"Eat This Not That" Top 10 Tips

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My sister gave me an interesting book for my birthday, Eat This Not That written by David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding.

The book is easy to read with a lot of photos.  There were many surprising facts I learned in this book.

This book taught me to always compare food labels in order to purchase the healthiest products. 



For example look at the big difference in fat, sodium and calories for two different brands of prepared eggplant.  (page 296)

Product	Product	Fat	Sodium	Calories
	Cederland Eggplant Parmesan	16 g	780 mg	320
	Celentano Eggplant Parmigiana	44 g	960 mg	660

Given below are additional tips that I thought were very interesting:

1.  Mission Wraps Garden Spinach Herb has 30 ingredients, with less than 2% spinach. (page 19)

2.   DiGiorno Traditional Crust Supreme Pizza has more calories, sodium and fat than any other frozen pizza.  (page 26)

3.  Red peppers have twice the Vitamin C and 10 times the Vitamin A as compared to green peppers. (page 42)

4.  The sulfur in garlic helps to expand blood vessels which can help keep blood pressure in check. (page 43).

5.  Watermelon has an amino acid (citruline) which relaxes look vessels which improves blood flow (page 100)

6.  Spinach is one of the best sources of folate which protects against mental degeneration and age-related sexual issues. (page 44)

7.  Potatoes have almost twice as much Vitamin C as tomatoes, and nearly as much potassium as a banana.  (page 81)

8. The amount of sugar in 1 1/2 cups Lucky Charms cereal is the same amount which is in a Peanut Butter Twix candy bar. (page 155)

9.  One pouch of Hostess Mini Blueberry Muffins has more calories and sugar than a Krispy Kreme doughnut.  (page 172)

10.  Cola contains 9% high fructose corn syrup. (page 318)

The book also includes healthy recipes for under $10.  I made the Chicken and Sweet Potato Stir-Fry, Poor Man's Steak, and Grilled Chicken Gyro.  They all turned out great and I will make them again.  The directions are straightforward and easy to follow.

If you are interested there is an "Eat This Not That" internet site which includes links to a podcast, nutrition articles and a magazine subscription.  https://www.eatthis.com  Check it out!

Link to book at amazon https://amzn.to/2sNyZ7o.

Good and Bad Fats

Several years ago I was focused on counting the number of fat grams in my diet.

I diligently read food labels and only purchased low fat products.  I ate a lot of carbohydrates but I was always hungry and tired.   I did not eat meat, nuts or peanut butter and only ate a tiny bit of cheese.

Since then I have learned that some fat is good for you.  Fats are important to give your body energy and to support cell growth. They also help protect your organs and help keep your body warm.   Dietary fat article




There are three types of fats:

• Unsaturated 
• Saturated 
• Trans 

While all fats provide 9 calories per gram, unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) can have a positive effect on your health when eaten in moderation and used to replace saturated and trans fats.  They can help lower cholesterol levels and reduce risk of heart disease.

Saturated and trans fats can negatively effect your health by raising bad cholesterol levels (LDL) in your blood.  

Trans fats are made using vegetable oils and added to foods like cakes, icing, biscuits and popcorn.

• Unsaturated - olive oil, avocados, salmon, walnuts, sunflower seeds, tofu and soybeans
• Saturated - red meat, milk, cheese, coconut oil and added to processed foods
• Trans - being phased out in US starting June 18.  FDA Trans Fat Article

I was curious about the amount of fat in salty snacks.

Given below is a table showing the amount of fat, saturated fat, calories and sodium in some of my family's favorite snacks.

	Fat (g)	Saturated Fat (g)	Calories	Sodium (mg)
Lays Oven Baked Potato Crisps, Original, 18 chips, 1 oz	2	0	120	135
Ruffles, Oven Baked Cheddar and Sour Cream, 11 chips, 1 oz	3	0.5	120	140
Lays Potato Chips, Classic, 15 chips, 1 oz	10	1.5	160	170
Better Made Original Potato Chips 17 chips	11	3	160	170
Tostitos Oven Baked Scoops, 16 chips, 1 oz	3.5	0.5	120	240
Tostitos Tortilla Corn Chips, 7 chips, 1 oz	7	1	140	115
Cheetos Puffs Cheese Flavored, 23 pieces	7	1	140	300
Fritos Original Corn Chips, 1 oz bag	10	2	180	170
Doritos, 11 chips, includes MSG	8	1	140	210

I didn't realize that Baked chips had a significant reduction in fat as compared to the original versions.  

Since completing this chart now I understand why my husband usually purchases the baked version of potato chips.

I am going to really reduce the amount of Tostitos I eat because even though the baked version has less fat it has a lot more sodium than the original version.

I was also surprised about the amount of calories in Fritos and the amount of sodium in Cheese Puffs.

This link includes additional snacks:  Chips Ranked