What is it?
Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding is a book written with the goal of teaching you how to shop for healthy food. The book is one in a series that sprung from a Men's Health magazine column. Other books have focused on fast food choices. The writers also examine labels and claims of products.
How does it work?
The book is designed to be taken with you as you are shopping or at restaurants so you can look up the healthiest choice. The authors dispel beliefs such as turkey bacon is better for you than regular bacon. They give you tips such as the words "whole grain" is normally better for you than "multi-grain" because whole grain means the product contains the entire kernel offering more fiber. The authors encourage you to do most of your shopping around the edges of a super market where fresh produce, dairy products and meats are found. The inner-isles are where most of the more processed foods are shelved.
What does research say?
There are no clinical trials that tracked the users of these guides. The guide chooses the product that has less calories and fat. Eating less of each is an accepted weight loss strategy but "reducing dietary fat alone--without reducing calories--will not produce weight loss, according to the NHLBI's guidelines on treating overweight and obesity in adults." A 2008 study suggests that calorie controlled diets have more success that fat controlled.