Eat Fit, Be Fit, by Linda Arpino, MA, RD, CDN. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
As described on the book jacket, Eat Fit, Be Fit: Health and Weight Management Solutions is designed to help the reader manage a healthy lifestyle by taking charge of one's own diet and activity, achieve desirable health and weight through nutrition, and follow nutritional guidelines for healthy eating and diabetic exchanges. It is written as though the nutrition professional is speaking directly to the client. The only drawback with this system is that sometimes the tense or pronoun changes are present without adequate notification. The information is clearly presented to help the reader or client understand the wide variety of health and nutrition information that is currently available in today's environment.
The table of contents as well as the Index are detailed so that the reader can access a specific topic. Using the table of contents, for example, the reader can quickly locate a section describing fats, carbohydrates, proteins, portion sizes, etc. Summaries at the end of each topic are written as if speaking to the client: "Change can be hard, but after you start and feel better, you will be glad you made the effort." There is also a full list of references and a list of important (ie, helpful, health-related) Web sites.
The book is divided into 2 sections: the first section is Learning to Eat Fit and the second contains close to 250 recipes. Section 1, Chapter 1 begins with encouragements to make changes toward a healthier lifestyle. One confusing element is how this chapter is divided into sections, while the book is also divided into 2 main sections.
Chapter 2, The Basics: Nutrition Guidelines to Eat Fit and Be Fit, is the book's title and essence of the book. It focuses on calories, their sources, body mass index (BMI), introduction to weight loss, basic nutrients, and portion sizes.
Section 2 with close to 250 recipes begins with a brief description of cooking. The recipes are divided into sections: Appetizers, Beverages, Breads and Breakfast, Salads and Soups, Grains, Sandwiches and Wraps, Meatless Entrees, Fish, Poultry, Meat, Vegetables, Dips, Dressings, Sauces and Marinades and Desserts. The recipes provide information detailing each recipe as Vegetarian, Lacto-ovo, or Vegan as well as Serving Suggestions, including how to incorporate the recipe into menu or lunch or after school/work snack.
Helpful to the reader, each recipe indicates exchanges and symbols that code for high fiber, rich phytonutrients and antioxidants, heart healthy, calcium rich and low sodium. Each recipe has a bar code at the bottom with nutrient information per serving of the recipe. The recipes give credits to the creator, many by Chef Brian MacMenamin, whose photo is on the back of the book along with the author, Linda Arpino.
The recipes also include ideas for altering, adding, or substituting ingredients. Some recipes include information on specific nutrients and other pertinent information. From this reviewer's perspective, this book could be used in many ways: in basic nutrition courses that incorporate food production, in community nutrition classes highlighting food preparation with nutrient information, and for use by nutrition practitioners with clients, as the book provides a concise review of nutrition principles as well as how to cook.
This book is the result of work and thinking about how to help people choose a healthy lifestyle, choosing nourishing foods, and how to cook and prepare these foods. If the book were used by a client, the professional could calculate the nutritional value of the foods eaten, using the nutrition bar information provided at the bottom of each recipe and teach the client easy calculations. A drawback to the book is that it is not produced with lots of colors and a DVD of the recipes. Therefore, it might not catch attention among the hundreds of food and nutrition books available. However, the few colors used are pleasing to the eye and suggest health. In summary, I recommend this book. Years ago, I learned that nutrition is "food eaten"; this book would help the reader understand why it is important to eat certain valuable nutrients and how to prepare those foods.
Jane Silver Timm, MA, RD, CDN