Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

quoted from a review by jennmars on amazon.com:

"I believe strongly that we should teach children to eat a balanced healthy diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean protein sources and with the occassional ice cream or potato chip thrown in. I believe we should exercise every day. I don't believe we should reinforce stereotypes in children's literature, that we should frighten children that eating a cookie will make them sick or that it's OK to tease other children if they're fat, but that the teasing should stop once they become thin.
Please: feed your children well, take them outside to run and play and move their bodies and teach them tolerance and respect for others, not stereotypes and prejudice."

seriously, people. I can't stand books like this. Even as a child I somehow knew deep down that they were really wierd, and though parents should be able to teach what the books were preaching about without making it all uncomfortable and akward.

We read a book in class about being nice to kids in wheelchairs, because we had one in our third grade class that year. He just stared at the floor the whole time, because he knew he was singled out, and everyone was staring at him throughout the entire story. then people were either fake-ly nice to him, or extra mean to him. mostly fake nice, though.

it made me feel very wierd, and even as a child I knew there was something wrong with it.

If there were an easy solution to fighting obesity, we wouldn't be having this discussion, but we are. It can seem so obvious to exercise and eat healthy, but in reality, a lot of people either are unaware of the consequences or just don't do these things. If this book gets the dialogue on healthy lifestyles going in some households, then it has done a great thing.

This book is a great concept. Kids don't understand what's happening to them. If their parents don't know about nutrition, then how will they teach their children? Having a friendly kid's book about how to eat and what to eat is a push in the right direction.

Has the author of this book read any traditional kids books? The 'fat' kids, from Piggy in Lord of the Flies, the 'fat boy' in the Pickwick Papers, the dull Diana to the sparky, skinny Anne of Green Gables, and so forth are always the boring and less interesting ones, or the ones picked upon. Ditto Blubber by Judy Blume

Also, I remember reading books about fat kids determined to get to the bottom of their emotional eating issues like Diana and the Green Fat Kingdom by Isabelle Holland.

Overeating by kids and parents is a psychological as well as a social and economic issue, and writing books about 'lean protein sources' that don't deal with the complexities of the issue are useless. And boring, like all simplistic stories.

I'm just waiting for them to ban Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which also features a nasty fat kid, Augustus Gloop.)

@dbcurrie. Being a parent to two kids choosing to feed them an all natural diet, I am constantly surprised by the challenges involved. My daughter just turned 3, and now that she is in preschool, is exposed to a range of foods that she has never seen. She never turns down the awful toxic crap brought to school by other parents precisely because she hasn't learned that a choice has to be made between good and bad foods. She manipulates grandparents to buy treats. Books help her process ideas better than my nagging. I am already resisting her constant nagging for neon pink ice cream and cookies that sandwich discs of hydrogenated oils. Kids always have a choice because they are not with their parents 24 hours a day.

Erin, thank you for introducing the book I Get So Hungry, which delivers the message that "kids are influenced by eating patterns, especially emotional eating, and need guidance from adults as to what's 'healthy'." A recent study has revealed the troubling results that obese children have nearly the same arterial health as middle-aged adults, so your discussion on ways to prevent childhood obesity is especially appropriate. Many of us are familiar with children's books that are written specifically to convey moral messages to the youth, encouraging them to practice ethical deeds, such as treating others nicely, sharing, or being honest. Truthfully, I have always been skeptical as to whether these stories actually affected the way their readers acted after being exposed to the material. My same doubts also apply to I Get So Hungry. Can a story about "Nicky Thicky" and her obese, hospitalized school teacher really change a child's eating or exercising patterns? I have not read the book myself, but I assume that the book can potentially be used as a scare tactic to steer a child away from complacency if the individual is, indeed, overweight. However, when you mention "though children should continue chasing ice cream trucks, drinking juice boxes, and picking out snacks...learning about moderation early [through this book] can't be a bad thing," I can not help but wonder that if children are still practicing such unhealthy habits, are they really learning moderation? Some claim that it is a parent's duty to guide and encourage healthy habits. Personally, I believe there must be a combination of both proper parental guidance and helpful outside material such as the above-mentioned storybook to truly make a difference in a person's diet. While a book can do its best in providing facts and instilling just the right amount of fear in its readers, if the child's home environment does not match the ideal situation portrayed in the book, very little progress can be made. With the same token, once a child goes to school and is away from his or her mother's watchful eye, it is up to that individual and the school environment in deciding what goes into his or her mouth. In your opinion, which has the greater effect: parenting or schooling?

I forgot to mention his website addess. It is www.getfitwithcoachsmith.com and the program is called Edu-Fitt.