Product Description

Dr Alex Richardson, the UK's leading authority on how nutrition affects behaviour and learning, exposes the truth behind the foods we are feeding our children and offers simple, practical solutions all parents can use. An empowering, cutting-edge book that will transform the lives of children and help them reach their full potential. Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University and former school teacher, Dr Alex Richardson is the UK's leading expert on how what we do and do not feed our children impacts their learning, concentration, co-ordination and behaviour. Empowering and extremely practical, this book sorts out food fact from food myth and shows parents how to bring the best choices into their children's everyday diets. Includes simple meal plans and recipes as well as practical guidance on other lifestyle factors, such as time spent in front of TV and computer screens. A highly influential book that offers concerned parents concrete information and real solutions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95535 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
'Her book offers welcome hope to parents who may be at their wits' end ! illuminating.' TES, June 2006 'Jamie Oliver visited [Alex's department] while preparing his series on school dinners. It was the hard-slog science of the physiology department that gave credibility to the link between children's diet and their behaviour that Oliver made so powerfully in his TV programmes.' Guardian (May 05) 'Food affects behaviour. If you paid attention to diet, you could really make a difference.' Guardian (May 05) 'It's imperative that while upping your intake of omega-3, you cut out the junk.' Alex quoted in Independent March 2005 "If you think about badly behaved children with their low frustration tolerance, classroom fights and throwing things at the teacher, these are things that seem to improve in some children if you give them enough omega-3." -- Alex quoted in OBSERVER FOOD MONTHLY, April 2005 "Everyone's aware that a lousy diet is bad for your physical health but it has taken a lot longer for people to twig that the brain is also part of your body and is possibly the first place you would be likely to see an effect." -- FT MAGAZINE, March 2005 "If children slurp cans of Coke on the way to school it puts them on an artificial high in terms of brain function, but that instantly stimulates the release of too much insulin which causes blood-sugar levels to plummet. In a short time their brains are in a fog. They can't concentrate, they are irritable and find it hard to hold on to stable emotional reactions." --TES, April 2004

About the Author
Dr. Richardson is based at Mansfield College, Oxford, where she has spearheaded numerous high-profile groundbreaking studies into the role of nutrition on the brain. She is a former teacher with first-hand experience of managing children with behaviour / learning difficulties, and director of charity Food and Behaviour Research (to receive all royalties). Dr. Richardson also specialises in ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and has excellent links with the British Dyslexia Association, Foods Standards Agency, Hyperactive Children's Support Group, Allergy-Induced-Autism.

Customer Reviews

One of the best
I've read quite a very books on nutrition, but this is one of the very best. Though aimed at parents concerned about about their children's behaviour or mood or performance in school, what it says is just as relevant for adults concerned about their own mental and physical health. I like its combination of solid science, practical tips and a lively style. The book is particularly good on digestion (tells you what a 'leaky gut' is and how to tell if you/your child has one), omega 3/fish oil (why your child/you may need it), and what the blood sugar roller coaster is (one major reason there are so many cranky children around now - and irritable adults) and how to avoid it. There are also some shocking facts about how many of our children are seriously deficient in vitamins and minerals.
It also has good easy recipes, including a tasty mango ice cream that I've just made.

How diet affects our childrens health and behaviour.
The real facts about how nutrition and diet affect children's health and behaviour and therefore their education and wellbeing.

What most impressed me about this book was just how much real science was distilled into such an easily digested form. And even if some of the science may go over some people's heads, the practical advice makes it a valuable book for all concerned parents. And what parent or grandparent isn't concerned these days?

It's clear that Dr Richardson knows as much about the subject as anyone out there, but she's managed to put across in a very accessible way what the rest of us need to hear. She manages to make it entertaining too.

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but they look and sound delicious and not just for children.

I think there will be frazzled teachers and carers up and down the country who'll be recommending this book to parents as well.

I'll be very surprised if this doesn't become a 'must read'.

They Are What You Feed Them
Excellent! Finally, scientific proof of what many of us parents had suspected, and Dr Richardson has written it in an easy to read and interesting manner. The straight forward recommendations could make a huge difference in the life of your child. I would recommend this book to anyone who has children or grandchildren and who is concerned with the content of their diet.