I received a copy of Unjunk Your Junk Food to read and review. The book has a cute cover, is small in size, and loaded with a lot of information about the junk food the masses eat and the healthy alternatives. The book has a cute cover, but when I opened the book and started to look at it, I had some issues with the binding. The center binding broke open and some of the pages came unattached. This was the first look at the book and I as a book lover, I took it easy on the book. Not a good first impression. Nor was it a good second, third, or fourth impression as this happened in four different spots in the book.
So, the book is cute and the construction not so much, how about the contents. Remember the premise of this book is to replace food that is bad for you with food that is good for you. On the pages represented above, 36 and 37 the authors compare Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn-Butter to Newman's Own Organics Butter Flavored Pop's Corn. Orville is the bad choice and Newman the good choice according to the authors. Here's what they got going for them:
Stuff in the Product Orville Newman
Calories 30 123
Calories from fat 20 44
Trans Fat 0 0
carbs 3 17
sodium 40 187
Anyone else confused here, looks like Orville wins in the numbers game, less calories, less fat, less carbs, and way less sodium. Well, according to the authors, the artificial flavor, color, and TBHQ preservative is far worse for you than the extra fat and sodium. Well, tell that to a person with high blood pressure and on a low fat diet.
So lets give this another try, picked another page with binding issues, and it is Jello against Cool Cups gels.
Stuff in the Product Jell-O Cool Cups
calories 70 92
fat calories 0 0
sodium 40 44
carbs 17 22
protein 1 0
Again, Jell-O looks better than the approved choice. Except it has high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and red and yellow colors. The Cool Cups has 'yellow-flag' ingredients that makes it a better choice than Jell-O and their red-flag ingredients.
What I found in this book is not a resource for those looking for better food choices and the least amount of fat, sodium, and calories in the food they eat, but less chemicals. The problems that most of the mainstream food items have is the artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. The approved choices often had more fat, calories, and sodium than the bad choices. I guess if you are looking to find the best alternative with the least fat, calories, and sodium, eat nuts, fruits, and fresh vegetables.
Overall, I had high hopes for the book, I mean if just judging it from the cover. But I was quickly annoyed by the quality of the book. The message in the book was to reduce the artificial ingredients and not the best nutritional options. Maybe you will be more impressed with the book than I was.
Taking care of the written word,
Dannielyn
So, the book is cute and the construction not so much, how about the contents. Remember the premise of this book is to replace food that is bad for you with food that is good for you. On the pages represented above, 36 and 37 the authors compare Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn-Butter to Newman's Own Organics Butter Flavored Pop's Corn. Orville is the bad choice and Newman the good choice according to the authors. Here's what they got going for them:
Stuff in the Product Orville Newman
Calories 30 123
Calories from fat 20 44
Trans Fat 0 0
carbs 3 17
sodium 40 187
Anyone else confused here, looks like Orville wins in the numbers game, less calories, less fat, less carbs, and way less sodium. Well, according to the authors, the artificial flavor, color, and TBHQ preservative is far worse for you than the extra fat and sodium. Well, tell that to a person with high blood pressure and on a low fat diet.
So lets give this another try, picked another page with binding issues, and it is Jello against Cool Cups gels.
Stuff in the Product Jell-O Cool Cups
calories 70 92
fat calories 0 0
sodium 40 44
carbs 17 22
protein 1 0
Again, Jell-O looks better than the approved choice. Except it has high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and red and yellow colors. The Cool Cups has 'yellow-flag' ingredients that makes it a better choice than Jell-O and their red-flag ingredients.
What I found in this book is not a resource for those looking for better food choices and the least amount of fat, sodium, and calories in the food they eat, but less chemicals. The problems that most of the mainstream food items have is the artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. The approved choices often had more fat, calories, and sodium than the bad choices. I guess if you are looking to find the best alternative with the least fat, calories, and sodium, eat nuts, fruits, and fresh vegetables.
Overall, I had high hopes for the book, I mean if just judging it from the cover. But I was quickly annoyed by the quality of the book. The message in the book was to reduce the artificial ingredients and not the best nutritional options. Maybe you will be more impressed with the book than I was.
Taking care of the written word,
Dannielyn
