Kid Food: The Challenge of Feeding Children in a Highly Processed World, Siegel Bettina Elias

In Kid Food, nationally recognized writer and food advocate Bettina Elias Siegel explores one of the fundamental challenges of modern parenting: trying to raise healthy eaters in a society intent on pushing children in the opposite direction. Siegel dives deep into the many influences that make feeding children healthfully so difficult-from the prevailing belief that kids will only eat highly processed kid food to the near-constant barrage of special treats.

Written in the same engaging, relatable voice that has made Siegels web site The Lunch Tray a trusted resource for almost a decade, Kid Food combines original reporting with the hard-won experiences of a mom to give parents a deeper understanding of the most common obstacles to feeding children well:

- How the notion of picky eating undermines kids diets from an early age-and how parents anxieties about pickiness are stoked and exploited by industry marketing

- Why school meals can still look like fast food, even after well-publicized federal reforms

- Fact-twisting nutrition claims on grocery products, including how statements like made with real fruit can actually mean a product is less healthy

- The aggressive marketing of junk food to even the youngest children, often through sophisticated digital techniques meant to bypass parents oversight

- Childrens menus that teach kids all the wrong lessons about what their food looks like

- The troubling ways adults exploit kids love of junk food-including to cover shortfalls in school budgets, control classroom behavior, and secure childrens love

With expert advice, time-tested advocacy tips, and a trove of useful resources, Kid Food gives parents both the knowledge and the tools to navigate their childrens unhealthy food landscape-and change it for the better.