Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor, and a Bottle of Ketchup [Paperback]

Laura A. Jana MD FAAP (Author), Jennifer Shu MD FAAP (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

Restore "peas and harmony" to the dining table with this comprehensive guide to building successful childhood feeding strategies. Focus is placed on the food-fight challenges parents are most likely to face—such as starting babies on solid foods, dealing with picky eaters, and making healthy food choices in child-care settings and restaurants—and a wide range of winning solutions are offered. More than a simple nutrition guide, this book also addresses the behavior and development issues surrounding the feeding challenges of early childhood. With a family-sized serving of useful advice and a generous helping of humor, this resource offers invaluable food for thought and real world advice that parents can use every day.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Food Fights presents a no-fuss approach to helping young children develop the healthy eating habits that will see them through a lifetime. Its delightful tone makes it a joy to read, and refer to, over and over again.”  —Elizabeth M. Ward, MS, RD, author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feeding Your Baby and Toddler

“Food Fights gives thorough, practical, fun-to-read advice for parents as they tackle some of parenthood's most difficult challenges.”  —Claire McCarthy, MD, instructor in pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Boston, and contributing editor, Parenting magazine

“Food Fights should be mandatory reading for anyone responsible for feeding an infant, toddler or young child. In their characteristically easy-to-read, humorous fashion, these two pediatrician moms have created the perfect tool to help parents and caregivers instill healthy eating habits, avoid temper tantrums, dodge flying vegetables, and above all else—maintain a healthy attitude toward the nutritional challenges of parenthood!”  —Tanya Remer Altmann, MD, editor, The Wonder Years, and editorial board advisor, Healthy Children magazine

"Drs. Jana and Shu know their stuff! Their clever book and sound advice will help you and your kids eat, drink AND be merry!"  —Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP, author, The Happiest Toddler on the Block

"Food Fights presents a no-fuss approach to helping young children develop the healthy eating habits that will see them through a lifetime. Its delightful tone makes it a joy to read, and refer to, over and over again."  —Elizabeth M. Ward, MS, RD, author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feeding Your Baby and Toddler

"Another fantastic guide from Drs. Jana and Shu! Food Fights helps parents find a realistic middle ground between what their child should be eating and what their child is actually willing to consume."  —Lisa Singer Moran, executive editor, Baby Talk magazine

"Food Fights should be mandatory reading for anyone responsible for feeding an infant, toddler, or young child. In their characteristically easy-to-read, humorous fashion, these two pediatrician moms have created the perfect tool to help parents and caregivers instill healthy eating habits, avoid temper tantrums, dodge flying vegetables and, above all else, maintain a healthy attitude toward the nutritional challenges of parenthood!"  —Tanya Remer Altmann, MD, editor-in-chief, The Wonder Years, and editorial board advisor, Healthy Children Magazine

"The authors of Food Fights have done a great job! This book will go far in continuing to help parents lay the ground work for excellent nutrition."  —Sandra G. Hassink, MD, FAAP, editor, A Parent's Guide to Childhood Obesity, and director, Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children's weight-management program, Wilmington, DE

"Encouraging, compassionate, and clear for its compelling nutrition messages, this book will be a comprehensive source of information for any parent trying to guide their children to healthy eating habits and lives. I especially like how the up-to-date nutrition information is translated into real life situations."  —Connie Guttersen, RD, PhD, author, The Sonoma Diet

"Food Fights makes it clear that raising children who are healthy eaters requires good role models for healthy eating. The tips provided throughout the book make it easy for parents to be those healthy role models."  —Connie Diekman, MEd, RD, LD, FADA, nutrition consultant

"Wonderful . . . sure to help anyone who has ever struggled to make the climb up the food pyramid."  —Emilio Arispe, MD, FAAP, pediatrician, Methodist Physicians Clinic, Omaha, Nebraska

"As pediatricians and moms, Drs Jana and Shu know that it's important to focus on good nutrition, but also to pick your battles. Food Fights offers reassuring and practical advice for parents who are worried about whether their kids are eating too much, not enough, or nothing green."  —Diane Debrovner, health and psychology editor, Parents Magazine

About the Author

Laura A. Jana, MD, FAAP, is the coauthor of Heading Home with Your Newborn, and an associate director of the Boys Town Institute for Child Health Improvement and the cofounder of The Dr. Spock Company. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska. Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP, is the coauthor of Heading Home with Your Newborn, the editor of Baby and Child Health, and serves on the Parents magazine advisory board. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: American Academy Of Pediatrics; 1 edition (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581102445
• ISBN-13: 978-1581102444
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.5 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Preachy and condescending December 11, 2011

By KPS

Format:Paperback

I'm afraid I didn't learn much; there are a few nuggets of wisdom but lots of filler. For example, did you know the reason your pediatrician weighs your child every visit is to chart their growth? You didn't? Well, thank goodness this book has a whole chapter telling you so. Their facts are sometimes iffy - if they don't have a citation, it's "many people" do this or "most people" believe that. The authors come across as preachy and agenda-driven. They appear to think all of us are clueless, lazy, and self-indulgent, with no idea how to eat healthfully ourselves. Worse, the book is really a parenting manual with an agenda, loosely disguised as being about getting your child to eat well. You should read your child books? Really? Thanks. Water makes them "pee"? Earth-shattering. Moreover, the writing is atrocious. You know those catchy subheadings you see in magazines? That. But so obscure as to be nonsensical. For example: "All Choking Aside" and "Gluten for Punishment." In short, this book has little to offer regarding feeding and nutrition. If you've been a parent for a couple years or so, and are sufficiently interested in this topic to be browsing these reviews, rest assured that nearly all the information in this book is already between your ears.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Food Fights - a book for mommys of picky eaters August 13, 2008

By Jennifer Truong

Format:Paperback

Great reference for all parents. Written by two pediatrician mommys and addresses many of the common questions that overtired parents are too overwhelmed to look up. Very common sense strategies for dealing with various phases of food struggles.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Food Fights is a Knockout! The perfect baby shower gift! April 28, 2008

By J. Grimes

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Food Fights is practical, funny, down to earth instruction book that all parents should read- preferably when their kids are young, so they will grow up with life-long healthy eating habits. This book reads like your best girlfriend chatting with you about shared challenges with your kids, not like some ivory-towered medical advice from doctors with no kids. What other book addresses the "5 Second Rule"? It's obvious both authors have first hand experience with real life "food fights"- and this is a fabulous way to share their combined "mommy" and "doctor" knowledge. Make this your standard baby shower gift- especially for the second kid in a family, because this gift will last far longer than a cute outfit.