'Unjunk Your Junk Food'

UNJUNK YOUR JUNK FOOD: Healthy Alternatives to Conventional Snacks, by Andrea Donsky and Randy Boyer, with Lisa Tsakos. Gallery Books, 232 pp., $17.99.

So, your diet went well the first week of the new year. Maybe the second. But now, tempting snacks are starting to tempt.

Pick up this little book by three "health and wellness advocates" whose website, NaturallySavvy.com, promotes organic living. "Statistics show that junk food makes up almost one-third of our daily diet," they write, "but while we like our junk, it doesn't really like us."

The authors will get you reading labels, learning what to avoid (common preservatives like BHA and BHT) and what's OK as snack foods go ("potatoes + salt + oil").

THE SCOOP Color photos of bad choices (Doritos Nacho Cheese) vs. good (Garden of Eatin' Nacho Cheese), with ingredient analysis, might have you seeking harder-to-find brands.

THE BOTTOM LINE Reasons why you crave certain snacks -- low blood sugar for cookies, low iron for salt -- are among things you'll learn in this highly informative guide.