The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children - From Birth through Adolescence [Paperback]

William Sears (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 1999

In the wise and accessible tone that has made them America's most popular childcare experts, the authors address all of parents' concerns about their children's nutritional needs, from birth through adolescence. 40 line drawings.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Organic or regular baby food? White or wheat bread? Yogurt or ice cream? Parents often wonder how best to feed their families, but the wondering is over with The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children--From Birth Through Adolescence. The beloved William Sears and his wife, Martha (a nurse), teach you how to become your own family nutritionist. Parents of eight children and well-known authors of more than a dozen childcare books, the Searses offer the solid advice on breastfeeding, beginning solids, and feeding picky eaters you'd expect. But more than that, they provide a crash course in overall nutrition. You'll learn how the body works, how to read food labels, what ingredients to look for (and which to avoid), how to trim fat from your diet, what makes up a balanced diet (not just the "food pyramid"), which foods are thought to prevent cancer, and more. The Searses also offer helpful food lists: good fats, best proteins, top 10 complex carbohydrates, and top 12 family foods, to name a few. You'll even get favorite Sears family recipes to help you get started on the road to healthy eating. It's all here, and it's all mixed with a healthy dose of passion for eating well. So you can show your children--by example--how to stay healthy and feel great. --Kelley Smith

From Publishers Weekly

In this vivid and ambitious guide to feeding a family, the Searses, William a doctor and Martha a nurse, shed light on the attributes of food: here brown sugar is "ordinary table sugar made brown by adding molasses," and the blues, reds and purples of fruits and vegetables veil vitamin deposits. Onions and garlic tame the damaging effects of fried oil; meat and vegetables eaten in combination amount to more than the sum of their parts; and cinnamon can masquerade as sugar. A wealth of nutrition information is smoothly presented, complete with accessible scientific explanations, behavior modification tips and framed asidesAall organized into minichapters with such titles as "Powerful Proteins" and "The Joy of Soy." The book progresses from an overview of nutrients (water and fiber among them) to an extensive evaluation of food groups, including discussions of vegetarianism, organic foods and decoding packaging labels. Additional sections address weight control and the specific roles various foods play in disease prevention, stamina building, etc. Reference tables and an updated food pyramid will prove indispensable to the reader. Agent, Denise Marcil. TV satellite tour. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (August 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316777153
• ISBN-13: 978-0316777155
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Filled with useful information, November 20, 1999

By 

Annette Doyle (Dripping Springs, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children - From Birth through Adolescence (Paperback)

I found this book to be the most useful of the nutrition books I have bought. Rather than find it guilt inducing I found it refreshing to have a more in depth (but not too technical) explanation about why certain foods are beneficial and the specific health benefits. I also have the book Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health, but I found it to have less information about specific foods and the benefits they offer. I find the Sear's explain things very clearly and thoroughly. While I have not totally changed the way I feed my family I have introduced a wider variety of foods and place more emphasis on certain items and I believe these changes will improve our overall health.

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book On Nutrition, November 1, 2000

By 

Kelly "kelly" (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children - From Birth through Adolescence (Paperback)

I have really enjoyed this book. It is extremely informative and thorough, while managing to make nutrition very interesting. It is easy to read and understand. I've really enjoyed the fact that this book goes into such detail explaining why certain foods are great and others are bad - while holding my attention all the while! I have found the book very easy to use as a reference when I've come back to it and it is full of very useful suggestions.

I'm not a really strict person when it comes to diet for my daughter - hey, I even let the grandparents give her chocolate and cookies sometimes. But I do like the fact that this book gave me a lot of information that helped make me a better parent [nutritionally speaking]. I follow what works for us and don't worry about what I can't incorporate into our diet right now.

This book did not make me feel guilty - on the contrary it made me feel knowledgeable enough to make the choices right for our particular family. I feel pretty good about our diet in general, and on occaision when I find our menu falling prey to too much "convenience food", I go back and read a bit of this book and regain my motivation to work towards healthy food, regardless of how busy I am. I'm really glad I have this book! It is by far the most interesting and useful book on nutrition I've found.

67 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great advice...a little unrealistic on the nutrition, September 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children - From Birth through Adolescence (Paperback)

I love Dr. and Martha Sears. I've read several of their books, and weekly refer to the Baby Book. I thought this book was very informative; great chapter on breastfeedings benefits. But, I found the "advice" on how to feed your children a bit unrealistic. I feed my daughter (what I thought) was very healthy. She's a vegetarian (as is mom) and eats a wide variety of veggies, fruits, beans and other legumes, tofu, and grains. I buy her organic animal crackers and snacks like guppies (the natural alternative to goldfish with lots of processing)and sesame whole wheat sticks. But I do occasionally give her white rice, non-whole wheat pasta, and I do feed her Cheerios and Nutra-Grain waffles. If I can't buy organic fruits and veggies, I scrub the ones I buy well with a veggie wash.

But I felt a little criminal for not feeding her better. Most have commented that my daughter eats very well. I guess my point is there doesn't seem to be credit for doing what you can do, unless you do it all. Its almost impossible to eat perfectly organic, non-processed food ALL the time. And I had hope the book would give more IDEAS for preparing healthy food for your family.