cover image Staying Thin for Kids: The Family Guide to Health & Fitness

Staying Thin for Kids: The Family Guide to Health & Fitness

Eric Perkins. Nautilus Books, $16.95 (189pp) ISBN 978-0-935055-39-9

The good news? Much to his credit, Perkins stresses the need for parents to consult a pediatrician before making any changes in their child's diet, and continually reminds us that keeping fit requires good eating habits and regular exercisenot just avoiding certain foods. The bad: many of his recipes are high in calories and saturated fats. It is dismaying to find a recipe using bacon, even though it is served with whole wheat bread. Equally disturbing is a frittata recipe, serving four, that uses eight eggs and four ounces of salami, when substituting egg whites for some of the whole eggs would have made an appealing dish with less saturated fat. Unfortunately, the author fails to include calorie counts or nutritional values with recipes. Though too simple for adults, his recipes may not be simple enough for children. Perkins is the author of Staying Thin and The Staying Thin Cookbook. (Oct.)