THE NO-DIET WEIGHT LOSS

Diet books are great when you are home, but how do they help in the real world? Matt Goulding and co-author David Zinczenko interviewed experts, tested out the trends, and compiled the newest information on weight loss available.

In their book, Eat This, Not That, they determined that many people underestimate their serving size and caloric intake by 40 percent. Two thirds of Americans are overweight and the food industry continues to spend billions in advertising to get the public to eat more. Children will see more than 5,000 food commercials this year, most of them aimed at selling them calorie-laden foods that undermine their health, fitness and self-esteem.

Matt says that you may not know what is actually in food that you and your family eat in restaurants and school cafeterias. The result: obesity and type-2 diabetes has quadrupled in children for the past 30 years. The reasons are as simple as they are sneaky for this rise in obesity:

Since 1970, food manufacturers have substituted sugar with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is cheaper. Today, HFCS is found in everything from cereals to pasta sauce. The average American consumes 82 grams of added sugar every day contributing to 317 empty calories.

Americans have been trained to supersize fast food meals. Food is so inexpensive for manufacturers on a large scale that fast-food restaurants still make a profit whenever you supersize your meal.

A study from UNC found Americans consume 450 calories a day from beverages, which means an extra 23 pounds a year, just from drinks.

Marketers continually add new food substances, which make it hard to know exactly what is in food.

BE THE LEANEST ON THE BLOCK

With childhood obesity on the rise and so many families eating out for convenience, Matt and David compiled Eat This, Not That for Kids. They include a school cafeteria guide with vending machine snacks and a handy menu decoder so parents can help their kids make smarter choices while eating out or dining at school.

“Parents don’t know that the average kids’ meal at Outback Steakhouse packs 93 grams of fat, more than double the recommended daily allowance,” Matt said. “They don’t know that it takes two trips to the top and back of the Empire State Building to burn off two pieces of KFC’s extra crispy chicken (810 calories!).”

By making spaghetti and meatballs mixed with a green salad instead of fettuccine alfredo and a Caesar salad for dinner, parents can save their child 360 calories and 23 grams of fat.

Matt will compare several fast-food meals from: Arby’s, Burger King, Fazoli’s, Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell as a guest on The 700 Club. He will also discuss what he declares are the Top 5 Worst Foods in America for kids.