Customer Reviews

Gimme Five!: Kid-Friendly Recipes and Tips for Helping Your Child Enjoy Eating Fruits and Vegetables

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a really neat book on getting kids to eat more fruits and veggies. It is very bright and colorful, very appealing to the eye. All parents face the challenge of teaching their children to eat well and eating an abundance of fruits and vegetables is key to healthy eating.

This book provides a wealth of information - the author begins with basic instruction on why fruits and vegetables are important and nutrition information. She has many tips on how to get children to eat more fruits and veggies. Then she has a section for every fruit and vegetable imaginable that includes specific information on that particular food, ideas on getting kids to eat more of it, and at least one recipe using that food item.

This book is extremely helpful, thorough, and just beautiful - filled with bright, cheerful photos and illustrations that really do make you want to go eat a bunch of fruits and vegetables! It should be a frequent reference in any home with children [and even those without them!]!

I recently used this book to lead a nutrition talk on getting more fruit and vegetables in a child's diet. While it seems pretty straightforward, the truth is that most Americans eat less than three servings of fruit and veggies per day on average. Considering all the benefits of a high-produce diet (high nutrient-density, fiber, phytochemicals, lower risk of death from food related diseases), most people are still either unconcerned or unsure how to change their diets. Enter Gimme Five!, a colorful, kid-friendly book that virtually invites your children to learn along with you.

We all know that the key to getting kids to eat right is to start from the beginning. This superb manual briefly explains the whys of five (World Health Organization recommendation); offers tips and tricks for incorporating fruits and veggies into individual meals and the daily menu plan; and provides useful, easy-to-understand nutrition information with plenty of delicious vegetarian recipes. One of my favorite things about the book is the bright, colorful pictures and that each fruit and vegetable featured has its own detailed page.

This would be enough for me to recommend the book, but add to this that it comes with a pull-out chart and fruit and veggie stickers to help kids (and parents!) track their daily serving intake, and you've got a winner in my book.

Illustrated throughout with full-color photographs Gimme Five! is more than an ordinary cookbook - it's a resource for parents, babysitters, and caretakers for helping children learn to enjoy eating more fruits and vegetables. The recipes are kid-friendly and ideal for teaching young people how to prepare their own nutritious snacks and meals. From Orange & Mango Sherbet, to Root Vegetable Nests, All-in-One Tuna Risotto, Grow-Your-Own Alfal, and so much more, these recipes and accompanying tips about the nutrients and culinary history of various delicious plant foods make for a wonderful, health-conscious cookbook to share with the whole family.

To me these recipes are kind of ridiculous, since they are no more appealing to children than any other recipes you could find anywhere. There is no provision for having children help make the recipes, which would be fun. Finally, EVERY SINGLE PHOTO is of a white kid. We try to avoid this kind of "racism of omission" in our daycare, and it is a terrible message to the other kids here (only white kids eat vegetables and fruits?).

I was looking forward to receiving this book. I am a dietitian and am always looking for ways to encourage vegetables and fruits to parents and children. The exterior and interior of this book are very colorfull and attractive. But the text is dissapointing for several reasons: too cluttered, too much information on recipes for fruits (many kids will eat them in their natural form or cut creatively), some recipes with too many ingredients, use of unfamiliar language (such as calling the seeds of fruit 'pips'), and confusing use of serving sizes (using 'handfulls'). The stickers in the back are a nice touch that kids will relate to. Thanks for trying!