Product Description
Feeding your family a healthy diet (in the real world with real kids and real food) can be a challenge! Parents are trying to follow current nutrition guidelines, teach their kids healthy eating habits--and avoid too much junk food. But these goals are hard to meet when kids (and adults!) have strong food preferences; if there are daily fights over what, when, and/or how-much kids should eat; and because meals must to be fit into a super busy schedule. Feeding the Kids solves these problems with a new, easy-to-use system for feeding the entire familly well every day...all while enjoying eating more.

This system makes it easy to:

Find kid-friendly, healthy food easily using simple label-reading tricks that classify all foods into three categories: Smart foods (super healthy foods packed with nutrition); Empty items (junk food that provides little nutrition but fill kids up); and In-Between choices (partly Smart and partly Empty). Using this new system, anyone can pick out the healthiest versions of snacks, drinks, breakfast cereal, pasta, lunch meats, chicken nuggets, or any other food.
Eat enough Smart and In-Between food. Feeding the Kids includes a customized routine that makes meal planning incredibly easy. Even better, the plan insures that the whole family gets into the habit of eating enough Smart foods each day, including: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy foods and protein-rich foods. But this plan doesn't follow pre-set menus and certainly doesn't include eating foods the family dislikes. Instead, this plan can be adapted to include favorite foods, meals out and family food preferences.
Stop feeling guilty about junk food. Empties are a fun part of life, and everyone (adults and children) should be allowed to really enjoy them. The Feeding the Kids approach to these foods is to: recognize which foods are Empties (especially the sneaky ones that look healthy), eliminate less-loved Empty food, then really enjoy, guilt-free, the Empties the children do love.
Serve great-tasting, healthy meals, and fun, nutritious snacks...fast. Feeding the Kids includes over 50 mini-recipes and lots of simple menus ideas that are kid-tested and extremely easy to make. Recipes include healthy versions of: chicken nuggets, milkshakes, cookies, pancakes, sorbet, hot chocolate, hamburgers, popsicles and many more family favorites.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 20 reviews)

Not what I expected, either!

I read the reviews before buying this and thought it would be great. My 3 yr old is overweight and I needed some ideas to eat more healthy. If you already know much about eating healthy, a lot of the things in this book you will already know. I really bought it for the menu items to cook things she would enjoy eating. There really weren't very receipes. If you are buying it as a cookbook, I would think twice. It did have some good tips, but it isn't a book I'll be using every day to help think of dinner ideas.
June 18, 2008

LOVE this book!

I found this book while looking for some healthy recipes that my kids (2 & 4) would eat. It turned out to be much more than just recipes- it has changed the way our family eats- for the better! It has an easy to follow six-week plan, which I think is brilliant, because you can gradually add in healthy items and the kids don't even notice that they're eating healthier. The plan is also very flexible- you do what works for your family. I don't want to completely ban treats, but I know that for the most part we are eating healthy, so I don't mind us having some special treats now and then. It has some great recipes in it, too. I just think it is a great book for any parent to have and I highly recommend it! My family is well on it's way to a healthier diet and the kids enjoy the food, too.
March 27, 2008

An asset to any family and every kitchen

This book is an absolute asset to any family and of course to every kitchen! This is the book to get for all those who are bogged down in the never ending cycle of work, home, extra murals, not knowing even what to shop for half the time, tired and bored with food and no new ideas on getting your family back on track and eating the way you should be eating. I have two kids, I work, I run a business, my schedule is never ending and I'm totally out of food ideas. This book has been so refreshing in its non-judgemental and realistic approach to improving your lifestyle and eating habits and getting into a routine and situation that just works! What I would suggest is that if you're looking for recipes as well, to also go ahead and buy a couple of practical kid friendly cook books to draw inspiration from. Go for something that is easy and doesn't require any drawn out preparations - just something to grab and go and cook up in less than an hour. There are some really great recipes in Feeding the Kids, however I feel that more is more and only serve to add to the variety, making life even easier! Meal planning although it can take some time initially is also something to really go for! Buy yourself a journal and spend some time - even over the period of a week or so, preparing a month or even two weeks worth of menus. This way you can photocopy and paste recipes into the journal and have everything you need on hand when you go shopping and are ready to cook. With two weeks worth of recipes and meals you just recycle when you get to the end of it and probably go several months that way too! I found books like sneaky chef and deceptively delicious to be a waste of time and energy - get your kids into the real deal! Quite honestly I think they probably gain more from V8 or fresh smoothies made from real fresh fruit that hasn't been cooked up to hell and gone, pureed and then recooked - probably leaving all the nutrients behind anyway!
January 01, 2008

Excellent system!

My daughters and I have really enjoyed this book. The book's "field guide" approach makes it easy to read and understand. My ten year-old makes the snacks with the recipes provided. We love this hassle free system to feeding the kids! Thank you!
December 19, 2007

Fantastic book!

As a Mom who doesn't enjoy fancy or complicated cooking, I highly recommend this book! The recipes are easy and the menus offer great ideas for pulling together balanced and nutritious meals and snacks. In addition, the nutrition information is presented in a logical, easy to understand way! This book has really turned my family's poor eating habits around!
December 11, 2007

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