Eat This Not That! for Kids!: Be the Leanest, Fittest Family on the Block!

Readers familiar with the popular Eat This Not That!: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds-or More! will find this book similar in format- except this time the content is aimed at kids.

The book consists of seven chapters. Here's a brief rundown of what you can expect from each:

-Chapter 1 covers "8 rules of kid's nutrition" which includes such advice as "never skip breakfast" and "snack with a purpose"

-Chapter 2 discusses choosing the right foods at fast food restaurants such as Arby's or Applebees

-Chapter 3 talks about "menu decoding". Since the book can't cover every restaurant you'll ever eat at, it teaches the reader how to read a typical menu- what to look for, what choices to make. It does this by going over general menus of Chinese restaurants, Mexican restaurants, etc.

-Chapter 4 goes over making proper buying choices at restaurants. Here the reader is taught how to read labels.

-Chapter 5 covers eating at schools, which means, of course, the school cafeteria. Vending machines choices are also included because most schools (unfortunately) have them.

-Chapter 6 discusses eating at home. A nice touch here is the sample menus and recipes.

And last but not least, Chapter 7 talks about exercise. Included are sample activities to keep your kids fit. I personally suggest trying a pedometer- kids like to fiddle with them and counting steps is fun too.

All-in-all, I found this to be a great little book and actually quite fun to read with its many pictures. With good knowledge in hand, the only other obstacle a parent faces is getting their kids motivated to carry out the advice in the book.

In parenting as in life, it's all about making good decisions. The trick is knowing which choices are the right ones. This small colorful book tells you very simply which food choices are the right ones. It not only tells you, but also shows you with hundreds of color photos. Although it is supposedly for kids, the information is useful -- and fascinating -- for anyone.

We've all heard the scary statistics about the rise in obesity, especially in children. Food marketers are doing everything they can to keep that trend alive. According to the Federal Trade Commission, kids ages 2 to 11 will see 26,000 TV ads this year, 22 percent of them marketing food. "The message -- that junk food equals instant happiness -- is one that sticks with a child for all his life." Eat This Not That! gives sound advice on how to combat this problem.

The first chapter has eight simple rules for kids and families to follow:
Rule #1: Never Skip Breakfast. Ever.
Rule #2: Snack with Purpose. (A good idea: popcorn; not the kind saturated with butter and salt, but natural popcorn. Another good idea: Kids must ask permission for a snack, but never need permission to reach for a piece of fruit.)
Rule #3: Beware of Portion Distortion. (A good idea: Buy smaller bowls and cups.)
Rule #4: Drink Responsibly. (A good idea: Keep cold, filtered water in a pitcher in the fridge.)
Rule #5: Eat More Foods and Fewer Science Experiments. (A good rule of thumb: The shorter the ingredient list, the healthier the food.)
Rule #6: Set the Table (A good idea: Keep mealtimes as structured as possible.)
Rule #7: Kick the Sugar Habit. (A good idea: Eliminate foods with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup at the top of the ingredient list.)
Rule #8: Eat the Rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple foods have a multitude of benefits.

You'll be surprised, finding out whether some foods are on the good or bad list. Learning that Applegate Farms organic uncured turkey hot dogs are on the Eat This! side isn't so surprising. But José Olé shredded steak taquitos? Breyer's Double Churn creamy vanilla bean ice cream? It seems "Double Churn" is Breyer's code word for low-fat, which makes this dessert a go. Oscar Mayer bacon scores a Yes, while Oscar Mayer turkey bacon scores a No, because of the extra sodium in the supposedly more healthful turkey option.

I had to wrestle Eat This Not That! out of my 14-year-old daughter's hands to write this review. She was captivated, poring over it exclaiming on the different foods we now eat that we should swap for others. She wailed when she saw the Cadbury Creme Egg as the very worst in the "Worst Candy" section. And she can kiss those Hershey's Kisses goodbye. Oh no! Sun Chips are on the Not That! list! Some of her favorites were on the Eat This! list, though: Marshmallow peeps, Tootsie Pops, Boca burgers, Eggo Nutri-Grain low-fat waffles, MultiGrain Cheerios, Egg McMuffins and Kraft Tangy Italian spaghetti dinners.

I could go on and on about this book. It covers school cafeteria food, fast-food restaurant food, vending machine snacks, kid-friendly recipes, how to read nutritional labels, holiday meals and fun exercises for kids of different age groups. Each food lists its complete nutritional information, including the portion size, calories and grams of fat and sugar.

Other books I recommend on this topic: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, and Deceptively Delicious.

Here's the chapter list:

1. Feeding the Future; The 8 rules of kids' nutrition
2. At Their Favorite Restaurants; The best and worst meals at 40 fast-food and chain restaurants
3. The Eat This, Not That! Ultimate Menu Decoder; Strategies for eating right at any restaurant
4. At the Supermarket; The complete Eat This, Not That! For Kids! grocery list
5. At School; How to survive and thrive in the cafeteria and beyond
6. At Home; Making your home the healthiest in the neighborhood
7. A Legacy of Fitness; Shed pounds with your kids with these fun family activities

I bought the kids version of Eat This, Not That because I regularly eat kids meals at restaurants. My theory was, if its for kids, the calories have to be less and the portions better controlled, right? No!

This book showed me that not only do the kids meals often have just as many if not more as the adult meals, but in the wrong combinations and can quite bad for you.

For example, I often eat the PB&J at Panera Bread, with the squeeze yogurt on the side. Organic peanut butter and grape jelly, organic yogurt...what could go wrong? 470 calories, 17g fat and 19 grams of sugar is crazy!
Who knew that McNuggets are better for you than the hamburger in a Happy Meal? Not me.

It is great that the book has easy to make substitutions and ideas to get the most nutrition you can out of a fast food meal. This is a great book for any family to keep in the car for those meals on the go. Everyone can make the most informed choice possible!

This book, like the original is entertaining, but not exactly the best nutritional advice. It is important that the reader understand that the Author of both of these books compares similar products and decides which is better between the two. That being said, something listed in the "Not That" page such as Danimals Yogurt on pg 169, is not necessarily worse to eat then the Nacho Doritos on page 186 listed under "Eat This". If you understand the authors intent, this book may help you to choose between two very similar products. Realize, however, that "Good" and "Bad" are relative in relation to the two particular products being compared.

I absolutely love this book. I thought I was making healthy food choices before (and I was, for the most part). But this book opened my eyes to some shockingly bad food choices I was making. It also surprised me to find out how deceptively some food was marketed as healthy when it was anything but. (Organic "health food" cereal with as much sugar as a soda, for instance .. who would have thought??!!!)

I'm so glad I bought it .. you will be, too! I was so impressed that I even bought extra for other family members!

Maybe my review won't be as helpful for most people, but this is a great book for GAINING weight too. Two of my children have cystic fibrosis and need high fat, high calorie, high salt diets (they sweat out much of their salt which can cause heart problems).

I used this book to choose the "THAT" items for my CF kids, and the "THIS" items for my 3rd child who doesn't have it. It's great because it doesn't just focus on calories - also salt, fiber, vitamins, etc. We don't eat out a ton, so I anxiously await the "supermarket" version coming out in Dec.

I am a mother of an eight and six year old. I bought this because we need to eat better. The kids saw this and immediately were looking at the page of what to eat and what not to eat. They were letting me know which cereals they now wanted to have along with drinks. They are so excited about eating healthy. I never know exactly what to pack for lunch. There is a great two pager on this topic as well as "eat the rainbow" several pages on eating fruits and vegetables of the rainbow - great ideas. There are a ton of topics and each page of what to eat they tell you the limits of sugar, calories, and/or sodium for products. It really educates you. I highly recommend this book - you will not be disappointed.

What a fantastic book!!! My 6 year old daughter is on her way to becoming obese, and this book is a great tool in our fight against a life time of trouble. Her mom's side has a strong history of obesity and diabetes and it is almost inevitable that she will follow the family history. This book helps me put a stop to that cycle, and I can already see the results from the small changes we have made as a result of this book.

Considering that our kids become what they eat, it is a wonder they do as well as they do. Somehow their muscles, bones, internal organs, and brains scavenge enough nutrition from the sugary, fatty, artificial foods they consume to sustain life. But they often are also launched into a life of poor health and obesity. If it were easy for parents to insure their children ate healthy diets, more would succeed. Eat This Not That for Kids gives parents the ideas and information they need to give their kids a fighting chance.

The book identifies a family's adversaries in the battle for nutritional health: restaurants, food companies, and marketers that often do not give priority to the dietary needs of young people, but appeal to their weaknesses. The authors deserve a lot of credit for boldly taking on these powerful adversaries and unmasking some of their worst offenses. At the same time the authors helpfully identify healthier choices, often available from the same companies. They equip you as the consumer to not be fooled by claims on the front of packages but to decipher the fine print on the back. They shift the focus from the moment food hits the mouth to the years it spends in the cells.

This is a guidebook that you will refer back to many times. The information is presented in a bright and fun way that will even interest young readers. Between the ratings and facts the authors provide many helpful tips, ideas, and insights exhibiting their understanding (and sympathy) for the challenges of the family food battle. I found virtually all of their advice to be wise and practical. They avoid prescriptions that may be technically correct but probably not acceptable to typical families that want to eat better without taking extreme measures. When young people are drowning in sea of junk food, they first need a life ring. The fine tuning to make them champions of health and strength may have to come later.

Here is an overview of the contents:
Introduction: The Choice Is Yours
Chapter 1. Feeding the Future; The 8 Rules for kids' nutrition
Chapter 2. At Their Favorite Restaurants; The best and worst meals at 40 fast-food and chair restaurants
Chapter 3. The EAT THIS, NOT THAT! Ultimate Menu Decoder; Strategies for eating right at any restaurant
Chapter 4. At the Supermarket; The complete EAT THIS, NOT THAT! FOR KIDS! grocery list
Chapter 5. At School; How to survive and thrive in the cafeteria and beyond
Chapter 6. At Home; Making you home the healthiest in the neighborhood
Chapter 7. A Legacy of Fitness; Shed pounds with your kids with these fun family activities

Parents are very careful to insure that their children are warm and safe and loved. The authors emphasize that good nutrition is just as critical to their well-being, and we should stop catering to finicky appetites. It is not possible for parents to delve into this book without also evaluating their own eating habits. Since kids will pick up your bad habits far more readily than your good ones, it may not be possible to expect your children to eat properly and exercise regularly if their parents are not doing the same!

All parents who want their youngsters to grow up healthy and strong need to have basic knowledge of food and nutrition. This book provides excellent basic training to fight the nutrition war and win. To achieve a strong and fit body I also recommend: THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong Live Your Dreams and also The 2007 Second Expert Report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective.

This book is changing the way my family eats! It's easily the best book on children's health that I've come across, and here's why: It's designed with both children and parents in mind. The pages are bright and colorful, exhaustively researched, and simplified into fun-and-easy reading. It's an educational tool for parents, but it's also a conversation starter for families. I picked it up expecting to find a few healthy choices for when I'm forced to eat out - which I did find - but I also found much more. Instead of just listing the most shocking facts and calorie pitfalls, I'll provide a rundown of the chapters.

* Ch.1 Feeding the Future - Outlines the disturbing trends of childhood nutrition, rising obesity rates, and vitamin deficiencies. But instead of just scaring you with dismal doom-and-gloom studies, the guys from Men's Health offer a simple set of guidelines to improve your child's health. Among these tips are the ways to sneak a little more vegetation onto your kid's plate.

* Ch. 2 At Their Favorite Restaurants - Kicks off with the 20 Worst Kids' Foods in America (Did you know a small Heath Shake at Baskin Robbins has 990 calories? 990 calories!?). After that it goes into a wealth of easy-to-access information about the kids' menus at the biggest restaurant chains in America. I was astonished to see how much fat and sugar gets into some of these meals! Another great thing about this section is the Restaurant Report Card. Each restaurant is graded on a scale of A to F, and then the authors explain how to get the most real nutrients onto the plate.

* Ch. 3 Ultimate Menu Decoder - This chapter takes a broader look at restaurant nutrition. It prints the typical restaurant menus - Chinese, Italian, Mexican, etc. - and then breaks down every nutritional consideration that should be going through your head. This one goes beyond childhood considerations - this is the stuff everybody should be aware of. For instance, when you're at a deli, switching to a wrap over a sandwich might actually make your meal less healthy; the average chicken wrap has 600 calories!

* Ch. 4 At the Supermarket - This chapter opens with something that every child ought to be taught in elementary school - a Nutrition Label Decoder. Similarly to the Menu Decoder, this section deciphers the complex information hidden in the nutrition label. Then it goes into the bulk of the chapter - the best and worst decisions at the grocery store. This section is filled with fat-and-calorie saving swaps that are laid out on the page like an easy to read catalogue. It follows in the same format that made the first Eat This, Not That! book so successful.

* Ch. 5 At School - To me, this was shocking. Under-funded school lunch programs make it extremely difficult for a child to get a decent meal, and dozens of vending machines beg each kid to indulge a little every day. What this chapter offers are the best eating options in the cafeteria and at the vending machine. This is perfect for flipping through with a child, pointing to the items on the page, and using the annotations to discuss why some decisions are better than others. This doesn't limit children to just peas and pretzels. There are some surprisingly savory selections on the `good' side. Oh, and in case you'd rather pack your child's lunch, there's a section on that, too.

* Ch 6 At Home - The best part here is the section on kid-favorite recipes made healthy. Pepperoni pizza, nachos, and macaroni and cheese, among others, are all translated into simple, healthy recipes to make at home. There's also information on keeping birthdays and holidays healthy - surprisingly simple stuff that we just don't think about.

* Ch. 7 A Fitness Legacy - This final chapter rounds out the book by emphasizing the importance of an active lifestyle. It's a short chapter with simple advice on working daily activity or playtime into a child's routine.