Restaurant Confidential: The Shocking Truth about What You're Really Eating When You're Eating Out | 
| Authors: Michael F. Jacobson, Jayne Hurley
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
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You Save: $12.94 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 206853
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0761100350
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.2
UPC: 019628100351
EAN: 9780761100355
ASIN: 0761100350
Publication Date: May 6, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In May 2001, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) will break a major pizza story on the ABC television program 20/20 and once again capture front-page headlines, just as it did when it released studies on movie popcorn and take-out Chinese food. Published to coincide with this story is Restaurant Confidential, in which Dr. Michael F. Jacobson and his CSPI team do for sit-down meals what their Fast-Food Guide--with 247,000 copies in print--does for fast food.Belgian Waffle or Rib-Eye Steak? Bloomin' Onion or Mrs. Fields's Double-Fudge Brownie? Americans are now eating almost one-third of their meals outside the home, spending $222 billion annually doing so-and watching their waistlines balloon. What's in this food? To answer, CSPI performs across-the-board restaurant profiles that give straight-shooting scientific data on the fat, sodium, and calorie content of the most popular dishes. The information is organized by type of cuisine--Chinese, Mexican, steak house, and more--and covers all the major chains, such as The Olive Garden, Applebee's, and Outback. The book provides specific eating strategies for every kind of restaurant, as well as shocking facts: Did you know that a typical order of stuffed potato skins packs a whopping 1,260 calories and 48 grams--two days' worth--of saturated fat? A 10-point plan for ordering wisely, plus dozens of tips throughout, takes the information one step further by showing how to eat happily and healthfully. It's the nutrition book that reads like a thriller. Take the steak and brownies; a whole fried onion with dipping sauce has a blooming 163 grams of fat, and the seemingly innocent Belgian waffle with whipped topping and fruit has even more fat and calories than two sirloin steaks.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 claggy dirty diabetes-inducing good for nothing restaurant food arrrgh December 22, 2006
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
no cheese
no burgers
NO fettucini alfredo
no kung pao chicken
If you want to be as beautiful as a Nubian, you should only eat an unsalted, unsweeted porridge of oatmeal and teff along with ten servings of veggies and fruits.
This book was easy to read. However, I don't think it will convert the unconverted. The lists of the worst offenders (of sodium, cholesterol, fat) are drool-inducing. I'm capable of resisting the horrible chain restaurants but I do want to cook many of these dishes at home. We're all doomed unless restaurants decide to take the risk and serve the healthy alternatives with tiny samples of the bad things as garnishes/amuse bouche e.g. coin sized pieces of fatty salty breakfast sausage and waffle with dairy foam in lieu of whipped cream beside an egg white omelet. I really understand why Americans sacrifice their health and pay a dollar more to get a $2.99 breakfast of two eggs, sausages, hash browns and pancakes with toast and sugary fruit juice and black coffee. The customers feel they are treating themselves AND saving money even if it is poisoning them. They want to taste that zesty sausage.
 A Must Read For the Overly Nervous. June 29, 2006
2 out of 15 found this review helpful
Written in a breezy, easily digestible style, CSPI's literature does provide useful information on topics such as the nutritional profiles of various vegetables, the availability of "light" menu items, and the dubious advantages of bottled water. More important, CSPI models a way of life that sets its followers apart from their less health-conscious, less eco-aware neighbors. "Instead of the conspicuous consumption that [economist Thorstein] Veblen talked about," the restaurant critic Robert Shoffner observed in a 1994 interview with the Washingtonian, CSPI pushes "conspicuous self-denial....They want us in a state of perpetual Lent." Like religious dietary laws, the rules laid down by CSPI create distinctions, provide structure, and invest everyday decisions with meaning. Underlying this system is an ethic that seems to value discipline and sacrifice for their own sake.
From Reason Magazine, 7/2003.
Like the useful idiot in "Super-Size Me", the folks at CSPI have made a career out of scaring people who should know better. Does anyone really believe that if you eat nothing but baked potatoes and sour cream, cheese fries, buffalo wings, movie popcorn, candy bars and ice cream that they will be in ultimate health? Does anyone sit down to a Whopper at Burger King and think, "this'll do the body good"? Of course not. But the would-be philosopher-kings at CSPI KNOW what's in your best interest. They're willing to tell you over and over again, in the most lurid and frightening detail. They will exaggerate potential risks, turning every forkful of cheesecake into cardiac arrest. Forget moderation; forget the occasional guilty pleasure....these folks are better than you because they practice a monastic self-denial. Imagine yourself at a dining table at an exquisite French restaurant with a group of these folks, what a nightmare that would be, and then decide whether you want to read this book.
After reading this and other CSPI literature, I'm convinced that the only truth in the name "Center for Science in the Public Interest", is the word "Center".
 Eye Opener to eating out all the "good food" October 28, 2005
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Cheese fries and ranch dressing 3,010 calories. The recommended caloric intake for a person is 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day. Loved this book and how it helped me get down to the FACTS about eating out with strategies on what is best to eat. Found interesting facts about different ethic food and it looks like Greek is a good way to go.
Great Book July 20, 2005
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Great tool for eating out - gives you the big picture and helps you make better eating out choices!
Restaurant Confidential--did you know you were eating that? March 28, 2003
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Okay, so I've been subscribing to Nutrition Action newsletter for several years, and this is a compilation of all those "Food Police" alerts I've already seen and agreed with. If you haven't seen this info before, you really, really should. Restaurants today can take a veggie that's nothing but good for you, deep-fry it, pour cheese on it, serve it with ranch dressing on the side, and basically introduce you to the world of cardio-care and expensive pharmaceuticals. WAKE UP! If you've read "Fat Land," by Greg Critser (or "Fast Food Nation" or "Mad Cowboy"), you already know that this isn't being done for your benefit; it's happening because there's so much beef and dairy being produced in this country that new ways have to be found every day to get you to eat it, seemingly at bargain prices. Middle age spread and weight-creep are not normal parts of getting older; it's your diet catching up with you as you slow down. This book shows you the nutritional breakdown of all those tempting dishes and gives you the numbers you need to make sane, reasonable choices when your stomach growls and you grab the car keys. Buy the book--it's cheaper than upsizing your wardrobe!
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