Child-Nutrition Books

Great book! It gives a lot of information about what foods are making us sick and what foods to eat to be healthy.

I had heard two different radio interviews with the author and have kept an eye open for this book ever since. I'm surprised a 2nd Edition has not been released. Some of the opinions may seem radical but with so many physical and mental health problems that have no popular answers, it's good to look at some of the alternative views, and this book has them! From an increase rise in fatal food allegies like peanuts, latex, etc. to the rise in violence and poor decision making, all changes in the world must be looked at and why not start with our diet?
I would like to know what the auther has learned since the book's publication and how has the scientific community reacted to this book but other than that, I give this four stars as a must read.

The premise of this book is that the standard Western diet, full of processed food and lacking in nutrition, has a negative effect on mental health. I found it an interesting hypothesis and was looking forward to learning about the evidence that would support it. Unfortunately, I found the book so terrible that I gave up reading it after the introduction and the first chapter.

The book was not as well-referenced as I would have liked. There were many statistics (mostly quite negative, to prove the point that Americans are screwed up and their lives suck), but not all were clearly referenced. Some were misleading, such as a statistic from 1981 that was discussed as if it represented the current situation, although the book was copyright 2000. Other statistics seemed like they could be misleading also; I would have to check the original sources before trusting them.

There were a few religious references, nothing that I found objectionable, but I am cautious when people start talking about religion because some religious people are not very strong in their science.

The author mentioned that in her clients' food diaries, "It was not uncommon to see a seven-day food diary containing twenty-one meals with almost no vegetables, no fruit, no protein, and no water." The "no protein" comment puzzles me, as it's my understanding that most Americans get way more protein than they need.

While flipping to look at the endnotes, I saw a "healthy" recipe in the back for cream puffs that included butter, eggs, and general-purpose flour. Those don't register as particularly healthy ingredients to me.

In the endnotes, I saw a reference to a telephone conversation with Sally Fallon, the president and treasurer of the Weston A. Price Foundation. This organization discourages processed foods and believes that animal fat is necessary for good health. I agree with them in giving the thumbs-down to processed foods, but the evidence I've seen has convinced me that animal-based foods are not only unnecessary but harmful to human health. Thus, seeing a reference to Sally Fallon makes me a little suspicious about the author's conclusions.

The "About the Author" information said that Carol Simontacchi was "currently pursing her Ph.D. in Brain Nutrition from the Union Institute." I looked up the Union Institute (I'd never heard of it before). Currently, Interdisciplinary Studies is the only Ph.D. they offer, with a concentration in Ethical and Creative Leadership, Public Policy and Social Issues, or Humanities and Society. None of those are even in science, no less something as specialized as Brain Nutrition. A quick internet search turned up a bio of Carol Simontacchi related to her appearance as a guest on a radio show on December 29, 2007. It says she earned a Master of Science from Columbia Pacific University (another school I've never heard of) and doesn't mention anything about a Ph.D.

There might well be some good information in this book, but I had so many concerns about the credibility of the author and the evidence presented that I was not comfortable accepting the information. I decided it wasn't worth my time to read the rest of the book.

A review of The Crazy Makers, How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children, by Carol Simontacchi

By Gregory Ziegler
Professor of Food Science
Penn State University

Rational thought is not what you will find in The Crazy Makers, How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children, by Carol Simontacchi. Instead, what you will read is a quasi-scientific, religious polemic against "food manufacturing." The book's thesis statement is that "diet is the one major change in our culture over the past century that has altered the physical state of our brains and, therefore, altered the state of our minds."

The religious nature of the book is evident from the very beginning, where in the Acknowledgements Ms. Simontacchi thanks most of all her "Heavenly Father, who designed the most wonderful food, perfectly suited to nourishing our brains and our spirits. We have turned aside from Your providence and tried to manufacture our own. How foolish of us."

I must come clean. I am the Director of Penn State's Center for Food Manufacturing, and some would consider me a shill for the "food industry." However, my critique of this book should not be construed as a defense of food manufacturers, but as a guide to those who would like to separate rational thought from opinion.

Though a "board-certified clinical nutritionist," Simontacchi apparently does not know that neither cholesterol nor phosphatidylserine are fatty acids, that glutathione is not an amino acid, or that phytic acid is not a protein. Glutamic acid is a non-essential amino acid building block of proteins. Non-essential means that while we need glutamic acid to build proteins, our body can make its own and, therefore, it is not required in the diet. Mono sodium glutamate is the sodium salt of this amino acid. Simontacchi refers to MSG as an excitotoxin, and writes that "glutamate, is embedded in other ingredients commonly added to baby food," but fails to inform the reader that these other ingredients are proteins or that glutamic acid is by far the most common amino acid in human milk casein.

Is glutamate natural asks Simontacchi. As natural as mother's milk. Might it be harmful in excess? Yes it might. But the idea that something natural may also be toxic goes against Simontacchi's basic assumption of "natural goodness." In the lead-in to chapter 6 Simontacchi quotes Isaiah 55:2, "Why do you spend money for what is not bread." Yet the gluten proteins of bread are about 35% glutamic acid (in the form of glutamine), and says Simontacchi, "[G]rain allergies are one of the most common sources of depression." (More on bread later.)

Glutamic acid is heralded as "brain food" in the chapter "Feeding the Autistic Brain."

While appearing scientific in approach, Simontacchi shows obvious distain for proper scientific methods. She states emphatically that the "influence of a high-sugar diet on brain chemistry is enormous," despite the fact that contradictory "meta-analyses" of the research on the issue were published in both the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of the American Medical Association. She refers to these meta-analyses simply as "a review article," and then presumes to "balance" the argument by quoting an article from the South African Medical Journal. The title of the article she uses to assert the effect of sugar on behavior - "Is butter bad for you?" But then she has already warned us not to believe the experts, and "that virtually everything written about nutrition in the mainstream press is wrong." Does sugar affect the brain? Forget science, "just ask Miss Redman or any schoolteacher. Ask mom."

The section "The Current State of Our Minds" appears to be a litany of Ms. Simontacchi's greatest fears and anxieties. Much of what is written is unsupported by data. She quotes Harvard Medical School professor Ronald Kessler as saying, "The trends are sufficiently impressive to fuel speculation that upward trends in mental illness might exist," [emphases mine] and then follows that with the statement "[W]ithin our current mental health epidemic." How did a speculation of what might be end up an epidemic?

Even when the data contradict her assertions - "[R]ates of violence seem to be easing off" - Simontacchi persists in spinning it to meet her expectations - "But the U.S. surgeon general is not letting his guard down." "Even more bleakly," violent tendencies have not lessened over the past fifteen years (nor have they apparently increased), and arrests for aggravated assault "declined only slightly." Definitely a glass-is-half-empty perspective. "Skyrocketing," "growing trend," "taking on major proportions" and "growing numbers" are all phrases used to hype the problems without substantiating data. Simontacchi cites little primary scientific literature, relying instead on secondary references, many of which are not credible.

Simontacchi's lack of scientific integrity is demonstrated when she cites the "Pottenger" study as evidence of the harmful effects of milk pasteurization. Dr. Pottenger's cats became ill due to a lack of the amino acid taurine, which resulted from too little meat in their diets. Simontacchi fails to tell the reader that cats fed on raw milk only fared worse than those on a combination of meat and pasteurized milk. Pasteurization is a mild heat treatment intended to destroy the living cells of potential human pathogens. Along with improvements in hygiene, milk pasteurization probably did as much as anything to improve human health in the 20th Century.

While condemning pasteurized milk as a "highly processed dairy food," Simontacchi seems to encourage the consumption of tofu, despite the fact that many more steps are required to manufacture tofu from soybeans. These steps include heating to temperatures well in excess of those required for milk pasteurization. Furthermore, tofu contains the same phytoestrogens that Simontacchi says make soy-based infant formula even worse than milk-based products. And the magnesium in tofu? Magnesium chloride, technically a food additive.

This begs the questions, what is "processed" food, and why are "manufactured" foods "chilling." Does cooking a meal at home in a manner similar to pasteurization result in a "highly processed" food? Manufacturing simply means to be made from raw materials by hand or by machine, so a home baker is by definition a manufacturer. The Eucharist is a manufactured food, bread does not exist in Nature, and so is the "protein breakfast drink" (likely loaded with glutamic acid) that Simontacchi suggests for the adolescent breakfast.

Like similar polemics on the topic, the book is replete with nostalgia for a bygone era when we all just picked food fresh from our backyard Eden and is heavily laden with inflammatory language, but adds an evangelistic tone. "The epidemic of autism is just one facet of a nation that has lost its moral way." Simontacchi dismisses reports by the Centers for Disease Control and the Institutes of Medicine finding no link between mercury in vaccines and autism*, insisting that it's a matter of "common sense."

So what's the harm in Ms. Simontacchi dismissing the best science and expressing her opinion? It diverts our attention from investigating other more likely causes of our problems. For example, while Simontacchi does mention in passing that physicians often recommend a strict gluten-free and casein-free diet for autistic children, she never discusses the potential relationship between autism and Celiac's disease. Could it be that she can't imagine such a thing could be caused by whole grains, one of God's most wonderful foods?

Nutritionists like Simontacchi once told us to substitute margarine for Mother Nature's butter, a recommendation we have now come to regret. Now they are telling us to eat lots of whole grain. "Whom are we to believe?"


* Since 2001, with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines, mercury-containing thimerosal is not used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines.

You know, this book isn't at all what I was expecting...I rather got the idea in my head that this was another book like Fast Food Nation, and to some extent it was. This book was really about feeding yourself (as a potential parent) and your children the best foods and discussing the damage done by improper eating on unborn children and then on what we feed our infants and children as they grow up. This book succeeded where none has before in making me feel like the worse parent ever for not breastfeeding any of my children and for feeding them both formula and baby foods (I did make some of my own of those, but I also liberally used jars of Gerber)...I also have fed my kids lunchables, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and all the other myriad of foods that this book says are liable to impair my children's brain development. According to Simontacchi, I have, without even really trying, set my kids up for emotional problems as kids and teens and for other larger problems as they grow into adulthood...and none of them can be corrected at this point. This book was a real eye opener in that regard, I see where it is coming from, but at the same time, this book puts a foul taste in my mouth because it smacks of that same "woman as a potential womb" at all times until she is no longer able to conceive children, and that combined with the four or five chapter long constant trouncing of my choices for food for my children...I came out of the feeling like the scum of the earth as a parent.

There was a lot of good info in the book, so I am glad that I read it and I would recommend it, especially to those women (and men) who are actively trying to have children. The advice, I feel, is solid...I just don't enjoy feeling like I've done nothing but mess up royally and there is very little I can do to "fix it." It was a little depressing, especially given that some of the NEVER eat foods are foods my mom grew up feeding me. There were no lunchables when I was a kid, but my mom loathed cooking and I grew up on boxed food like Hamburger Helper, Mac & Cheese, and any other box type meal that needed minimal things added to make a meal. I can see some of my own "problems" in the book and see that diet as a child, teen and early adult contributed to it. At this point, all I can do is take the message to heart and work to make the rest of my kids childhood more nutritional.

This is hands down the best sleep book out there. It gives explanations for each developmental stage by age and how to fix the problem. It's compassionate and reasonable. It helped us move our four year old out of our bed and every time he starts coming back, we go back to the basics outlined in this book and they work. It doesn't matter if the book is dated, sometimes the best advice is always applicable.

I was given a tatterd copy by a friend who used and loved this book. I used and loved it (worked like a charm!). I give a copy to EVERY new parent I know, and EVERYONE who has used it has had 100% success and loved it. One person refused to use it, wanting to "go with the flow of her child's natural rhythms," and her child is still not sleeping at 5 yrs old, the mother has chronic migraines and can't hold a job; oh well, it's not for lack of an answer...

This book was published in 1985, and most of the research in it is more than 30 years old! As if that wasn't bad enough, it's by two women whose only stated qualifications is that they're moms who are married to pediatricians- !!! -- and advises some practices that we now know are not healthy, such as stomach sleeping and giving 4-month-olds bottles of glucose water overnight. Leave this relic in the attic!

A friend of mine strongly suggested this book, when my 5 month old still wasn't sleeping through the night. He is now 4 and I have gone back to this book many times. It breaks sleep issues down by age and potential problem, which helps find the most appropriate solution for your baby. It is amazing. It is not a "one size fits all" that most sleep books seem to be.

My first baby woke us both up every night for the first 2 years and it was a crazy way to live. When I had my second (who is now 15), I bought this book and used it on her and my 2 year old. It took some work, but within 3 days, we were new parents -- it was wonderful.

I re-read the book with my last 4 children and it worked wonderfully too. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone needing help teaching their children to sleep through the night.

I think it's silly that some reviewers are concerned that this book recommends having your baby sleep on their stomachs. If it doesn't match the current conventional wisdom, the readers can weigh the date of the book in mind. I've had 6 children and for the first 2, that was the recommendation -- to sleep on their stomachs. (We were told if they slept on their backs, they'd spit up and choke on it). With my next 2, it was recommended by experts to have them sleep on their sides. And with the last 2, that they sleep on their backs (which both of those babies hated). I wouldn't be surprised if it changes again by the time my children have their own children.

As a first time mom making babyfood at home, I thought this book would help me outline a plan of when and what to feed my baby. However, I was disappointed that the plan it gave was based on starting a 4 month old on solids and juice, both which were discouraged by my pediatrician. I started my baby at 6 months, so I found it hard to follow this plan. And it also had its readers introduce more than one new food at once, also discouraged. I may use a couple of the recipies when my baby gets older, but as for the "Healthy Baby Meal Plan" it was not useful.

I found the pictures to be cute, and the information presented in a very clear manner. However, the recipes were not basic enough for my busy schedule.

It's a good start for those who want to make homemade food and don't know where to begin. There are some interesting recipes in there. Just watch the ingredients if you're worried about allergies in infants. Many of these contain egg yolks or dairy, which may not be recommended in your baby's age group. I was excited to get it, but have to admit I didn't use much.

This book gets 2 stars for its nice recipies and cute dancing vegetables. Other reviewers have brought up safety/health concerns, but my main beef is that it calls itself a meal planner. Though it does have a requisite page for each age group featuring a "meal plan", I don't know how you'd accomplish such a meal plan unless you employ a nanny to watch your babe(s) while you cook, or a full time chef to make these baby foods for you. I was hoping for practical advice about actual meal planning and EFFICIENT ways to mesh baby feeding with feeding the rest of the family. I found none of that here. The closest she comes is to say that certain purees would make good soups for adults.

I was excited to order this pretty book, hoping that I would find new inspiration. Alas, it seems ill-suited to a North American market. Beyond the neverending variation on purees, the taste combinations are often just too odd, the recipes too time consuming, and the "advice" too off-putting (when it's not completely out of step with US pediatric standards). A much older kid might go for these taste combinations, but not any toddler or pre-schooler I know. If I were a kid in London, I'd head straight for Nigella Lawson's.

I grew up watching Growing Pains and recently saw the Oprah Show 20th Anniversary DVD where Tracey talked about overcoming anorexia. While I'm an overeater, I believe all addiction is the same. The book has some interesting tidbits of her career before GP. Did you know she was in Roots? I wanted to hear behind the scenes stories of GP, but when she talks about it, its just passing stories here and there like Kirk not inviting anyone from the show to his wedding. Also Leo DiCaprio was on the last season and his name was brought up only one time!

As for anorexia, Tracey talks about when her body started developing she ate less to look more like a child, not wanting to grow up. Then when she gained weight, producers for GP told her to lose it.

Other reviewers mention that Tracey goes to therapy, but never mentions what was said. I have to agree. Was it too personal Tracey? Here we are reding this book about overcoming anorexia and she won't tell us what demons she had to cure to overcome it! Though pregnancy did serve a key in overcoming it for good.

Tracey is all better now and that's the important thing. It's a nice read, very short, can be read in a couple sittings.

I'm not a big fan of celebrities, but I have always liked Tracey Gold as kind of an "uncelebrity." I am the same age as Tracey and struggled briefly with my own mild eating disorder not long after her public battle with anorexia. I read the entire book in about 4 hours. It is very easy to read, and in some ways is disappointingly vague. However, having used such books myself as instruction manuals on how to lose weight, I know that the lack of certain details was very intentional. Tracey's open, friendly tone endears her to the reader. The many photos are sweet to see. I loved how the book is about Tracey, not anorexia. It reveals a more civilized time in Hollywood where a child actor could have a somewhat normal life. In all, this book is for anyone who has enjoyed Tracey's career.

Book arrived quickly and exactly as described. A great read! Would definitely recommend this seller.

I liked this book very much. Tracy really explained her situation well and got the reader to understand how she was feeling throuhout her life. It was a very inspirational read. I really enjoyed it.

As a sufferer of an eating disorder myself, I have come to admire Tracey Gold and her recovery from anorexia, and always like to watch her share her triumph over anorexia on TV specials, so I was beyond thrilled when I realized that she had a book out. But frankly, the book is not what I expected it to be, and is disappointing in a number of ways.

Tracey makes a big deal at the beginning of the book about how this book would in NO way be a how-to guide for other girls to learn how to be anorexic, but too bad she didn't practice what she preached.

At one point, she talks about a book on anorexia called "the best little girl in the world" and goes on to say how the book practically became her bible and she read it frequently and carried it around with her everywhere. Now, for anyone who hasn't yet read that particular book, let me tell you that the book is less an anti-eating disorder book, and more of a pro-ana type of book, because the character in the book is basically the perfect anorexic, and the author seems to glorify her for it. So anyway, for all of Traceys talk about not wanting her book to be a how-to guide, I really don't understand what she was thinking when she chose to talk about "the best little girl in the world" one of the biggest trigger books out there, and then go so far as to talk about how it was her bible and such. If she really felt it was necessary to talk about the book, I think she could have atleast disincluded the title of the book.

Another thing, Tracey spends more time talking about how she developed anorexia, and what steps led into her anorexia, and less time describing her recovery from it. She reveals nothing about what went on during her therapy sessions with dr. Strober, and talks more about her "eating days" and "non eating days" and even goes so far as to say that she refused to drink cough syrup when she was sick because it was during her "non-eating" days. She also describes the things she would eat and how she would over cook her food for so long that she no longer had any desire to eat it.

And then as many of you pointed out, there was the "ensure is a supplement that has like, a million calories" (or something along those lines) remark. Um, okay? Was that really necessary to put in there?

And then as many of you said, I didn't like the way she completely wrote off treatment centers, in a very arrogant manner may I add. True, her experience in that particular treatment didn't seem too pleasant, but so what? She tries ONE place, and that automatically means that non of them are competent in the treatment of eating disorders? Now I've never been to a treatment center myself, but I know from hearing about other peoples experiences that in-patient treatment can be life saving. And just because a place isn't effective for one person, doesn't mean that it won't work for another. It all just depends on the person really. I could have understood Traceys opinion a little better if she had atleast tried several places and not just one. And another thing, not everybody has the luxury of being able to afford entering and walking away from treatment whenever they please.

I mean honestly, how is this book in any way inspirational? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm still a big fan of Tracey and having an eating disorder myself, I can understand where its practically impossible to write a book on anorexia without revealing details that may be triggering to others, but like I said, there were many uneccessary details in her book that could have most certainly been left out.

in my opinion, I think she should write another book, one that focuses more on the details of her recovery, rather than the details of her anorexic behaviors

I like the recipes in this book, and look forward to making them for my 11-month-old when she's a little older. I was disappointed that the author doesn't seem to recognize that some foods are inappropriate for babies, such as corn, shellfish, and peanut butter. I've chosen and then had to discard several recipes after doing further on-line research on the ingredients. As a new(ish) mom, I don't have extra time as it is!

After waiting nearly a month, I never received this item so I can't review it. However, I can review the seller which I do not recommend. I tried contacting them twice and never got a reply. No explanation as to why it never arrived. I'm only hoping that with the help of Amazon I will not be charged.

I just thought this book had less content than glossy pictures and recipes included ingredients not normally found in one's cupboard. I gave this as a gift, but would look for something more "parent" friendly and easier to use in the future. Also takes up much bookshelf space for the amount of use it will probably get.

If you have a baby or young child, you may already know that it is not always easy to feed them healthy or nutritious meals. Sometimes it's not all that easy to plan them either. Your child might be a picky eater, or you might be in need of some healthy recipes to make mealtime fun for your family. If you want to give your child a great start in life, the best way is to provide them with a balance of healthy foods. But where do parents begin to look?

One such place is in the book, "SuperFoods for Babies and Children," by Annabel Karmel. What an excellent resource! Here are just a few of the wonderful treasures we found in this informative book:

* Detailed, healthy recipes for main meals and desserts, categorized by age;

*Sample meal planners, categorized by age;

*Numerous food tips and the importance of a variety of each of the foods in our everyday diet;

*What foods you should avoid giving your baby;

*How to shop for healthy foods;

*Much information on eating "superfoods" by colors and how you can give your child the best start in life by eating a well-balanced diet.

This book also has a section that discusses food allergies and lists foods to cure common ailments.

The steps are clearly detailed beginning at 6 months of age -- what foods you should begin introducing to your child...how to know if they are ready for solids...how to make baby food...and sample meal planners for the first 4 weeks of first solid foods. There are large colorful photographs of meals, and cute vegetable and fruit illustrations throughout the book. Short "Did you know?" facts and other side bar tips give you a quick look at important food information and how those foods can benefit our bodies.

MyParenTime.com highly recommends this book -- informative content, clear appetizing food photos, and an abundance of ideas, make this book a winner! But be warned -- you might have some real fun creating these meals, and your child may beg you to make more healthy meals for them!

I liked this book because it has a lot of fun looking food that is fun for kids to look at while they are eating, and good for them to be eating!

I took this book out of the library when my oldest daughter was pregnant 12 years ago and when she was pregnant three years later I bought my own copy. Long after anyone in the family is expecting I use it because of the good health advice and delicious recipes. Our absolute favorite is the Irish Soda Bread with dried fruit.

I purchased this book in December of 2005 and am still religiously using it at least once a week. I do agree with another woman that left the comment that the recipes take much longer to make than the estimated times given in the book and that the recipes make much more than the recommended serving size. All in all though this is by far my favorite cook book - I know that we are eating healthy and that we are eating a variety of food groups. I also like expanding my cooking knowledge and using the ingredients that are uncommon!

We love this cookbook. The nutritional info is great and the recipes are delish. My husband and I like it so much that we use it even when I'm not expecting.

THE PREGNANCY COOKBOOK is a good book, but not a great cookbook. It consists of two main sections, the first on nutrition and the second on recipes, plus appendices that list which recipes are particularly rich in each of four key nutrients (iron, folic acid, fiber and calcium). The Nutrition section contains good, readable information on nutrition. Even if you already have a good command of nutritional basics, as I did, this is good material.

The Recipes section is what I bought THE PREGNANCY COOKBOOK for, and what I give mixed reviews to. On the plus side, there are some very good, very nutritious recipes in here, including a number of dishes my husband gives an enthusiastic thumbs-up to. Issues I have with the recipes:
- Some of these recipes took me 1 1/2 - 2 hours to prepare, at least the first time. The time estimate given was nowhere close to that.
- The author's short time estimates for prep time either assume that you already have everything peeled and chopped/sliced or that you prep foods much faster than I do. Perhaps they are based on your having a food processor?
- Many recipes contain ingredients that I cannot easily find in a mainstream grocery store.
- Uncommon ingredients are not always glossed with an explanation, and no substitution is offered. For example, a recipe using pappardelle looked appealing. I had a vague idea that pappardelle was a type of pasta. Googling it confirmed that for me, and also let me know that fettuccine is a workable substitute. Checking at my grocery store, I found that indeed we do not have pappardelle, and I will be trying that recipe with fettuccine.
- Not all recipes are as well written a set of instructions as they could be. For example, starting the water for pasta was listed as step 7 of 8 on one recipe I tried last week. Fortunately, I preread the recipe and realized that needed to be step 1. Another recipe had me scrambling when it told me to do something with "the vegetables," except that it turned out that "the vegetables" did not include the red peppers, which were being reserved for another step.
- Serving sizes seem to be overly generous. Recipes described as providing "four main course servings" offer more like six at my house. I don't mind this a lot, but I have learned to plan for lots of leftovers when using these recipes.
- Sections could have been more clearly labeled visually. Finding the first trimester recipes was easy enough, but the only way to find the low calorie first trimester recipes is to find the end of the section and then flip forwards to look for the page that states that the low cal recipes start there.
- The introduction says that this revised version contains simpler recipes. For me, many of these still seem fairly complex. I use this for a couple of special dishes a week, rather than a source of everyday help. At my house, the pregnant woman is also the cook, so simpler is more of interest to me!

There are some recipes in here that I think are very, very good. If you get THE PREGNANCY COOKBOOK, I recommend trying: potatoes stuffed with spinach and broccoli (p. 195); spaghetti with turkey sausage, red bell peppers, onions and tomatoes (p. 207; my husband loves this); chilled sesame noodles with vegetables (p. 241, another winner with my husband, though we like a less sweet sauce); rigatoni with wild mushroom ragu (p. 244); chicken, broccoli and mushroom stroganoff (p. 247); turkey sausage with white beans, tomatoes and basil (p. 278; we didn't find lean turkey Italian sausage so we use lean turkey sausage and throw in some Italian spices).

As you may be able to guess from that list of recipes, my other comment would be that THE PREGNANCY COOKBOOK has a definite Italian-American slant. There is nothing wrong with that, but you do want to know!

I looked through this book and while it has some very tasty looking recipies in it, they are no all safe. The goat cheese thing another reviewer brought up is debatable (if it is pasturised or used cooked it should be fine), as is the wine (alcohol does boil off), but the big fish (swordsfish, fresh tuna--or for that matter regular canned tuna more than once a week) that are featured in a number of these recipies are no nos for sure for pregnant women. Mercury poisoning is a VERY serious thing especially in the first trimester, and the big fish are full of it.

That said, if you buy it as an educated pregnant person who knew what to avoid, it looks like it would be great!

Will a typical American diet make ADD worse, especially in children? Of course. That much is obvious. But be skeptical of an author that has such poor understanding of ADD. I have had this disorder all my life (there was no "onset"), and I did find a few unintentionally demeaning phrases and ideas while just skimming through this book at the store and online. I want to believe in the theory, but I just couldn't bring myself to purchase this book.

Great book - very informational - gives the reader hope to correct the situation. Recommend it very highly.

I have adult ADD, and I have spent MANY years trying virtually all of the nutritional ideas in this book. The only one that I know for a fact has really helped me is completely eliminating every speck of added sugars in every form, including artificial sweeteners (I sometimes have stevia,and that's it! ;) But a lot of the rest of these claims about what to eliminate, I just do not know. Almost all of us need to improve our diets, and the author's research is good when it comes to the supplments. But does EVERYONE actually need to get rid of every last speck of wheat and dairy-- not just cut down, but avoid 100%? Is it worth the neverending problems and upheaval that causes in our lives when we do it? Try it and see if it is actually making a difference, but diet is not a substitute for medication-- it is a support. There is a REASON why CHADD does not recommend this kind of diet!!

ADD medication isn't appropriate for everyone. Psychostimulants are serious stuff. But if you need them, nothing else will help you the way that you have to helped in order to build a life. Diet and nutrition alone will not do the trick. I have been there, and I know.

It sounds like many of you have children who have ADD and you chose not to go the medication route. Be careful - and don't forget it is your child not you who has to live with this - and you should not judge the success of any plan on "if you think he is behaving better" but rather on his/her happiness. This is not about you - it is about your child. I think any child who changes his diet will manifest different behaviors. But ADD is a genetic, neurological disorder - to use the word "onset" and "prevention" of ADD - this is the most demeaning and blaitantly wrong term I have ever heard. Attention Deficit Disorder is caused by an insufficient release and absorbtion of Dopamine. Can a diet affect this - maybe a little - but concerta, ritalin, etc - actually do affect the release of dopamine. I applaud all of you in your research of ADD but be skeptical - of medication and of "Diets". What I do know is that I attend middlebury college and for the first three semesters I was getting mostly B's some A-'s (all without medication) - then convinced I was trying too hard or atleast much harder than everyone else for the same outcome, I decided to try concerta - which I refused in my earlier childhood years (seven-ten) as most kids do. I took an extra class and I pulled off 4A-s and a B+. I would like to think it was all me - and it really was all me, but the hard thing to understand is that many kids with ADD are intelligent enough - instead it is the neurology. Don't sell your child short by staking yourself as an anti-pharmaceutical parent...The doctors (experts) prescribe it for a reason. Keep your child playing sports, give him structure, have compassion and that is half the battle.

I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, though due to significant language delay as a child, I actually meet the criteria for High-Functioning Autism.
I work with children, primarily on the autism spectrum. I am on the artificial additive free, gluten, casein, and soy free diets. I am quite healthy and happy on these. When I removed the artificials, I stopped having seizures, something medication had never controlled. My hyperactivity and insomnia were somewhat reduced.
Removing casein allowed me to begin making eye-contact with people, and I have begun noticing facial expressions. It also makes it harder for me to escape into my own world (I'm not so happy with this one, but it does make it easier to concentrate). Going gluten free reduced my intestinal problems. I only removed soy a couple of months ago, but it has a protein similar to gluten and casein, and I'm reactive to both of these, so I'll see what happens and update when I have reintroduced soy.
I suggest at least removing the artificials for ALL children, not just those with disorders or disabilities. One child diagnosed with autism whose mother removed just the artificials gained over a years worth of language in only 2 weeks. And she wasn't receiving speech therapy at the time.
As for the supplements, I take several. I can tell you that several speech therapists I know recommend that any child with severe articulation problems, apraxia/dyspraxia should take EFA - Essential Fatty Acids, particularly Omega 3s found in fish oil or evening primrose oil. It makes sense to go with a brand that has been laboratory tested and found free of mercury and other contaminants, particularly since so many people on the autism spectrum may be chemically sensitive.
The artificials seem to be the easiest first step. And it may encourage you to remove these if you know that artificial colors (FD&C Red #40, Blue #1, Yellow #5/6, etc.) are petrochemicals. That is, these are distillates of raw oil that are left over when they purify out gasoline. Want to bring your child to the gas station and fill them up with your car? That is essentially what you are doing when you give them meals full of these substances. SUSPECT ANYTHING BRIGHTLY OR DARKLY COLORED, particularly candies and processed foods.
As for sugar being the problem, what are you getting your sugar from? Red licorice sticks, lollipops, hard candies, fruit loops, chocolate bars, soda pop... all of which also contain artificial colors or flavors, unless you are careful to buy an all-natural brand.

I purchased this book for my [...] peanut-allergic daughter after discovering it at the library. She absolutely LOVES it and has me read it to her again and again. She also brought it to school during "Nutrition Week" and her teacher read it to the class, and also thought it was fabulous. The book realistically addresses the issue of living with peanut allergies, but in a very child-appropriate format. Every grade-school age child should read this book.

My five year old son has food allergies and is starting Kindergarten this year. He is the first child at his school to have food allergies and I have been searching at the library for a book to give to his teacher to read to his class to help them understand. I read it myself first and was a bit hesitant to read it to my son because it shows what happens when a child has an allergic reaction (he was one when he had his reactions and obviously doesn't remember). I was afraid he might be scared. When I read it to him, however, he loved it, as did his younger brother who is allergy-free. I think it made my allergic child feel better to see someone else with the same allergies as him. I also think it helped him realize just how important it is for him to not touch peanut butter even if he is being teased. And, yes, I know that at some point in life, he will be teased because of this. This is a great book and I am buying two copies today - one for his class and one for us here at home.

The Peanut Butter Jam is a good book for elementary aged children. I bought it for my three year old son who has food allergies including nuts. He was able to sit through it and understand it but, I think the concepts are a little bit to scary. For all long while we have discussed his allergies and he knows that certain foods make him react. When he was two we visited the local ambulance corps in case he has an anaphalactic reaction and we talk about using an epi pen. The book demonstrates all of that and the emotional aspects of being different and left out from some activities at school.

I loved the story. I read it to my 4 yr old and 2 yr old over and over. My 4 yr old just started school so it is helping her to understand what she may or may not have to do one day in school should the occasion confront her.

Horrible book. My son is allergic, and I thought this book would be good to have for him. I was wrong! I will never read it to his class. The book has a bully who teases the allergic boy for not being able to make a craft with peanut butter. I feel that the book gives the wrong message. I think it could give kids ideas.

This is just a painful read. The author likes to hear himself talk, and loves to repeat conversations he had with his peers, which would be fine if they taught me how to heal brain injuries, but they don't. It starts off in 1941 when he's a physical therapist who is befriended by a talented neurosurgeon. He gets to observe the surgeries, and learns a lot about brain injuries from the doctor.

He goes on to have his own practice and discovers that what they are doing (it's now 1960) isn't working at all. They start all over, with a heavy emphasis in measuring that continues throughout the book. They discover that if the development process from wiggling in a cradle, to creeping, to crawling, to walking is disrupted, it creates long term developmental problems. Well this may have been a radical discovery in 1960, but it's not now.

They have the parents of brain injured children help the children go through any phases they may not have reached or finished. They eventually add some tactile stimulation and auditory stimulation to their therapies also.

On the cover they boast that 300,000 copies are in print. Which is quite misleading to the average consumer, because all it means is that's how many they printed. It tells us nothing about how many have been sold which is how most books are rated such as "best seller" not "most printed".

My primary interest in brain-injury is for children on the autism spectrum. I didn't find anything really helpful or new in this book. It has been my experience that parents of children on the spectrum are very sophisticated consumers of health care. I doubt that many of these parents would find this book useful.

When my son was born with brain damage this book was given to me (an original copy) and I bought this for my own library after I had read the original. Very in depth and helped me get my mind and perception of my son on a positive path. I learned many little things that are actually big things in helping my son's development.

This fantastic book taught me more in 2 days than I've learned elsewhere in 2 years. Finally actual help is out there, not just negativity. This is what I expected to learn from my developmental pediatrician, but didn't. It's wonderful to know there are people in this world who give so selflessly for our children. I loved this one so much I ordered "How to Teach Your Baby to be Physically Superb" & "How to Teach Your Baby to Read" I can't wait to see some real improvement in my daughter!!

My son has Down's Syndrome. My friend suggested I look into Doman's program as several people she knew with typical children were big fans. So I bought this book which offers no real practical advice at all but documents the history of Glenn Doman's research and treatment program. Doman claimed to have developed these treatments with his team in the 50's and 60's at which time other treatments for brain damaged children were completely unsuccessful or worsened the child's situation. Reading the book I thought it seemed authentic and the things he was suggesting didn't seem very different from the early intervention strategies that my son was already benefiting from in the state funded program. I thought perhaps Doman was an early pioneer of this now readily accepted treatment.
I asked my son's physio-therapist - provided by this state funded program - who has a PHD and did her research on children with Down's Syndrome (I know that she knows what she is talking about - I have seen it with my own eyes) - if she had heard of Doman, expecting that he would be a major name in the field. She turned quite white and told me that this program is dangerous. She said that she had seen children with dislocated joints from the treatments and that the program was so instrusive it would ruin our family life and my marriage.
What I think is most instructive is that when I saw one of the 'fans' that my friend knows - and I told her what the physiotherpist had said - she still offered to give me literature to join the program! - she was like some cult member. I am so happy with the state funded program - I don't understand why anyone who wasn't brain damaged/washed themselves would get involved with these people? Please use your critical faculties and check out any program fully before treating your child .

This book leads you to believe that you will get instructions on "What to do with your brain injured child." I found it was more like one man's personal story of the development of a therapy program and the his institute. Details of his analysis and people in his life get tiresome and I found myself often thinking. "Okay fine. I agree with the principle but what DO I DO?" There are some sketchy instructions, but I found myself at a loss for how to carry them out since my daughter doesn't understand spoken language. When you are desperate for instructions and frankly don't want to read a story, this book is frustrating!

Perhaps I expected too much but I felt that this book barely covered most symptoms. There was very little discussion regarding different illnesses. Sometimes my child's symptoms met more than one criteria and then I was too often left wondering. I think that at times this book was actually more confusing than helpful.

This book has a little tiny bit of information, sometimes just a description, about a lot of things. I don't ever use it because it just doesn't help out that much when your child is sick and you need clear information.

my doc recommend this book as a good overall veiw of all problems I might fac and he was right it is easy to use and gives great tips besides contact your doctor tip

Our Pediatrician recommended this book. It was very helpful to us since we're new parents.

A great all-around, general reference for babycare & childcare. Excellent baby shower gift - most pregnant women get too many baby clothes, stuffed animals, blankets and other useless gifts, but what parents need is good, sensible child care books. This is a good start for parents to have, and they can add specialty books about co-sleeping, or sleep-training, or discipline, and use the this AAP book to compare different solutions to parenting challenges.