What's Eating Your Child?

May 2, 2011
Dorfman, a nutritionist who specializes in working with children and who calls herself a "nutrition detective," reveals that many common childhood ailments are avoidable or can be dealt with nutritionally. The author advises parents to observe, analyze, and be curious, and laments that most pediatricians are not especially "food savvy." Using the "binary law of nutrition" (something is either missing from or irritating the body), Dorfman follows clues to uncover the hidden causes of various problems. In one chapter, a child diagnosed with bipolar disorder turns out to be reacting to gluten; in another, chronic ear infections are linked to the milk protein casein. In another, a picky eater is found to have a zinc deficiency, which can cause foods to taste unpleasant. Dorfman explains the difference between allergies and reactions or sensitivities; introduces the "E.A.T. Program" (eliminate, add, try), a method for rounding out the diets of fussy eaters; and emphasizes the importance of eating organic and avoiding pesticides, additives, and food coloring. This fascinating and potentially life-changing advice reveals that nutrition isn't a simple matter of finishing one's broccoli. Food has a significant impact on a child's health and well-being, and Dorfman helps parents ensure that the impact is positive.

May 1, 2011
In her case-history-filled guide to connections between food and ailments, nutritionist Dorfman gives readers food for thought. Does diet play a role in virtually every childhood problem, from stomachaches to ADHD to ear infections? Dorfman believes virtually every woe circles back to food. (Interestingly, she ignores obesity, dismissing it as a cultural problem, not a nutritional one.) Dorfman is at her best when she urges parents to be nutrition detectives, as she is, and when she lets herself be funny. The book falters when she strays from fact, and readers will have to take some of her declarations with a grain of salt. Still, shes well informed and smart. One of her eccentric yet successful ideas was to convince a boy to go off his white-foods-only diet of pastas, bagels, and yogurt by introducing him to white-on-the-inside radishes. Anyone alarmed by a childs diet will feel even more so after tackling this book, which makes a strong argument for getting kids to consume fewer simple carbohydrates and more organic fruits, veggies, and fish oil.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)