The Bottom Line
- Includes a wide variety of foods including fast food and common brands
- Includes calorie equivalents for common activities like walking, running and yoga
- Foods are easy to find and exercise equivalents motivate readers to make healthier choices
- I'd like to see a more detailed explanation of the calorie-counts for the activities
- He should tell readers that the calorie equivalents are estimates and won't be the same for everyone
Description
- This book details 7500 different foods along with their exercise equivalents for walking, running, swimming, yoga and dance
- The food categories cover everything from dairy and dessert to fast food and snack foods
- The author also includes basic advice for how to find 'Calorie Bargains,' or substituting healthier foods that you can enjoy
Guide Review - The Diet Detective's Count Down
In part one, he covers the basics of how to use the book for weight loss (calculate your BMR, keep a food diary, etc.). He also covers the basics of exercise and how to motivate yourself...nothing earth-shattering here.
The meat of the book lists 7500 different foods broken down into categories like dairy, fruit, fast food, etc. For each food he lists the amount, calories, carbs and fat followed by the exercise time required to burn off those calories. The activities include walking, running, swimming, cycling, yoga and dance. For example, one serving of Ho Hos (3 cakes) is 380 calories which would require 98 minutes of walking. Yikes! Flipping through this book, you may be surprised by how much exercise you would need to burn off some of those extra calories. But he points out that it's not about killing yourself with exercise to burn off the Ho Hos, but to avoid them in the first place. To do that, Platkin suggests finding 'Calorie Bargains' where you replace high-calorie foods with low-calorie foods that you'll still enjoy.
Overall, the book is easy to use and full of interesting (sometimes frightening) information. My only problem is that he doesn't explain the intensity of the exercises (e.g., how fast to walk or run) or what the calorie-counts are based on (a 155-lb person) until the end. A detailed explanation at the beginning would be nice to see. This is a great resource if you're trying to eat healthy and lose weight.
