Positive Food for Kids.

Positive Food for Kids

O'Dea J, Random House Australia, Milson's Point, 2005, 270 pages, $27.95, ISBN 1-86471-091-8

This book, according to the back cover, is written for adults looking after children, to provide easy and proven strategies to get children to eat and enjoy healthy food, with nutrition guides for healthy food choices and recipes and answers to frequently asked food-related questions. The author does largely achieve these aims.

The book is divided into nine chapters that include a positive approach to feeding, parents as role models, importance of good nutrition, food myths, special diets (over- and underweight, vegetarian, food allergy and food intolerance). Suggestions are included for school lunches, healthy food choices and recipes for children to use. There is advice on planning and evaluation to achieve a healthy food intake based on five food groups and the food pyramid. Also there is a focus on protein, calcium, iron and fibre that are listed as important nutrients with tables of their good food sources and recommended daily intakes. There is also advice on constipation, dental health and prevention of accidents with food, dehydration and caffeine in the diet.

The author is very qualified to write such a book. She is a dietitian with 25 years experience who is currently employed as a university lecturer in nutrition and health education. Her research experience with children and adolescents has been extensive in the areas of body image and self-esteem and eating habits as well as her experience as a mother of two.

The overall message from the book, that the child carer can choose the food for the child and the child can choose how much to eat, is a sound message that will instil sound eating habits. After establishing the strategies of how to achieve this positive approach the author then persuasively outlines the reasons why good nutrition is important and how to make the right food choices and prepare healthy meals.

It is good to see a book written so positively, which provides a very practical and achievable framework for child carers to follow. This very readable book is interspersed with anecdotes to reinforce particular points. It is very timely (with the increasing number of overweight children) and will help carers to establish the healthy eating habits so important for long-term health. Dr O'Dea clearly explains how to defuse tensions at mealtime and provide an 'emotion-free' environment. This book fits well with the current popularity of self-help books.

The book could be improved with some photos or illustrations to break up the text. The recipe section could be shortened (just over half the book is recipes) with more emphasis on quick, affordable nutritious recipes. Inclusion of the number of serves per recipe and a nutrition panel per serve would be useful. The healthy school lunch chapter could be presented in a more interesting format as it reads more like a series of shopping lists. The healthy sandwich suggestion list could also be shortened, concentrating on those that are practical and affordable.

Another suggestion would be to include references particularly for dietary guidelines, five food groups daily servings and to the author's research on schoolchildren. There are a few minor errors including the quantities of food listed for children less than four years of age: these appear to be too large. Five to 10 per cent of the population with food sensitivity seems too high. Some of the claims of poor nutrition appear to be written in a sensational way but saying the eating habits of children are getting 'worse and worse' may help sell the book.

Overall, I would recommend this book for child carers who want to establish healthy habits that will help prevent nutritionally related diseases such as obesity.

Jane Allen

Research Dietitian James Fairfax Institute of Paediatric Nutrition The Children's Hospital at Westmead