TOS Crew: Growing Healthy Homes- Nutrition 101

Learning about nutrition can often be overwhelming; there are so many opinions and books and ideas out there on what is healthy and what is not. It can often lead to information overload because you're just not sure whose advice to follow. Nutrition 101: Choose Life! is a handy resource that basically covers everything for you in one spot.

There's no need to run off and look something up somewhere else, because this e-book is chock full of anything you'd ever want to know. It is meant for the family to use together, and it's based on Scripture. It was written by four moms, all with education and experience in nutritional studies, who wanted to share with other mothers how they can feed their families, according to God's menu.

One of the things I really found interesting with this book is that it covers the major systems of the body, first of all. It explains how they work and gives prompts for family discussion. The book is wonderfully illustrated with pictures and diagrams to further study. It covers the following systems:
1) The Brain and Nervous System
2) The Digestive System
3) The Respiratory, Olfactory, Auditory, and Visual Systems
4) The Skeletal and Muscular Systems
5) The Cardiovascular and Immune Systems
6) The Endocrine System and Emotions

Throughout each section, there are also activities to do with your children. For example, in the section on the brain, there is an activity in which you help your kids understand the difference between left brain and right brain by simply having them brush their teeth with first their right hand and then their left hand. It helps them to see the difference when one hand works better than the other. The authors also suggest supplements for each system of the body and several recipes, or "power" recipes. In fact, last night we made the Ultimate Pizza, found in the section on Endocrine health. Jaden loved it; it was actually really good! The sauce was a little different at first, but it grew on me.I couldn't be more thrilled about the information given on different supplements, because over the years, I've heard so many opinions on which supplements I should/should not be taking, and with all of the opinions out there, it's hard to discern which ones are going to be the best and which ones could actually be harmful. Now, I can actually sit down and read about how these supplements actually work with the particular systems in my body and if they might be beneficial for myself or my family to take.

Not only does the book break down the major systems of the body, but it also breaks down nutrition and explains the different terms, such as omega fatty acids, carbohydrates, glycemic index, fiber, etc. Certain health topics and diseases are covered, such as vaccines, diabetes, cancer, etc. It makes these topics very real within the study of nutrition and helps the reader to learn how to apply these Biblical, nutritional concepts to their everyday life.

My favorite part of the book comes toward the end, in the form of the Appendices. There are certain things that help make my life easier, such as a shopping list, vitamin chart, tips on how to select fresh produce (which I've always wondered if I'm getting the right stuff), etc. I especially appreciated the page that gave information on nutritional recommended daily allowances for not only adults, but children as well. Dan and I have been questioning how much we should let Jacob eat because we know he's growing, but it just seems like he's starting to want more and more, and we just weren't sure where we should draw the line. Now, we can kinda look at this to get an idea of how much is probably too much.

As I studied through this book and started using it to make recipes, I realized that living organically takes true dedication because not only are the ingredients a bit more expensive, but it takes more time to prepare some of the dishes in this book. If you are a mom who is dedicated to helping her family live more organically and healthy, then this book is a great resource for you. If you are a mom who wants a quick solution, then this might be a more difficult transition. I am actually hoping to use this myself, as well as with my children through the next few years to try to teach them about proper nutrition and how their bodies work. It is an awesome resource for any family.

At 448 pages, this book is basically a manual on how to have a truly, healthy home. You can order the book via the Growing Healthy Homes website. It is available as a CD-ROM for $79.95; print book for $99.95; or the combo pack of both the CD-ROM and the print book for $129.95.

To read more reviews, head over to the TOS Homeschool CREW Blog.