The Most Unhealthy Cookbooks of 2012

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The Deen Effect

When news came out that Paula Deen, the unofficial spokeswoman for all things butter-coated and deep-fried, had diabetes, it wasn’t exactly surprising. The woman has written loads of gluttonous cookbooks, including a particularly notorious one that advises kids to eat cheesecake for breakfast. Diabetes and obesity often go hand in hand, and with her trademark devil-may-care attitude toward healthy eating habits, Deen was no paragon of health.

But while Deen is certainly a high-profile chef associated with the current obesity crisis, which afflicts 34 percent of Americans, she’s not the only one to blame. This year saw the release of a slew of cookbooks that revel in high-calorie, high-fat dishes. We’ve listed some of the main offenders, books that are keeping America’s greasy grip on the top spot in the developed world’s obesity rates.

There is another way! Be sure to stick around until the end of this caloric horror fest, where we’ll point you toward titles that celebrate delicious—and healthy—fare.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

The Ultimate Deep Fryer Recipe Collection

Onion rings, French fries, chicken wings, Twinkies, Coca-Cola—The Ultimate Deep Fryer Recipe Collection promises you can fry just about anything. The question is: Should we? As celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain said of Paula Deen’s recipes in 2011: “I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it’s OK to eat food that is killing us.” We will grant that deep-fried soda is highly symbolic of the fact that 35 percent of adults over the age of 20 are obese.

Photo: Amazon

Fifty Shades of Bacon

A cookbook that capitalizes on the best-selling Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy is, admittedly, pretty clever. Trouble is, mixing America’s bacon fetish with some light bondage jokes is at odds with our heart health. Fifty Shades Of Bacon offers up ways to inject bacon into everything you eat, from ice cream to alfredo. That might impress bacon-obsessed hipsters everywhere, but eating this food is totally at odds with fitting into your skinny jeans. Opt for fifty shades of kale instead.

Photo: Amazon

Southern Living 2012 Annual Recipes

The cover of Southern Living 2012 Annual Recipes features a generously frosted cake that’s three layers high. It’s a gorgeous cake—but it’s also a calorie bomb. A similar peppermint cake on Southern Living’s website calls for three packages of cream cheese—and that’s not counting what goes into the frosting.

It may be unfair to harp too harshly on the South’s decadent ways, since obesity is a nationwide problem, but suffice it to say: If you’re trying to keep your family slim, taking tips from Southern Living is no way to do it.

Photo: Amazon

Man Meets Stove: A Cookbook for Men Who’ve Never Cooked Anything Without a Microwave

We get it, we get it: Some men might need a little extra help in the kitchen, and stepping away from the microwave is a good place to start. It’s just not clear that cooking from Man Meets Stove would truly involve progress. The testosterone-fueled recipes reinforce the misconception that manly men don’t care about eating well. The book’s description brags: “The cookbook includes the following tutorials and recipes: - Oils and other lubricants - Bacon, the other spice - Jet Fuel for the Revolution - Drunk Broccoli - Eggscellent Eggs - Grilled Cheese Sandwich Three-Way - Roast Beast - Chicken and other Vegetables - Heart Attack Hollandaise - Spicy Bacon Candy.” Um, we’ll pass, thanks.

Photo: Amazon

Hungry Girl to the Max!: The Ultimate Guilt-Free Cookbook

Losing weight isn’t easy, and as Americans become increasingly obese, it’s even more important that we keep tabs on our weight. With that in mind, we give Hungry Girl props for trying to help people lose weight without yo-yo dieting. There’s just one small hitch: Her latest book, The Ultimate Guilt-Free Cookbook, is full of prepackaged and processed items. The problem with this approach to “guilt-free” eating is that dieters end up making trade-offs; sure, you might shed a few pounds, but you’re also putting other unhealthy ingredients into your body. Instead of stocking up on the fat-free, sugar-free, and low-calorie options Hungry Girl says are must-haves, dieters would do better to seek out whole grains, fruits, veggies, and legumes, and learn lifelong healthy cooking habits.

Photo: Amazon

The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Typically, a celebrity endorsement is a helpful thing. The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook might be the exception to that rule. Paula Deen praising the book as a source of “decadent” (read: fattening) treats should serve as a warning. As one reviewer put it, “It’s as if the main goal was to put in as [many] unhealthy ingredients as possible.”

Photo: Amazon

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier

Author Ree Drummond promises your family will beg for seconds if you cook from her book—but that might not be such a great thing. As one Amazon reviewer wrote about The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier, “Make sure you have your kitchen well stocked with lots of eggs, sugar, fats, and red meat.” The reviewer allows that “the Drummond family can get away with it since they're working on a farm for 12 hours a day. But if the average American eats this stuff every day they will have a heart attack before they make it to the desserts section.”

Photo: Amazon

Healthy Options Abound

If you’re feeling full just reading this gallery, don’t despair. This year also saw the release of a ton of healthy cookbooks. Seasonal foods, plant-based recipes, and fresh ingredients are in style too—a sign that, despite a few wayward chefs clinging to their deep-fat fryers and sticks of butter, we stand a chance of coping with the obesity crisis. The Washington Post’s list of the top cookbooks of 2012 features a number of titles that balance good taste with good health, like Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Jerusalem: A Cookbook.

Or check out TakePart’s collection of Meatless Monday recipes: delicious, vegetarian dishes with loads of flavor.

The options are out there. So choose wisely—a healthy life awaits.

Photo: Catherine McBride/Getty Images

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Follow the steps below and take the pledge to be sustainable this holiday season!

Waiting in line at airport security, cooking a 20-lb turkey, buying presents for your many, many relatives: the holidays can be stressful.

But having a sustainable holiday season doesn’t need to be. With some time and planning, you can prepare a holiday feast that not only tastes delicious, but also reduces your environmental impact, supports local farmers, and is free from excess hormones and chemicals.

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Ongoing

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I pledge to have a sustainable holiday season by following these simple rules:

Use organic produce. Organic crops are grown with natural fertilizers and pesticides, and are managed to promote biodiversity and better soil.
Skip meat, if possible. Eating less meat lowers your risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. It also shrinks your carbon footprint and reduces water usage. Or, if you just have to have turkey...
Order a heritage turkey instead of one raised on an industrial farm. Heritage turkeys are genetically closer to wild turkeys and are bred in a slower, more traditional method (they're healthier and probably taste better, too).
Get to know the people behind your food. By supporting your local farmers market, you can also support local farmers, rather than a large agribusiness that has decided to market an organic line.
Boot the bottle. Pour your guests some cool, tasty tap water. Bottled water creates mountains of waste, isn't safer than tap water, costs millions to produce, and is often just tap water put in a bottle.
Don’t waste. About 40 percent of all U.S. food is wasted every year, at a cost of about 5 billion. Make sure you only cook what you'll eat, and eat all your leftovers.
Grow your own food. This can be as simple as growing herbs on your windowsill, or take it a step further and find a community garden to share produce with your neighborhood.
Buy an Endangered Species. No, we're not talking condors. Too many American heritage crops are on the brink of dying out: check out Slow Food USA for regional foods to include in your holiday recipes.
Use the TakePart Tastemaker City Guides to find local stores in your community: New York, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland, and Seattle.

Thank you for signing the pledge!

I pledge to have a sustainable holiday season by following these simple rules:

Use organic produce. Organic crops are grown with natural fertilizers and pesticides, and are managed to promote biodiversity and better soil.
Skip meat, if possible. Eating less meat lowers your risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. It also shrinks your carbon footprint and reduces water usage. Or, if you just have to have turkey...
Order a heritage turkey instead of one raised on an industrial farm. Heritage turkeys are genetically closer to wild turkeys and are bred in a slower, more traditional method (they're healthier and probably taste better, too).
Get to know the people behind your food. By supporting your local farmers market, you can also support local farmers, rather than a large agribusiness that has decided to market an organic line.
Boot the bottle. Pour your guests some cool, tasty tap water. Bottled water creates mountains of waste, isn't safer than tap water, costs millions to produce, and is often just tap water put in a bottle.
Don’t waste. About 40 percent of all U.S. food is wasted every year, at a cost of about 5 billion. Make sure you only cook what you'll eat, and eat all your leftovers.
Grow your own food. This can be as simple as growing herbs on your windowsill, or take it a step further and find a community garden to share produce with your neighborhood.
Buy an Endangered Species. No, we're not talking condors. Too many American heritage crops are on the brink of dying out: check out Slow Food USA for regional foods to include in your holiday recipes.
Use the TakePart Tastemaker City Guides to find local stores in your community: New York, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland, and Seattle.

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A sucker for sustainable agriculture and a good farmers market, Megan likes writing about food almost as much as eating it. If you don't want to know what's in your fruit/milk/meat, don't invite her to lunch. @babybokchoy | TakePart.com

The Most Unhealthy Cookbooks of 2012

The Deen Effect

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

The Ultimate Deep Fryer Recipe Collection

Photo: Amazon

Fifty Shades of Bacon

Photo: Amazon

Southern Living 2012 Annual Recipes

Photo: Amazon

Man Meets Stove: A Cookbook for Men Who’ve Never Cooked Anything Without a Microwave

Photo: Amazon

Hungry Girl to the Max!: The Ultimate Guilt-Free Cookbook

Photo: Amazon

The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Photo: Amazon

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier

Photo: Amazon

Healthy Options Abound

Photo: Catherine McBride/Getty Images

I pledge to have a sustainable holiday season by following these simple rules:

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