Food Ninjas: How to Raise Kids to Be Lean, Mean, Eating Machines

I think this book has good information about trusting your child's appetite, and not getting overly pushy with food. It is so painful to be at the table with well-intentioned friends who are bribing their off spring to eat X bites before they can have a bit of something else on their plate.However, I felt the book could have been better researched, or at least better presented, for the parents of children with larger girth. I've always fed my kids according to the Ellyn Satter division of responsibility: I sit them down to the table for 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, I put the meal on the table and they choose what and how much (or if!) they will eat. Normal, home cooked meals.. I don't force their hand by only serving broccoli and plain brown rice and then say oh well, you must not be hungry if you're not eating!In our case, my oldest (I have 4 boys) who is 8 has always been on the large side, but started chunking up when he was 4 and hasn't looked back yet. The doctor has been breathing down my neck for the last couple of years to reduce calories and increase exercise. I'll never do the former, and hard to do the latter with a kid that has a bottomless pit of energy! I was very curious to see what Matt would say about big kids, but it seems like he was really only focused on little kids whose parents are trying to force them to eat their veggies. Speaking blithely about how slim and svelte this eating method will make your child is disingenuous at best. I finished the book and concluded that Matt doesn't have a lot of experience with a wide variety of children. Kids like his girlfriend's daughter are great. I know skinny people whose body never hangs onto excess poundage. My firstborn, however, has a healthy appetite and is very energetic, but according to the charts is overweight. He's not just big-boned, he definitely has a good amount of extra weight he is carrying right now. I suspect, with family history and a cousin that is 1 week older and nearly his twin for height & weight, that he is bulking up for a growth spurt down the line. In today's fat-phobic society, it is hard to grit my teeth and ignore people's helpful suggestions and be patient for approximately another 10 years while his body sorts everything out.I'd have given this book 4 stars if Matt had addressed overweight kids. That was my intention for reading it, and it felt off-balanced by not covering this aspect. Supposedly childhood obesity is becoming an epidemic, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a Food Ninja book about feeding children to cover this side of the coin in more depth.I also have a hard time seeing further guilt heaped on moms about what they ate while they were pregnant, and whether or not they breastfed. For the record, I never took even a tylenol during pregnancy and childbirth with my firstborn. I certainly didn't restrict food while pregnant or breastfeeding, and my kids have all been healthy. Not sure what the size of the younger 3 will be as they get older, but as mentioned my firstborn is no ninja as far as being lean, so does this mean I went wrong somewhere with my food? Logic like this can drive you crazy. It's also very risky to tell women to disregard water intake in pregnancy/breastfeeding. I followed the guidelines of about 8 cups a day with my first, and had a straightforward pregnancy, delivered him full-term. My second baby, I threw the water intake to the wind. It could be coincidence with the water, but I had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions in that pregnancy (which can be a sign of not drinking enough water), and my bag of waters sprung a leak at 32 weeks gestation, baby was born at 34 weeks-- 6 weeks premature. With my 3rd pregnancy, twins, I drank 8-10 glasses a day. Carried the twins to full-term and had two 7-lb babies. I definitely think there are times to follow medical guidelines with water intake, and pregnancy and breastfeeding are two of them. When you're not sustaining another human's life with your own body, go ahead and drink only to thirst.Thanks for the book, Matt, I hope you add a section about overweight kids.

Matt, we've been blessed by your books. After finishing "Diet Recovery 2" I promptly declared that we were finished our time doing the GAPS diet and the next day we had cookies for breakfast. My kids thought they'd died and gone to heaven. We had popcorn for breakfast, white bread for lunch and Chinese for supper yesterday. I started taking my kids temperatures and they all have low temps (an indication that they all have low metabolisms) I wasn't sure whether I should apply all that I'd learned from "Diet Recovery" to my kids though, and so when I was given the opportunity to get "Food Ninjas" for free, I jumped at the chance. Just finished the book and it was all I'd hoped it would be. It just makes sense even though it is so opposite to everything that I have believed for so long. I want to rev up my kids' metabolism so that they are healthy and strong. I want them to be able to turn their noses up at junk food, rather than be obsessed with every candy machine we pass. I want them to be able to say no thanks to that cookie when they're not hungry or be able to go to a party and think of more than the food that's being served and definitely, I want them to be able to enjoy good food without ending up with a sore tummy after indulging. In short I want my kids to be food ninjas and I believe that following the "guidelines" in Matt's book will do that!

When I was a kid, I craved sugar. I had a rather stressful childhood that consisted of moving 12 times in about 13 years, all within the same city. I realized now that this is why I craved sugar, and why I needed it. However, my mother, who has always been something of a "health nut," thought she knew better than my little body. She didn't let me eat what I wanted (which, of course, made it even more desirable), and I eventually learned how to hide and stash candy. I developed tendencies to binge, which lasted for the next 25+ years. During that time, I became food-obsessed, trying many different ways of eating- all which involved some sort of restriction in the name of "health." After all, restriction is what I knew; it was familiar. But my health suffered.Long story short: I am no longer trapped in a dietary prison thanks to Matt Stone, and, because of Food Ninjas, I know how to NOT pass on any food-related neuroses to my future children. I wouldn't want them to go through what I did, taking nearly 1/3rd of their lives figuring out how to just listen to their body. I am forever grateful.So, if you think you've found "dietary Nirvana" and wish to indoctrinate your children with the same rules and restrictions, THINK AGAIN. You just might mess them up for life! Read Matt Stone's Food Ninjas- he lays out some very simple signs to watch for and cultivate in your children's behavior and bodies that anyone can follow. Just do it!

Although there are still some foods I won't be feeding my kids out of principle, this book has really helped remind me not to go too far with restricting them. I know from my own experiences with food and diet that a life of restriction only leads to more and more health and weight problems, and I do not want my children to fall into the same traps. Matt gives some clear and compelling reasons to allow kids' appetites and cravings to tell you what they need and dictate what they eat, and even what to do when those are lacking but health is poor. The only thing I wished were mentioned more is quality of sources. Maybe for orthorexic adults needing to lighten up, focusing on homemade, organic, grass fed and chemical free can hinder progress, but I still think it's a worthy pursuit to give children food that is as free from adulteration as possible for the most part, and then not sweat the occasional deviation. My children are food ninjas, much like I hope to be some day, and I absolutely believe they are healthier for it, and I will do everything I can to keep food in perspective as they grow, especially my daughters as they approach teen years.

My kids are all healthy and lean using an approach to food not unlike the way this book suggests. Health is about a much bigger picture than just what we put in our mouths and it's even more so with children. Food Ninja's puts everything into context and it's the perfect book to allow parents to finally see the wood behind the trees.I very much doubt the other reviewer actually read the book properly at all, as they would know better than to put such a comment if they had.Highly recommended for all parents who want guidance feeding their children.

This book has really reinforced what I already knew about food. That arbitrarily restricting "bad" foods in favour of "good" ones, does nobody any good at all. For health we do need to eat all the different food groups, and allow our children to too. By allowing access to all foods on an equal footing, we allow our children to learn about what food does to their body and how to be healthy.

Personally, I like the concepts behind this book, but the overly personal writing style is Not to my tastes at all. It makes an important message seem silly and the overall tone is unprofessional; makes it harder to take the thoughtful message behind the book seriously.It's also very short, I was expecting a little more detail to be honest.

This book explores the idea of allowing children to eat what they want, the idea being that they will binge on 'bad' foods and then eventually the novelty will wear off, and the child will chose a more balanced diet. Whilst I agree with this in principle, I am not sure if I am brave enough to try it out in practice. I have, however decided to be less concerned over my kids diet, and instead encourage them to eat a plentiful supply of all types of food.

Got to the page saying to cut down nuts and promoting low fat and couldn't read any further....Sorry 😳Information on the nasty addictive chemicals and sugars in low fat foods is widely available now and the limiting of good heathy fats surely shouldn't be discouraged.... Out of date info I think.