Don’t Eat That!

Posted by Susan - 10/17/08 at 09:10:41 am

I’ll start by acknowledging that I realize this may not be a very popular blog post.  I’ve seen positive mentions made of David Zinczenko’s, Eat This, Not That!, book on Gyminee and who am I to argue with a best-seller anyway?

Personally, I think David is a brilliant businessman. In his 8+ years as Editor-In-Chief of Men’s Health, the magazine’s circulation has grown by 30% and ad pages by 80%. Pretty impressive stuff.

Conceptually, I agree with the premise of David’s book, but while reading an article recently entitled America’s Worst Breakfast Foods, I couldn’t help being discouraged by the recommendations being made to readers. Here are a few examples:

Worst Side Dish:
Burger King Hash Browns (large)
620 calories
40 g fat (11 g saturated; 13 g trans)
1,200 mg sodium
60 g carbs

David’s Recommendation: Eat This Instead!:
Burger King Egg & Cheese Croissan’wich
300 calories
17 g fat (5 g saturated; 2 g trans)
740 mg sodium
26 g carbs

Worst Breakfast Sandwich:
Hardee’s Monster Biscuit
710 calories
51 g fat (17 g saturated)
2,250 mg sodium
37 g carbs

David’s Recommendation: Eat This Instead!:
Hardee’s Sunrise Croissant with Bacon
450 calories
29 g fat (12 g saturated)
900 mg sodium
28 g carbs

Is this the message we really want to be sending to a society in the midst of an obesity epidemic? At what point does health become a consideration? When we have an epidemic of thin 30-somethings going in for triple by-pass surgery?

The Burger King Egg & Cheese Croissan’wich has 51% of it’s calories from fat while the Hardee’s Sunrise Croissant with Bacon has a whopping 58% of it’s calories from fat.

Susan’s Recommendation:
1 cup steel cut oatmeal
Two egg whites and one whole egg omelet with low-fat Swiss cheese and mushrooms

315 calories
9 g fat (3 g saturated)
549 mg sodium
29 g carbs

In case you’re wondering, this healthy breakfast alternative has 25% of it’s calories from fat and is probably going to make you a heck of a lot more productive in the morning.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

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