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This title piqued my interest: The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children-From Birth Through Adolescence (William and Martha Sears, ©1999, Little, Brown and Co.). Really? Everything I need to know? I checked it out from my local public library, and within 24 hours I had bought my own copy. Yes, everything I need to know, but not just for feeding my children, but for feeding myself, too. Now, I can tell you the difference between Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids and where to get them, rank sugars on a glycemic index, name the foods that help us better absorb iron, place a new food on a baby's tongue so her taste buds are used effectively, decode every word on a food packaging label, and so much more-and dietician I am not. The Sears team presents dense information so clearly that this crash course in nutrition is a pleasure. More info than you're looking for? Then just leave this book on the kitchen counter and skip to its many useful lists and charts, such as "Vitamins, Where to Get Them and What They Do," the "Top Twelve Foods (and Twelve Honorable Mentions)," and the "Top Ten Terrible Junk Foods to Avoid." There are also excellent sections here on human milk, food allergies, and the L.E.A.N. program for slimming down and feeling good. On your next trip to the grocery store with this book in hand, you'll feel like your compass has been calibrated. You may even change the job title from "family cook" to "family nutritionist." But now it's five o'clock and you just want something good on the table tonight. Flip open your other new book on the kitchen counter, The Moms' Guide to Meal Makeovers: Improving the Way Your Family Eats, One Meal at a Time! (Janice Newell Bissex and Liz Weiss, ©2004, Broadway Books). Bissex and Weiss, both registered dieticians and busy moms, have cooked up an extremely useful book. After reading the Sears book, you'll be sold on good nutrition; this one shows you how to sell it to your picky eaters. With many reassurances that they know how busy you are and how hard it is to avoid foods that are fast, high-fat, and empty, they organize your kitchen, stock your pantry (they don't hesitate to tell brand names of the best bets), establish family mealtimes and food rules, and best of all, arm you with over 100 recipes to prepare fast, family-friendly, and densely nutritious meals. Dinner is emphasized, but there are also terrific offerings for breakfast, school lunches, and healthful desserts. All of this is done in their friendly, mom-to-mom manner with a sense of fun-whimsical illustrations pepper the purple-ink text. This book is a breath of fresh air, or is that Last-Minute Black Bean Soup? Also check out their Meal Makeover Moms' Club. If you find recipe books with full-color photos of every recipe irresistible, then take a look at Fast Family Dinners from Family Fun magazine (©2004, Disney editions). The emphasis here is on kid-pleasing foods-fun salads, silly presentations, interesting new dips for veggies-and there are many to love. After reading the previous two nutrition heavy-hitters, you may skip over a few recipes (snowmen sloppy joes using store-bought sloppy joe mix?). However, most of these recipes do emphasize good nutrition and-best of all-good ideas for turning a hungry little kid underfoot into your assistant chef. |
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