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

by 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 the Hardcover edition.

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: #756,758 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: This May Change Your Life !!!, April 22, 1999

By A Customer

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

Being overweight as a child and most of my adult life, I have tried practically every diet imaginable. Fifteen months ago a friend of mine started a diet called the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. He tried to get me start it with him, you know, emotional support. The diet said that you could eat all the red meat and fat you wanted, as long as you stay away from carbohydrates. I laughed at him and said that I would have to scrape his arteries with a butter knife when he died, which surely had to be pretty soon. Because everyone knows you're supposed to eat low-fat food, because that's what we have been told our entire life. Well about five weeks later he had lost approximately thirty pounds, he had more color in his skin than I had ever seen, and he had an obvious more amount of energy, so I asked him to loan me the book. It has been just over 13 months since I started the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and I have lost a total of 118 pounds so far, about 25 pounds from my goal weight. I have never ate so good in my entire life, I have also never felt better. It has been so life changing that it just upset me that nobody ever told me about this when I was young. Dr. Prescote, who was overweight and asthmatic as a child explains in plain English why one-third of North American children and teenagers are overweight. He is the Associate Medical Director of the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine. Using the low-carbohydrate principles of Dr Atkins, Dr Prescatore explains how a low-fat diet is actually very unhealthy for children and that the real culprit is not fat, but sugars and starches. Being overweight is far more than just a cosmetic problem, although it's sometimes treated that way. It can be the reason for a plethora of health related issues. Only now are we starting to realize that the damage we do to our bodies when we are young does take its toll when we get older. Furthermore, because obesity is affecting a younger and younger segment of our population, diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, sleep apnea, orthopedic abnormalities and many others once confined to adults are now becoming increasingly prevalent in our youth. Some very frightening statistics from the book are that by the age of six, nearly 40 percent of American girls have expressed a desire to be thinner. By the age of nine, nearly 50 percent have dieted once and, by the age of sixteen, 45 percent will have put themselves on some kind of crash diet. Even more disturbing is the fact that 15 percent take "diet pills" on a regular basis. There is no testing of these drugs done on children; they are tested on adults then the information is altered in a way so the doctor knows the dose for a child. There have been countless stories on the news and in print about children who have taken their lives or become addicted to drugs in their quest for thinness. I think it is wrong to instill in our children that there is a miracle cure or magic pill to cure everything. Instead, we must instill a sense of responsibility for one's actions, even when it comes down to making the right decisions on what to eat. I just had to copy this- its great!!

"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it." --Proverbs XXII, 6

Consider these facts, compiled by the National Research Council:

 41 percent of obese seven-year-olds become obese adults.  70 percent of obese ten-year-olds become obese adults.  More than 80 percent of obese adolescents remain obese adults.

Children don't have to be overweight. They can be taught early in life the proper way to eat. But until and unless parents understand that the roots of their child's eating problems start in childhood, their efforts to make their children lose weight will fail. Parents need to understand the role that proper nutrition plays in raising healthy children, children need to know that making good choices empowers them to do something positive about their weight also. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in raising healthy children. I will be applying these lessons to my own children when the time comes.

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.