10 Notable Diet Books of 2008

Around every New Year, publishing houses flood bookstore shelves with a plethora of new diet titles, hip to the hordes of repentant holiday bingers who are desperately trying to make their weight-loss resolutions stick. And there are more and more of us in that category every year. The new crop of diet books runs the gamut — from low-carb to vegan to anti-caffeine to tea-around-the-clock. Some books appear based on sound nutritional advice; others decidedly less so. TIME's Andrea Sachs explores the 10 most notable diet books of the New Year.

Eat This, Not That!

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By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding
Rodale; $19.95; 304 pages

This colorful book, written by the editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine, is aimed squarely at male readers — male readers who eat mainly at fast-food chain restaurants and are totally clueless about nutrition: The book's idea of a diet tip is to advise eating a Big Mac (540 calories) instead of a Whopper with cheese (760 calories). The pictures of big, juicy fast-food burgers don't exactly inspire thoughts of healthful eating either. There are some useful food-choice tips in the book: cocktail sauce rather than tartar sauce; sorbet rather than ice cream. Fat-bomb entrées that should be avoided at all costs are dubbed "Weapons of Mass Destruction" — a cute touch. Overall, though, the book's tone is reminiscent of a desperate mom trying to sneak vegetables into her child's sandwich, hoping he won't notice. This book may take you from 300 lbs. to 280 lbs., but you'll need another guide to take you the rest of the way.

— Andrea Sachs

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