All Reviews For Women

Kelly Exner:

A waste of money. This is all about FAST food……which is NOT what kids should be learning about. Very disappointed in this book.

I purchased the “adult” version as well,,,,,,, and it, too, is a waste of money. this book is JUNK, just the the food it describes.
Rating: 1 / 5

Andrew W. Alseth:

After hearing all the buzz about this book, my mother, a RN who teaches newly-diagnosed diabetic kids how to manage their diabetes, picked up a copy from the library. Back from my freshman year of college with little to do, I decided to read it.

It does what it says fairly well; showing alternatives to fast food/processed food. Here are the two main problems:

1) Saying that your family can “be the leanest, fittest family on the block” by simply making these switches. This is absolutely false. This book totally discounts exercise as the reason why America is becoming fat. In the preface on pages viii-ix, the book says “Only 15% of our daily calorie burn comes from exercise”, and “It is food” that is the sole cause of the obesity epidemic.

That 15% is a large number of calories. Using the [...] calorie calculator (this is NOT an advertisement for [...]), a 5′4″, 120lbs 13 year old male who exercises 3 times needs 2065 calories a day. Compare this to an identical child who does not exercise, and they need 1802 calories a day. These 263 calories needed for maintenance would be more effective than half of the switches. You will not become the “leanest, fittest family on the block” very quickly, considering that 1 pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories. And you will be no more physically fit than when you started.

2) Some of the “good” and “bad” choices are weird, and many of the nutritional differences between the good & bad are negligible. Normally, the authors are good at stating the weight of the food, but in one example, I was astounded. They compare the Keebler Club Original crackers to the Keebler Club Reduced Fat, and say that the reduced fat is bad. Huh? Upon looking at the servings, they compare 4 original crackers to 5 reduced fat crackers, and do not say if they weigh the same. They have the exact same calorie count, the reduced fat has 1g less fat than the original, and the original has 40g less sodium. They say that the reduced fat are worse because “In exchange for one less gram of fat, you get more sodium and double the sugar. Keep the original” (p.185). More crackers for the same calories, higher salt, and more sugar? Of course there are going to be increased values when you eat more of roughly equivalent items.

Overall, if you really want to “be the leanest, fittest family on the block”, you will need to take in fewer calories, eat non-processed food, and EXERCISE!!! My mother will NOT be using this book to teach diabetic kids on how to regulate their disease by eating correctly, because you are still eating highly processed crap in this book (with only a few exceptions). If you understand this the book will serve its purpose, but it is dangerously marketed as a pseudo-diet.
Rating: 2 / 5

D. I. Van Meter:

I enjoyed the book but I got it used and the condition listed was not accurate. The book was listed in good condition but it was rather beat up.
Rating: 4 / 5