Unjunk Your Junk Food Book Review

While everyone I know plus their sisters, mothers and nieces are reading 50 Shades of Grey, here I am reading Unjunk Your Junk Food.

Nerdy?  No.  

Boring?  Never.

Smart? Absolutely.

I have always been conscientious of my health.  I exercise.  I eat healthy.  I journal my calories.  The result?  I've kept off 17 extra unwanted pounds for the past 5 years.  

So when I was given the opportunity to review the book "Unjunk Your Junk Food" I was stoked!  After all, it was pinned on my Pinterest as "A MUST READ BOOK!"

I learned so much reading the book but before I get into the specifics, let me just say this is an EASY read.  Kudos to the authors, Andrea Donsky and Randy Boyer for the layout of this book.  On one side of the book (the left side if you will) you will find the "bad choices" of foods you should avoid.  On the other side (the right side ironically) you will find the "approved" choices.  

What I like about this book is that there ARE other choices to choose from.  Most diet books, magazines, etc. tell you what you should avoid.  PERIOD. They seldom give you an alternative for the bad food and if they do, it is something you can only find on the planet Mars.  

Here are my favorite SHOCKERS that were on the naughty list:

• Crystal Light (aspartame a/k/a artificial sweeteners are a NO NO!) 
• Diet Pepsi (along with the aspartame this soda also contains potassium benzoate which is a preservative)
• Skinny Cow (this cut deep for me!) (contains partially hydrogenated oils, i.e. trans fats and high fructose corn syrup) - trans fat in a skinny cow? It just doesn't mesh.
• Life Savers SUGAR FREE Hard Candy (say it isn't so!) (contains artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners and artificial colors) - this candy isn't saving any lives with all that fake!

I could go on and on about more junk food favorites that are in this book but I won't be the bearer of ALL bad news....

The good news is there are healthy alternatives to each favorite junk food we have stashed away in our cupboards.  The authors provide an easy index in the back of the book to quickly locate if an item you have in stock or are buying is on the approved list.  I used this index the other day to quickly find that YAY! BALANCE BARS ARE ON THE APPROVED LIST!  (If anyone hasn't tried those you are missing out on a healthy alternative to a candy bar!)  

As a health nut, I've seen many others try to mimic what the authors of this book attempt to bring their readers.  Here's the difference:  These authors take the time to not only point out what items are bad but also tell you WHY they are bad and then offer you alternatives.  Usually I see something like: BAD: milk chocolate.  BETTER: dark chocolate.  Why? What kind of dark chocolate? No question is left unanswered in this book.  

Even better, this book is small enough to fit in your purse.  That's where I have kept mine for the past week and I cannot believe how many times I have referred to it.  There is a glossary of ingredients which is very helpful when reading labels on the back of a product.  

I hope the authors come up with a sequel to this book! I would definitely buy it.  

While fantasizing about Christian Grey may be the trend right now, my health comes first!  Thank you Unjunk Your Junk Food for an eye opening read!