Someone’s finally written a book that helps you pick between the foods at various restaurants and from all the choices at the grocery store that LOOK so great (and delicious), that is, until you read the nutrition label… But who has time to read and memorize hundreds of packages, just to get to the right ones for your needs? And what about food at restaurants, where you don’t get a nutrition break-down for each item so you’re eating ‘blind’?

The book’s called EAT THIS, NOT THAT! and here’s an excerpt from the book description:

Americans spend more than $400 billion a year eating out, and behind each burger, turkey sandwich, and ice cream sundae is a simple decision that could help you control your weight-and your life. The problem is, restaurant chains and food producers aren’t interested in helping you make healthy choices. In fact, they invest $30 billion a year on advertising, much of it aimed at confusing eaters and disguising the fat and calorie counts of their products.

All of that has changed with EAT THIS, NOT THAT!. This book puts the entire food industry under the spotlight, and arms you with the savvy tricks and insider information it takes to eat well no matter where you are. With EAT THIS, NOT THAT! you’re the expert in every eating situation, from the frozen food aisle to your favorite fast food joint to your local sports bar. You control your food universe-and lose the pounds you want–because, unlike every other customer, you’ll know the smart choices to make-instantly!

EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is jam-packed with secrets the restaurant industry doesn’t want you to know.

For example:

• Burger King doesn’t want you to know that a BK Big Fish. Sandwich and fries have a whopping 1000 calories-nearly half your daily caloric intake! (Fish is usually healthy, but not this kind. Find out why with this book.)
• Pizza Hut doesn’t want you to know that a standard pizza in Italy contains 500 to 800 calories, but the same meal at Pizza Hut can top 2,100 calories! (You’d need to ride a stationary bike for more than three hours to burn off this mistake. Instead, eat all the pizza you want by making smart choices. EAT THIS, NOT THAT! shows you how.)
• Macaroni Grill doesn’t want you to know that a single serving of their Grilled Teriyaki Salmon has more than three times your daily allowance of sodium! (Cut your risk of high blood pressure by making smart choices at the same restaurant. You’ll find them inside.)

If only you knew the industry secrets, you could eat at any of your favorite restaurants-or chow down on everything from the company vending machine to your kids’ Halloween buckets-and know that every decision you made was smart, healthy, and the best possible choice for you.

For example, did you know:

• At McDonald’s, an Egg McMuffin. is actually a healthy choice, with just 300 calories. (The Hotcakes pack more than double that amount!)
• At Krispy Kreme, all you need to do is order the Very Berry Chiller instead of the Mocha Dream Chiller, and you’ll save 500 calories! (Do that once a week and you’ll drop more than 7 pounds this year-without trying!)
• At Chipotle, you can cut 570 calories out of your Chicken Burrito just by ordering it as a bowl (without the tortilla) and asking them to hold the rice. (Same great taste, but with 94 fewer carb grams!)
• Choosing a cinnamon roll at Au Bon Pain over Cinnabon will save you 463 calories and 20 grams of fat!

In the freezer section of your local supermarket, a turkey pot pie from Swanson’s has 610 fewer calories than a turkey pot pie from Pepperidge Farms. In the produce aisle, you’ll get twice the vitamin C-and nine times as much vitamin A-simply by picking red bell peppers over green ones. (Who said eating healthy was difficult?)

And that’s why EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is going to change everything. It’s time to level the playing field. We’re all tired of sneaky calories adding to our waistlines, and having to starve ourselves or spend hours on the treadmill trying to burn off the damage. Now-for the first time-you’re in charge. With this simple illustrated guide to thousands of foods–along with the nutrition secrets that lead to fast and permanent weight loss–you’ll make the smartest choice every time!

I’m glad someone’s taken all the time to do the research – this is info I’ve always wanted, but could never find all in one easy to use place…

Technorati Tags: Books, Diet, Fast Food

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, aka Harry Potter Book 7, may get more screen justice than ORDER OF THE PHOENIX: David Heyman, producer, is expected to announce that rather than trying to chop the last huge book down to movie size, two movies will be made of HALLOWS to accommodate the entire last installment in the J. K. Rowling book series.

Of course, this means more money for the studio, the cast and the author by making it into 2 films (something they all really need, eh?) but it also means we should get treated to the whole final story in all its glory, something Harry Potter movie 5, ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, missed its mark on, especially considering they took the longest book at that point and made it the shortest movie of all 5 to date. (Who’s brilliant idea was THAT? <slap> <slap>)

Meanwhile HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is currently filming with a release date of Nov 2008. Maybe they’ll get a clue from all the recent press and make sure book 6 gets good treatment also. After all, they all make more money the more we go see it, and we’ll want to see it more than once if its done well, right? (Duh…)

Back to watching the first 5 HARRY POTTER DVDs while we wait.

Technorati Tags: Books, DVD, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, MOVIES

BBC UK has re-released some early, hard to find, original series DOCTOR WHO books as free eBooks! Some can be downloaded as PDF and PDA compatible files, while others can be read on their site in chapters. Check out the titles that are available on eBook for free:

DOCTOR WHO THE DYING DAYS by Lance Parkin	DOCTOR WHO AND THE EMPIRE OF GLASS by Andy Lane	DOCTOR WHO HUMAN NATURE by Paul Cornell	DOCTOR WHO LUNGBARROW by Marc Platt
DOCTOR WHO NIGHTSHADE by Mark Gatiss	DOCTOR WHO THE SANDS OF TIME by Justin Richards	DOCTOR WHO AND THE SCALES OF INJUSTICE by Gary Russell	DOCTOR WHO AND THE WELL-MANNERED WAR by Gareth Roberts

Click on any of the pictures or titles to take you to the book you want to read/download (while they’re available!).

Technorati Tags: BBC UK, Books, Doctor Who, eBooks

In August 1977, Orson Scott Card’s novelette ENDER’S GAME was published in ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT and it amazed the sci fi world with its tale of very young, extremely smart, children trained to play war games for an upcoming battle with an alien species called the Formics, a group who had already beaten Earth forces 70 years before, and who are now back to finish the job.

Now, finally, more than 30 years after the story was released and a host of expanded and sequel novels were published (XENOCIDE, SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD, CHILDREN OF THE MIND, FIRST MEETINGS IN THE ENDERVERSE), director Wolfgang Petersen (TROY) is currently working on a film version of the book series with Card writing the screenplay. (Of course, the whole project has been in “development hell” for years, and no list of actors is attached yet, so no guarantees that it will make it for the 2008-2009 movie season, especially since Warner Brothers put it into “turnaround” but I’m keeping my fingers crossed…)

Orson Scott Card has also given Chair Entertainment Group the exclusive license to create games based on the Ender books. They plan to offer the games on all next-generation console, hand-held and PC platforms. With Card’s help, Chair Entertainment will begin development later this year on a game inspired by the Battle Room, the mainstay of ENDER’S GAME. The first version is expected for release via downloadable platforms.

In the meantime, we wait for a chance to train at Battle School to see for ourselves how we’d stack up against a bunch of precocious kids. (Can you say movie “tie-ins”?)

Technorati Tags: Books, Ender's Game, GAMING, MOVIES, Orson Scott Card, Sci Fi

We had been doing some “hunting of the wild book” this morning at a Vancouver library book sale as we are wont to do and decided to hit some of the local thrift stores, too. After going to 3 or 4 of our favorites, and feeling really tired (we had had to get up REALLY early to make the 1st sale), we were going to drive home early. But I had “little book voices” calling to me from over in Portland and wanted to go there before heading back. Mom was of the opinion we should go home and nap out. So we flipped a quarter for it and I won. As we were heading towards Oregon, I told Mom to check out the sky behind us. In front was clearing, but behind was a dark grey, almost black, sky. I was looking for rainbows, since it looked like heavy rain, saw none, so went back to watching where I was driving. We stopped at a favorite haunt or two in West Portland and were about to go our merry way when we heard there’d been 1, possibly 2, freak tornados where we’d just been in Vancouver. Talk about lucky! If we’d headed directly home instead of going south, we’d have driven right into at least one of them! Amazing how things sometimes work out. (Going to have to see about keeping that quarter – it appears to have predictive properties. LOL)

Technorati Tags: Books, Tornado