BOOK REVIEW: Smart Food for Smart Kids available at HealthPlus.co.uk
Chopsy Baby is reviewing…
Smart Food for Smart Kids
By Patrick Holford and Fiona McDonald Joyce
It would take a special book to impress the legions of parents on a New Year’s mission to ditch bad eating habits with so many books available on the shop floor.
We should all eat healthily, cut out the chocolate, stop our children from eating sugary treats.
But why? Why should we eat healthy foods and more importantly, how can we start our healthy eating and stick to it.
Firstly, the secret behind eating well is to truly understand why we should do it and what effect it can have. This makes Smart Food for Smart Kids a smart choice to read whether you are a parent or single adult.
More than a nagging lecture on eating our 5-a-day, better than a simple cook book to appease the school lunch box police, this book doesn’t patronise. It simply informs parents how to get the best possible performance from their child by understanding and amending their diet.
Of course, this means learning and sticking to good eating habits, ideally from the start. But, Smart Food for Smart Kids is the text book for parents that teaches you exactly how to do it.
What parents want is simple language, broken down into quick and easy to read sections but at the same time, treats the reader with a modicum of intelligence.
Smart Food breaks down the confusing world of nutrients, vitamins, E numbers, hydrogenated, refined etc and teaches parents to read food labels and understand what is good, what is bad and what is a compromise.
The authors manage to transcend any class divide and practicalities that can crop up when encouraging people to eat well. The ingredients don’t read like a confusing Carte Blanche menu and acknowledges that yes, organic produce is more expensive. But, here are the best organic foods to buy as they are the ones most contaminated by pesticides otherwise.
The book is aimed at children from five years and starts with background on how the authors have trialled Smart Foods within educational environments. It is school age where poor food choices can hamper behaviour and academic performance.
But there is plenty of valuable advice for parents of toddlers and recommends starting to eat Smart Foods from day one to eliminate the possibility of behaviour difficulties.
The book will help you recognise any health problems in your children and help you address them through their diet
The recipes are very simple to follow, with plenty of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts for every occasion.
For those families who cannot live without burgers, chicken nuggets and wedges, there are recipes for these using quality meats and preparation rather than the usual manky bits of chicken scraped off of factory floors.
There are fantastic ideas for lunchboxes, snacks and treats and helpful ideas to add nutrients to meals.
Case Study
The Taplin family from Bedminster in Bristol, trialled the Smart Food for Smart Kids recipes and philosophies. Mum Tracy and dad James have two children eight-month-old Tessa and six-year-old Freya.
Tracy says: “We had this book during the start of the Christmas period, so obviously this is the worst time to start thinking about eating well. But then again, we were well prepared to make this plan our New Year’s resolution.
“We don’t eat particularly badly as a family I feel. There is an amount of processed food in our diets. What family doesn’t enjoy sitting down together with the occasional pizza. But we do eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
“I found the recipes like the burger recipe, the steam fried vegetables and the winter berrie smoothie really useful and really easy to incorporate into our diets.
“I have even bought a small blender to make smoothies for breakfast.”
“It is taking a little time to make changes to what we eat and we are taking it one step at a time. It’s not practical for us to just change everything, but hopefully the little steps we take towards eating really well like this book suggests will last in the long-term.
“One thing I have noticed is that we all feel better. Instead of feeling sluggish in the mornings and bloated after eating dinner, we feel well. I think this is as a result of making sure we eat wholemeal bread and pasta. It’s amazing how just making such small and easy changes can effect how we feel all day so I would totally recommend giving this book a try.”
Best of all…
The book is intelligent but an easy read
Could improve…
Nothing
Basically…
This is a fantastic book to help families eat well and give children the best boost for their school lives.
You can buy from…
Smart Food for Smart Kids is available from HealthPlus.co.uk, which sells an extensive range of British made nutritional supplements and health related products.
http://www.healthplus.co.uk/smart-food-for-smart-kids.html
£12.99