Healthy Eating | Consumer Product Reviews

“Eat This Not That Supermarket Survival Guide” is David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding’s answer to buying goods with their series of books on what they like to call “The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution.” What they did for eating out with their initial book, the Restaurant Survival Guide, they now do for the supermarket. It is a very handy little book to support you as your walk the aisles filling your buying goods cart.

After a short introduction with regards to feed and what the book may do for you, Chapter one covers basic rules for your trip to the supermarket. Rules like working the edges and learning the lingo. This chapter includes 11 mysteries the feed industry doesn’t want you to recognise and the 20 worst packaged foods in America. The worst happens to be Marie Callender’s Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie.

Chapter two focuses on the formulate aisle and how to supercharge your meals. Good little primer on fruits and vegetables. From there, we go to the meat and fish counters in chapter three. This is a short chapter to support you make sense of meat. Chapter four then covers the refrigerator. This is the firstborn chapter that starts to divide foods into “eat this and not that” categories. For example, on the Deli Meats page, you find Hormel Natural Choice Carved Chicken Breast on the “eat this” page, and Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Grilled Chicken Breast Strips on the “not that” page. (Calories, fat, and sodium are all listed, and lower on the primary choice) Some of the other categories in this chapter include hot dogs and sausage, cheese, and yogurt.

Chapter five is the chapter to review when it is time to stock your pantry staples. Categories include: grains, rice sides, arid noodles, bread loaves, breakfast breads and pastries, cereals, condiments, nut and seed butters, jellies, jams, preserves, pasta sauces and much more.

Sure, snacks and sweets are not top selections for any person on a diet, but if you are going to eat them, chapter six will aid you make smarter choices. Some good counsel on snacks here, and then categories contrasting corn chips, potato chips, dips, pretzels, snack mixes, crackers, popcorn, cookies, and much more.

In the seventh chapter we get to the freezer section. Contrasted foods include ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, frozen pies, frozen pizza, meat substitutes, and other foods found in the frozen aisles.

Chapter eight covers drinks. Juice, smoothies, shakes, tea, milk, beer, and a few others are covered here. I recognise an entire book just came out on what to drink, so this chapter is just a teaser equated to what the book contains. This is still a good primer on what you are buying to drink.

The final chapter, nine, provides you with a guide to save cash while shopping. It holds a couple of tips and then ten general dishes that you may make at home to save cash and calories. The book then concludes with a feed additive glossary.

I genuinely like this series of books. They are small, so you may carry with you, colorful so easy to read and use, and packed with information. Sure, not each single feed you might find is covered, but sufficient are listed to make you a savvy shopper. By understanding the deviations amongst the eat this foods and the not that foods, you will then be competent to read labels and make more salubrious selections even when not found in this guide. Reading this book also provides a lot of good data regarding eating healthy, and after reading it you’ll be much better prepared to hit the supermarket and fill your cart with healthful selections.

Eat This Not That Supermarket Survival Guide The

Much like the waistlines of America, the aisles of your grocery store are straining under the weight of too much food. There are more than 40,000 merchandise lining the shelves of your local supermarket, and with each product comes a whole new host of inflated label claims: “zero trans fat!” “Cholesterol free!” “Good source of 9 vitamins and minerals!” The problem is these claims are just as phony as the hyped-up foods they’re attempting to sell.

That’s where Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide comes in. It’s your best weapon versus the feed industry’s venture to obfuscate the truth in regards to the feed it’s selling. Building on the popular approach of the Eat This, Not That! book series, co-authors Dave Zinczenko and Matt Goudling have scoured the aisles of the supermarkets of America, and in so doing they’ve came across that two seemingly similar packages may house foods with vastly dissimilar nutritional profiles. They’ve likewise folded in all-new material that will support you pick the most nutrient-packed produce; the leanest, tastiest cuts of meat; and the least contaminated seafood at the fish counter. In this book you’ll also find:

11 Secrets the Food Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know
20 Worst Packaged Foods in America
Answers to The 5 Most Important Questions About Organic Food
The Ultimate Sandwich Selector
The Snack Matrix
The Food Additive Glossary
And the extended chapter, Drink This, Not That!

ReviewWith tens of thousands of merchandise crammed into the walls of the neighborhood supermarket, attempting to find a authenti snack, pantry product, or frozen dinner may be a severe challenge for the time-strained consumer. The Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide changes all of that, providing discerning shoppers everyplace a simple plan for finding the healthiest foods for them and their families. Beyond homing in on the best and worst in the world of packaged foods, the Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide scours the aisles to support you pick the most nutrient-packed produce, the leanest, tastiest cuts of meat, exotic cheeses that double as healthful snacks, and the best contaminant-free fish the ocean has to offer.

Click each effigy underneath for a more prominent view of selections from Eat This Not That! For Supermarkets

Most helpful customer reviews

321 of 382 people found the following review helpful.
The nonfiction book of the year?
By Julie Neal
I know, that sounds like a wild claim. And I’m surprised I wrote it.

I own both of the previous Eat This Not That books (Thousands of Simple Food Swaps, For Kids!), so when I noticed this one was about to come out I decided to skip it. What more could it offer than what was already in the other two?

Then, tonight, I went shopping for food with my teenage daughter at Target. We spotted this in the little book section and, at her urging, picked it up and glanced through it.

What a great book! So helpful! So useful! Yes, if it keeps my husband healthy and my daughter enthused about nutrition, it gets my vote as best nonfiction book this year. I read about every day, and no book has struck me as a Must Buy as much as this one.

The reason? Since the book is entirely about food at supermarkets, every item on every page is something readily accessible to you. And since every item is captioned with its relevant nutritional information, it’s like having the “Nutrition Facts” panel of every major item at your grocery store right there in your purse, in a little book that is so well designed and organized it is remarkably easy to use.

By comparison, the earlier titles had less detailed grocery sections, as well as lots of stuff about fast food chains and table-service franchise restaurants, material that is useful only if you frequent those particular places.

In this book, every page has valuable content for anyone who shops at a supermarket — so much, in fact, it’s tough to determine just what to highlight in this review. Every time I flip through the book I come across useful, surprising information. For example, right now I’ll randomly open it a few times and learn why….

1) Fruit Loops are better for you than Apple Cinnamon Cheerios…

2) Regular Cheerios is a better choice than Smart Start…

3) Regular Quick 1 minute Quaker Oats is healthier than Quaker’s Simple Harvest Multigrain hot cereal…

4) Dole pineapple cups are more nutritious than Dole mixed fruit cups…

5) Del Monte pear halves beat Del Monte sliced pears…

I could go on forever.

By the way, not all the pages are side-by-side product comparisons. One spread, titled “The Meat Matrix,” compares the nutritional value of a variety of meats, everything from pork to ostrich. Another, “The Perfect Refrigerator,” displays a perfectly stocked healthy fridge. My daughter was especially interested in a spread titled “The Snack Matrix,” which shows which combination of snack items (fruit, peanut butter, cottage cheese) mix well together for both nutrition and taste. Another section discusses how to store fresh fruit and produce and explains why fresh food is better for you.

Until now, I have never used the phrase “book of the year” in any of my Amazon reviews. But this one, at least for nonfiction, just might live up to that claim.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Lots of good tips
By A. Collins
I bought this book after I had gone through the first “Eat This Not That” book. Unlike its predecessor, Mr. Zinczenko goes much more in depth into all different kinds of food, rather than just focusing on what you should eat at different fast food restaurants. It was especially helpful in distinguishing what food labels really mean (whole grain vs. multi-grain, cage-free vs. free range, just for starters.) As well as clever comparisons, such as the nutritional value of different cuts of meat and which fruits and vegetables carry the most pesticides.

Unfortunately, the amount of information is also its downside. Unlike the first book, where there were short lists that are easy to remember (the foods you should eat every day, what to eat when you feel sick/tired/etc.) Mr. Zinczenko creates many different different categories, some of which may not be necessary (sweetened vs. unsweetend cereals, for example). This muddies the message with too much complexity and I often end up ignoring the finer points when actually doing my grocery shopping.

A very interesting, easy to read book. But plan on devoting some time to digest the wealth of information here.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful.
Is this about product marketing or nutrition??
By Alan B. Richards
I have now read this entire series and while there is a great deal of interesting & valuable information, there is also a lot of conflicting information. Nowhere is their specific methodology for determining “Good” from “Bad” shown. And it’s very strange to see 2 products with nutrition numbers very similar, one in the “EAT THIS” group with the other in the “Don’t Eat That” group. And there comparisons about entire types of food that should be avoided completely if weight loss & nutrition are the concerns. Example: Frozen Pizza. There’s no such thing as healthy frozen pizza.

Why can’t they compare like to like. They don’t compare the various types of Raisin Bran. They compare one brand of Raisin Bran to Cheerios. And cheese. They recommend Velveeta but call a brand of Provolone bad. As a rule, white cheeses (Swiss, Mozzarella, provolone, etc.)are almost always better choices than any yellow cheese (cheddar, American).

One has to wonder if this series of books is more about the marketing of processed food (which should be avoided entirely if at all possible) than about good nutritional advice. If weight loss & nutrition are concerns, you’re better off just reading the labels and using fresh or homemade products whenever possible.

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