I love the Eat This, Not That books, although there’s a lot of overlap between them. Once you’ve identified the worst food in American, it keeps showing up from one book to another. Still, it’s always sort of stunning to discover just how much fat can be packed into something that should be innocuous, like chicken salad. The books do a valuable service in pointing out all the hidden landmines in American fast food.

But one thing bothers me about these books, as with many other books by nutritionists and diet experts. The authors seem to have no concept of the way foods taste, or why taste matters at all—why people actually eat the kind of food the authors abhor. Take French fries, for example. All the Eat This books point out how terrible fries are for your health and girth. They’re particularly concerned with kids and the tendency of kiddie meals to include an order of fries as a side. And, of course, they’re not wrong about this. Most French fries are like little fat bombs. The solution? Give the kids an order of apple slices instead.

Now I understand the impulse here: apples are supremely healthy, even the ghastly Delicious apples that most fast food restaurants use for their slices. However, for a kid whose taste buds are set for salty, savory fries, a bag of sliced apples just ain’t gonna do it! It isn’t the fat that they’re clamoring for, or it isn’t just the fat. It’s the taste—sweet simply doesn’t substitute for savory. The authors make this mistake repeatedly in their substitutions. Want something savory? Here, have a fruit cup. But taste just doesn’t work that way.

People love fat and salt and sugar and carbs, even though we know all of them are bad for us, because they taste good. If you want us to stop eating fat, salt, sugar, and carbs, you’ll need to come up with substitutes that are at least in the same categories as the originals. Don’t suggest something sweet when I’m looking for savory, and don’t ignore the fact that, while baby back ribs may be the worst thing I can put in my mouth, they still taste pretty damn good! It’s one thing to imply that people are weak for eating high-calorie food. It’s another to imply that these foods aren’t yummy in the first place.

I thank nutritionists for all the work they’re doing in undermining Bad Food, but I’d thank them a lot more if they could stop ignoring the fact that tasty stuff sometimes comes in bad packages! Show me that you understand the problem. And then help find ways around it.