Feed Your Kids Well: How to Help Your Child Lose Weight and Get Healthy (Paperback)

~ Fred Pescatore M.D. (Author) "I GREW UP IN WHAT WE CONSIDERED TO BE A TYPICAL ITALIAN-AMERICAN family..." (more)
Key Phrases: Health Caveats, Chocolatey Soy Milk, Strawberry Puree Topping (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

As might be expected from the medical director of the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine, this is not your conventional tome on weight loss. Pescatore adapts the Atkins diet for children ages six to 18, targeting sugar and simple carbohydrates as prime contributors not only to obesity but also other childhood ailments such as allergies, diabetes, asthma, and attention deficit disorder (ADD). A brief section on exercise is included, but this is largely a nutrition-focused method, unlike Joseph Piscatella's more traditional Fat-Proof Your Child ("Nursing Your Children's Health Collection," LJ 1/98, p. 57-60). Some references lack currency, notably those on ADD as well as a 1975 citation about obesity at the cellular level. Not intended as a do-it-yourself book, this should be used only with a pediatrician's guidance. For larger public library complementary health collections.?Anne C. Tomlin, Auburn Memorial Hosp. Lib., NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

"I've worked side by side with Dr. Pescatore for many years. In this book—which I heartily recommend—Dr. Pescatore teaches you how to bring health and nutrition to the next generation."—Robert C. Atkins, M.D., author of the multimillion copy bestseller Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution.

"Feed Your Kids Well offers a sensible approach to the difficult problem of childhood obesity—and many other children's health problems. Dr. Pescatore provides parents with excellent strategies for dealing with their children in a positive, sensitive way."—Carol Colman, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Melatonin Miracle.

"Feed Your Kids Well is an excellent book that explains the importance of a well-balanced diet. It exposes the dangers associated with high-sugar foods and reveals the true cause of childhood obesity."—Joyce and Gene Daoust, authors of 40-30-30 Fat Burning Nutrition.

"I helped nutritionally vet Adelle Davis's book, Let's Have Healthy Children. In my opinion, Feed Your Kids Well replaces that important work."—Fran Gare, nutrition expert, CBS-TV.

Today, one-third of North American children and teenagers are overweight. And despite decades of medical and scientific breakthroughs, the percentage of children with health problems today is the highest in history.

Feed Your Kids Well will be a revelation for millions of worried parents. Dr. Fred Pescatore, who was overweight and asthmatic as a child, brings an empathetic and hopeful tone to this groundbreaking guide to achieving optimum nutrition, ideal health, and self-confidence.

Building on the low-carbohydrate principles of the hugely popular Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution—which has helped millions of adults lose weight permanently—Dr. Pescatore applies the Atkins Center's proven nutritional program to children and teenagers. Thoroughly tested over years of exhaustive research, his Next Generation Diet is the first health program to recognize that simply applying adult diet plans to children is ineffective—and often dangerous. The author argues that the real culprit behind dietary problems is not fat, but sugars and starches. Feed Your Kids Well brings something new to the table: sane and practical guidance for parents concerned not only about weight loss, but also about general wellness and the prevention of disease—from asthma to ADD, from earaches to allergies.

After explaining how your child's body and metabolism work, Dr. Pescatore clearly outlines a straightforward nutritional lifestyle program that helps parents shape the important building blocks—proteins, fats, and carbohydrates—into complete, well-balanced meals. Packed with easy-to-follow sample menus for every day of the week, this book provides delicious, healthy alternatives. Kids will love the dozens of simple, step-by-step recipes for a variety of dishes, including pancakes with strawberry topping, chicken fingers, beef tacos, fudgy brownie squares, and peanut butter cookies. Some recipes are easy enough for kids to make themselves!

Parents will also learn how to integrate effective nutrition with various vitamin supplements, complementary medical treatments, and a regular exercise program, which can help heal and even prevent childhood ailments. With fascinating case studies, Dr. Pescatore demonstrates how to treat these problems simply by monitoring nutrient deficiencies and sugar overload.

In childhood, the all-important seeds of our adult selves are planted—from our personalities to our eating habits. Feed Your Kids Well helps parents prepare their children for healthy, happy lives.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471349631
• ISBN-13: 978-0471349631
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #303,530 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every parent must read, July 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Feed Your Kids Well: How to Help Your Child Lose Weight and Get Healthy (Hardcover)

As a physician I recommend this book to the parents of all my pediatric patients. I have found this the easiest way to get kids to learn the right things about food and nutrition. The weight guidelines are determined by the medical establishment, not Dr. Pescatore. Also Dr. Pesc recommends that children try to limit fruit not cut it out from their diets altogether. Each child is an individual and I adapt the diet accordingly. I was so happy to find this book in print because I have found it to be indispensible to my practice. With the rise in childhood obesity and behavioral problems it was time that someone put together a program that was both fun and easy to follow. This book is a must read for anyone with children, obese or not.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! What a difference!, April 17, 2000

By	L. Barker "lorizb1" (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feed Your Kids Well: How to Help Your Child Lose Weight and Get Healthy (Hardcover)

I started on the Atkins diet program in September of 1999. I began loosing weight rapidly, but was frustrated by the fact that my 7 year old son was still gaining weight. I knew he had the same reactions to carbohydrated that I did. I wanted to put him on the program, but refused to do it on my own for fear I would hurt him. After discovering the book How to Feed your Kids Well, I started my son on the program. He lost 17 pounds rapidly, and we have maintained his weight loss for 4 months and still counting. He has the energy of two of his former selves. He rides his bike for hours without complaint, and is anxious to run and play for the first time ever. The best part is that he is no longer teased or called fat. He is happy. I know that this has changed our lives forever. I thank Dr. Pescatore for helping me help my child safely.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Advice on Feeding Kids of All Ages but......., June 23, 2002

By	Stephen Byrnes (Honolulu, HI United States) - See all my reviews

Dr. Pescatore's book opens with an affecting autobiography. He relates how he was grossly overweight as a child and all of the anguish that brought him, especially at school. His solution was drastic: He ate/drank nothing except diet soda for 40 days during one Lenten season! He lost 60 pounds and never looked back.

I guess his experiences prompted him to write this book to spare other children from the hell he went through. He does a good job.

Basically, he tells parents to drastically reduce the carbohydrates in their and thier cildren's diets. He rightly gives the thumbs down to fruit juices (the equivalent of soda, he says), pasta, refined sugars, processed foods, and too many starchy vegetables like potatoes. He also warns against phony fats like margarine and vegetable shortening.

The healthy diet he espouses contains meats, natural fats, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, limited amounts of fruits and grains, eggs, and dairy (if not allergic). Thank God he blames sugars and refined foods for the ills afflicting our young and not natural fats!

He also has a good section on how to approach common childhood illneses like asthma, acne, and ADD.

Drawbacks? A LOT of his recipes call for using soy protein powder or soy flour--a hotbed of anti-nutrients like phytic acid (which binds to minerals in the digestive tract, preventing their absorption) and protease inhibitors (which hinder digestion). The phytoestrogens in soy can also affect hormonal levels in children so I would not be including in my children's (or my own) meals.

Another drawback is basically a contradiction: In the chapter on food sources, he recommends feeding your kids organic meat and dairy foods. Then in the next chapter, he tells parents to remove all the visible fat from meats and chicken skin from any chicken served, not because he thinks fat is bad, but because the fat is where pesticide residues concentrate. This may be true, but if you're buying and serving organic meat, there won't be any pesticide residues in the fat! It sounds like he's trying to be politically-correct about fat which is strange given that he definitely is in favor of MORE healthy fat in a child's diet.