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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
360 of 386 found the following review helpful:
 That pie has the same calories as three Big Macs? Dec 25, 2007
By Sean P. Logue
"If you can't win, change the rules."
This is a great book. Slick and attractive, with fantastic full-color pictures. Very well researched too, which is expected coming from the folks behind one of the most densely-packed, informative magazines, Men's Health.
The truth is that casual dining restaurants have higher calorie meals than the much-maligned fast food joints. While the fast food restaurants are now required to publish calorie, fat, and sodium contents, the casual restaurants have been quietly fighting against requiring them to release the same information. Thanks to this book and the research behind it, we can now get a better idea of what we've been eating at these restaurants. And it is eye opening.
Each two page section has a high-calorie, fat trap food on the right, and a healthier alternative on the left. Lots of reasons for why one is a better choice than the other, as well as quick lists of other good choices (and not so good choices) on the left and right.
This simple, but effective layout conveys a ton of information quickly and easily. The sections are by restaurant, and by situation type (like shopping at the mall, or at a holiday party), so it is easy to read and get good ideas for how to make better food choices.
The only negative is that you might never get fries again, after you see all the things you could eat instead and still not hit the calorie count of the fries. Outback's Aussie Cheese Fries have 2900 calories. Wow!
Highly recommended book, even if you aren't trying to lose weight. You'll learn a ton about the foods you are eating at restaurants, which is well worth the price of admission.
Sean P. Logue, 2007
279 of 309 found the following review helpful:
 If you *must* eat fast food, this is a handy little book to have. Apr 06, 2008
By DonkaDoo
PROS
*Easy to carry around. Fits nicely into a purse. Handy on vacation.
*Pretty pictures
*Fun to read
*Easy to use.
*Lots of familiar products/mainstream restaurants included.
*Quickly identifies healthiest items on the menu.
CONS
*Fuzzy Math. Some of the comparisons don't make sense--like turn to the Baskin Robbins section--why is Rocky Road ice cream bad (290 calories, 15gfat (8 sat), 32g sugar), but Two Scoop Hot Fudge Sundae is good (530 calories, 29g fat (19sat) and 52 g of sugar.) WHAT???? I don't get it.
*I wouldn't take the caloric facts as *fact*--For instance under the SONIC section, the authors list the Grilled Chicken Wrap as only having 380 calories but fails to mention that this is without dressing. Double check the caloric content on the restaurant's website before eating.
*Contradictory. Apparently, Goldfish crackers are bad when they're coming from a vending machine (p. 193) but good when coming off a store shelf. (216).
155 of 171 found the following review helpful:
 Very practical, helpful book Jan 10, 2008
By telmar
"telmar"
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.
134 of 155 found the following review helpful:
Great, helpful guide that restaurants don't want us to read :-> Dec 13, 2007
By Little Miss Cutey
This guide gives you heaps of smart choices to help you manage your weight so you can still go out to eat at great places without packing on as much weight. If you don't know what you're putting into your body, you can make huge mistakes when it comes to the choices you make. Sometimes your main meal could contain two days worth of fat, so Dave has given us these choices to still enjoy ourselves when eating out either at restaurants or fast food restaurants.
There is information in here that you may not have ever heard in here and when you find out why, the choices are even easier for us. When he tells you about the amount of meat in burgers and how that can be four days worth of meat in one sitting. Scary. He's done a years worth of investigating to put this book together and bring us these facts and found that the typical fast food restaurant has about 552 calories per entre and a typical sit down restaurant has aprox 870 and these numbers will shock you into better choices.
Dave is well researched and knows what he's talking about. I love this book and find it really interesting even if you don't need to watch your weight but just want to make healthier choices. You can take it around with you when you are in the drive thru or at a deli etc etc. Therefore I think everyone can benefit from reading this book and would make the perfect birthday gift or a treat to yourself. I love it.
69 of 79 found the following review helpful:
Excellent, But Simple Resource for Everyone! Dec 19, 2007
By delicateflower152
This little book is invaluable for anyone who travels or has to eat out frequently. It provides simple alternatives at popular eateries and allows the reader to make better selections. Its handy size will allow you to carry it with you in the car or in your briefcase. The colorful pictures and simple text make it useful for younger individuals who need to watch what they eat, but don't want to have to tell their friends they can't go to a particular fast-food joint because there are no good choices. This enables them to make better choices!
I did not give this book five stars because it is so simple. I would have found it helpful if there had been an appendix (text only) with the complete calorie, fat, etc. breakdowns of all the items on menus at the popular fast food restaurants. This would have been a great supplement to the more simple information presented in the main text. Nevertheless, this book should prove valuable to anyone who takes the information to heart and actually uses it.
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The
Importance Of Lighting In Interior Design
by Jessica Ackerman
Everyone knows how important
paint color, furniture choices and artwork are to
interior design. One aspect of design that is often
overlooked, however, is lighting. Lighting not only
affects the brightness of the room, but it can also
change the way a paint color looks, cast shadows in ways
that make the room seem smaller and have an impact on
the presentation of art work.
There is no light like
natural light. If you are buying, building or
remodeling, opt for as much natural light as possible.
Oversized windows and skylights are two ways to get the
most natural light. Of course, not everyone is in the
position to be able to do that, so you'll have to work
with what you have.
How much natural light do
you get in your room? If the room in question faces
north, you won't get as much natural sunlight as you
would in a southern facing room. Rooms that face south
get bright, natural light throughout the day. Rooms that
face east will only have good natural light in the
morning hours and western facing rooms will have the
most light during the afternoon.
Once you are familiar
with how much natural light is in each room, you'll be
able to make informed choices about what additional
lighting may be necessary. Keep in mind that rooms with
little or no natural light will need artificial lighting
- even during the day - in order to look their best.
Here are some types of lighting to consider.
1. Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is
perfect when you want to showcase a piece of art or a
special piece of furniture or other item. Since light
draws the eye, it will bring attention to the features
in your room that you wish to highlight.
2. Hanging Light Features
Chandeliers and smaller
hanging lamps can be beautiful as well as functional. A
trip to the local home improvement store will quickly
show you how overwhelming the choices can be. You'll
want to select lighting that blends in with your
existing dÃÂécor. For example, a crystal chandelier in a
country themed dining room probably isn't the best
option. If you don't choose carefully, your lighting may
stick out like a sore thumb and become more of an
eyesore than a lovely accent.
3. Recessed Lighting
Recessed lighting is a
good choice for a room that needs extra light throughout
the day. Because the lighting won't interfere with the
existing decor, it can work in almost any room. It
provides abundant light without taking up a lot of space
or interfering with other aspects of the room.
4. Lamps
Using lamps are a way to
add not only additional lighting, but also punches of
color. If possible, see how much light the lamp gives
off before leaving the store. Many lamps serve as
decoration more than as a light source and give off very
little light. If you love the lamp, but it doesn't give
off quite enough light, consider changing the shade
which will usually solve the problem.
When decorating your
home, remember how important lighting is, and give it
the same thought and attention you give to the other
details of decorating your home.
About the Author
Jessica Ackerman is the
featured author at Wall DÃÂécor and Home Accents. Shop today
for great deals on
metal wall sculpture ,
home
accents and more unique wall dÃÂécor products.
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