While reading this book I was surprised at how many foods in restaurants that I thought were "good" or "healthy" were not as they seemed. I felt the authors focused a lot on saturated fats (trans fats) more than any other nutrient. But they certainly brought to my attention the sodium content in my favorite restaurant dishes were quite high. Good menu suggestions for each type of cuisine, substitutions are given to help make your favorite dish just a little lighter, and they let you know what you need to avoid when ordering from a menu. I have found this book very helpful with my dining out dieting.
Rating:
Summary: Restaurant food fat & calories may be higher than you think:
Review: Without mentioning brand names, did you know that:
* a popular fabulous smelling cinnamon bun found in shopping malls is 670 calories and 34 grams of fat, 14 of them saturated? (p. 261)
* a typical restaurant serving of French toast is fried in shortening, and contains 800 calories with 26 grams of fat, 8 of them saturated? (p. 71)
* a typical order of moussaka in a Greek restaurant is 830 calories with 48 grams of fat, 25 of them saturated? (p. 184) Since restaurant-, fast-, and mall food doesn't come with nutritional labels, "Restaurant Confidential" (RC) provides some of the label information for you: calories, total fat, saturated fat, (and in most cases trans fat and sodium). Rather than rely on the restaurant-provided data, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) had the food laboratory analyzed. Categories examined are breakfast foods, popular ethnic cuisines (Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Greek), other popular restaurant choices (pizzerias, sandwich shops, seafood, steakhouses, dinner houses, family style restaurants), fast food, mall food, movie theater snacks, and beverages. Missing from the list is Indian food, Thai food, and a popular ice cream establishment with 31 flavors. Upon reading page after page of dietary analysis, I was shocked. I knew these foods were high in calories and fat, but despite my nutrition degree, I had no idea how high. Given that a CSPI study of 203 dietitians found they underestimated caloric content of popular meals by 37% and fat content by 49% (study described on p. 8) it's likely that most readers will be in for a whopping surprise. I highly recommend this book to anyone who eats out at or takes their children to the types of restaurants listed above. (BTW, there are 2 pages of suggestions on eating out with children.) RC helps you navigate through restaurant menus dish-by-dish, suggesting how to order a dish to make it lower in fat, or whether it's best to avoid that selection entirely. And yes, some of the comments are a bit sarcastic, but I found the effect humorous rather than annoying. Each section provides a reminder of the suggested total fat grams, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium for a 2000 calorie diet, which assumes the reader is an average size adult following the RDA recommendation to consume up to 30% of calories as fat. If your caloric and fat gram goals differ, you might want to write those numbers on your copy of this book and take it with you when you eat out. Remember to keep your own eating patterns in mind when using this book. I don't know anyone who eats an entire 1620 calorie order of Kung Pao chicken by oneself! If "Restaurant Confidential" had been out when I did nutritional counseling, I would have recommended a copy to all my clients who frequently ate out.
Rating:
Summary: Restaurant food fat & calories may be higher than you think:
Review: Without mentioning brand names, did you know that:
* a popular fabulous smelling cinnamon bun found in shopping malls is 670 calories and 34 grams of fat, 14 of them saturated? (p. 261)
* a typical restaurant serving of French toast is fried in shortening, and contains 800 calories with 26 grams of fat, 8 of them saturated? (p. 71)
* a typical order of moussaka in a Greek restaurant is 830 calories with 48 grams of fat, 25 of them saturated? (p. 184) Since restaurant-, fast-, and mall food doesn't come with nutritional labels, "Restaurant Confidential" (RC) provides some of the label information for you: calories, total fat, saturated fat, (and in most cases trans fat and sodium). Rather than rely on the restaurant-provided data, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) had the food laboratory analyzed. Categories examined are breakfast foods, popular ethnic cuisines (Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Greek), other popular restaurant choices (pizzerias, sandwich shops, seafood, steakhouses, dinner houses, family style restaurants), fast food, mall food, movie theater snacks, and beverages. Missing from the list is Indian food, Thai food, and a popular ice cream establishment with 31 flavors. Upon reading page after page of dietary analysis, I was shocked. I knew these foods were high in calories and fat, but despite my nutrition degree, I had no idea how high. Given that a CSPI study of 203 dietitians found they underestimated caloric content of popular meals by 37% and fat content by 49% (study described on p. 8) it's likely that most readers will be in for a whopping surprise. I highly recommend this book to anyone who eats out at or takes their children to the types of restaurants listed above. (BTW, there are 2 pages of suggestions on eating out with children.) RC helps you navigate through restaurant menus dish-by-dish, suggesting how to order a dish to make it lower in fat, or whether it's best to avoid that selection entirely. And yes, some of the comments are a bit sarcastic, but I found the effect humorous rather than annoying. Each section provides a reminder of the suggested total fat grams, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium for a 2000 calorie diet, which assumes the reader is an average size adult following the RDA recommendation to consume up to 30% of calories as fat. If your caloric and fat gram goals differ, you might want to write those numbers on your copy of this book and take it with you when you eat out. Remember to keep your own eating patterns in mind when using this book. I don't know anyone who eats an entire 1620 calorie order of Kung Pao chicken by oneself! If "Restaurant Confidential" had been out when I did nutritional counseling, I would have recommended a copy to all my clients who frequently ate out.
|
