Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #418309 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-03
• Released on: 1999-08-03
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 9.00" h x .75" w x 6.00" l, 1.10 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Amazon.com
This book tastes great and it's good for you, too. Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health: Birth Through Age Six is based on the principle of "metabolic programming," the scientifically rooted idea that foods eaten in early childhood directly affect the function of individual cells that control strength, intelligence, the immune system, and other vital functions. Think of it as a convoluted molecular take on the old maxim "You are what you eat." Genetics and other external factors also play a role, of course, but those factors are beyond our control. What goes on the dinner table, however, is not. The point of this book is to help parents teach their kids to like healthful foods, thus getting them into a lifelong habit of eating well and staying healthy.

There is a fair amount of science in this book, but the clear writing and good organization make it go down easy. Particularly helpful are the numerous graphs and boxes that highlight such topics as the best sources of calcium and iron (and why too much iron is dangerous), the differences between breast milk and formula, the eight key nutrients for different ages, and how to identify and even prevent allergies and intolerance to certain foods. The recipes, sample meals, healthy snacks, and tips for dealing with finicky eaters are alone worth the price of the book. Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health is an invaluable guide to ensuring that not only will your kids eat their vegetables, they'll even ask for seconds. --Shawn Carkonen

From Publishers Weekly
Tufts nutrition professor Roberts and pediatrician Heyman offer their approach to childhood nutrition in a practical, easy-to-use guide suited for any parent with children under six years old. Pointing to the importance of "metabolic programming" (food's effect on intelligence, personality, immunity, strength, etc.), the authors argue that how a child eats is as important as what a child eats in preventing obesity, allergies and childhood cancers. Focusing on eight key nutrients (fat, fiber, calories, iron, calcium, zinc, folate, antioxidants) for optimal health, the authors offer a variety of age-specific sample menus and caloric requirements, height and weight charts, healthful recipes and answers to frequently asked nutrition questions. Roberts and Heyman dispel misconceptions (that supplements are unnecessary for young children and the possible false link between sugar and hyperactivity) and suggest what foods are to be avoided and why. Through the use of their age-appropriate, low-key behavioral techniquesAwhich emphasize the importance of good parent role-modeling, on-demand feeding, the potential need to introduce unpopular foods repeatedly and the ability to use a child's natural eating instinctsAthe authors make pleasurable and healthy mealtimes for the family attainable. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A clear, up-to-date, practical guide to nutritional needs and issues from birth to age six; this is refreshingly free of hackneyed medical advice and conventional wisdom. Roberts brings to bear the fields of nutrition and psychiatry (which he teaches at Tufts); Heyman is a pediatric gastroenterologist. It's well worth the effort to start children off on the right nutritional foot, they say, according to the theory of ``metabolic programming,'' i.e., foods eaten in childhood can have lasting effects on the way your child's body grows and functions.'' Roberts and Heyman interweave their explanations of nutrient requirements for physical growth with what we know about the psychological and evolutionary basis of why children eat the way they dothus providing a framework for creating realistic solutions when eating problems arise. The authors organize their material by age and development level, and then look at food solutions to common problems (how and when to increase the variety of foods, how to balance the nutritional needs of a family with parents in their 30s who have a 10-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a 2-month-old). A wealth of up-to-date information, coupled with innovative solutions to common problems. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.