Book Review: The Digest Diet Cookbook by Liz Vaccariello

The Digest Diet Cookbook
by Liz Vaccariello

Easy-to-Prepare, Healthy Recipes

Diet books are popular this time of year, with many people resolving to lose weight and get healthy as the new year begins. The problem with many of them is that they are so complicated, requiring a degree in science to be able to understand and follow the program.

Reader's Digest editor-in-chief Liz Vaccariello and her team reviewed the science of weight loss and created a 21-day eating plan called The Digest Diet to help people lose weight. Now she has a follow-up book, The Digest Diet Cookbook, with 150 recipes using her plan to aid in that goal.

The good news is that the recipes are filled with fresh ingredients that anyone can find in your grocery store -- nothing crazy or exotic. There is also a wonderful variety of foods; you can make Thai, Greek, Vietnamese, Italian and American food. You won't get bored making the same thing over and over again.

Even the Fat-Release Shakes, which you can drink twice a day, start with familiar items like nonfat yogurt, coconut milk and honey and allow you to add variations such as bananas, berries, grapes, peanut butter, and cinnamon to create a new shake each day (and it's not that awful green color).

Each recipe includes a graphic with the fat releasers contained in the dish (vinegar, honey, hot sauce) and there is a two-page spread of all the fat release staples that will help you stock your pantry. I also liked that they give a list of their favorite wraps and crackers. They also have some success stories from readers who have used the plan.

If you are looking for a healthy, easy-to-follow way to lose weight or if you just want some new, healthy, fresh recipes, The Digest Diet Cookbook is a great way to go.

Book Review: Fast Food Vindication by Lisa Tillinger Johansen

Fast Food Vindication
by Lisa Tillinger Johansen

Obesity is an epidemic. Over 50 percent of Americans eat fast food. Is fast food the culprit or a scapegoat? Can you eat healthy fast food meals?

Lisa Johansen argues that yes, you can eat healthy fast food meals. There is much misinformation out there and she aims to change that.

Lisa says up front that she worked for the McDonald's Corporation as a real estate executive. Then she received her master's in nutritional science and is currently a registered dietitian working in the health education department of a major hospital in Southern California.

She says fast food is here to stay. It is our responsibility to learn how to eat for life and understand how fast food affects our lives. Armed with a bit of knowledge (and self-discipline), Lisa says we can incorporate nutritional food into a healthy lifestyle. She emphasizes that we must take responsibility for our weight. We cannot place the blame somewhere else. Fast food restaurants do not force feed us their food.

She gives a history of the fast food establishments and explains the benefits of the industry on labor and the economy. She also writes about the contributions of the various fast food chains to education and other causes.

She shows how to calculate our BMI and our BMR. She clarifies how we can find nutritional information about our favorite meals. (Finding this information is important as studies have shown we are not good at estimating the calorie content of food.) She includes tips for grocery shopping.

Part of Lisa's argument is that often the meals at sit down restaurants are much heavier in calories, fat, and sodium than fast food. I was shocked that some of the meals offered at restaurants contain more calories than one should have in an entire day and more sodium than three days!

Lisa reminds us that we are ultimately responsible for our own behavior. She gives us the tools we need to make better food choices, whether it is fast food or a meal at a sit down restaurant.