Eat This, Not That

There's a new book out now titled, "Eat This, Not That" and it provides healthy (versus unhealthy) menu choices from a variety of national food chains, both dine-in and fast food. Men's Health Magazine's website offers a great deal of information contained within the book and even has a fun quiz to take. (This website, as the name implies, is geared towards men and contains some adult-oriented content so parents may want to visit the site themselves and print out the information for their children). Personally, I feel that a major contributing factor to the rising rate of obesity and other weight-related conditions and disorders in our country, particularly among our youth, is the frequency at which we eat out. A properly prepared home-cooked meal offers more nutritional benefit than most of those offered at restaurants and fast food chains. It also helps bring families together to talk and share themselves with one another - a concept that is slowly becoming extinct in our country! Children who learn the value of nutrition from their parents from an early age tend to carry that understanding and value its importance throughout their lives. We need to teach our children about nutrition (not just rely on our schools and the media to do so) and we need to teach our children how to cook healthy foods. However, despite the importance of this I know firsthand that eating a healthy dinner at the table together every night is not always feasible due to busy lifestyles. So, when forced to eat out it's good to have a guide to help us make better choices. With the help of their parents, even young children can use this guide to help make eating out a healthier alternative to the old-fashioned "pass the potatoes" meal at home with their families!

The website is... http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/index.html