Deceptively Delicious - Jessica Seinfeld [0]
Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food
by Jessica Seinfeld
Photographs by Lisa Hubbard • Illustrations by Steve Vance
To Jerry, Sascha, Julian, and Shepherd—thank you for filling me up with love every day.
—J.S.
Contents
Foreword
by Dr. Roxana Mehran and Dr. Mehmet Oz
Introduction
Changing Habits Through Loving Deception
Meet the Kitchen Cabinet
The Program
• Equip Your Kitchen
• Stock Your Pantry
• The Purees: How-To
• Vegetable Purees
• Fruit Purees
• The Basics: Cooking Rice, Pasta, Chicken, and Beef
What Every Parent Should Know About Nutrition by Joy Bauer
• Easy Nutritional Guidelines for Children
• What’s in that Veggie?
• What’s in that Fruit?
The Recipes
• Breakfast Recipes
• Mealtime Recipes
• Dessert Recipes
Appendix: The ABCs of Nutrition
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
FOREWORD
By Dr. Roxana Mehran and Dr. Mehmet Oz
IT IS 7 A.M. and I am almost late for my early morning meeting at the hospital, but I am also concerned about getting my three girls ready for school and making sure their first meal of the day—breakfast—is a healthy one. Are they getting enough fiber and vitamins? Is there too much fat or sugar in their food? Later that morning, as I see my first patient, a thirty-five-year-old obese diabetic who is about to undergo a procedure to open blocked arteries, I am reminded of how important it is to protect my young girls from heart disease.
My colleague and friend, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a heart surgeon at Columbia University and a longtime advocate for healthy living—as well as a father of four—has the same concerns for his family. As physicians who care for heart disease patients, we have witnessed and treated too many young patients with early blockages of the arteries.
Our heart disease patients are heavier, and also younger, than they have ever been. This pattern is disturbing, and our children are at risk of living shorter lives than their parents. We know that this disease is largely preventable through a healthful diet and as doctors, it is our job to educate and teach our patients ways to improve their lives. As parents, we know how important it is to teach our children good habits early on.
Ironically, most people are actually aware of the fundamentals of a healthy diet and the necessity of eating more vegetables and fruits while avoiding too much starch, sugar, and saturated fat. Yet having fruits and vegetables every day and breaking long-standing dietary habits seem to be the greatest challenges people face.
The fact is that the consumption of vegetables is the cornerstone of any diet, be it cardiovascular, diabetic, or weight loss. While it’s the basis of vegetarian diets, as well as Mediterranean and other region-specific diets, it is not a part of our national way of eating. That’s unfortunate: vegetables and fruits contain many vitamins, minerals, and fiber—nutrients that strengthen our bodies and help them grow in a healthy way.
We’ve all had the experience of arguing with our children over eating their vegetables, and the resulting frustration is enough to make us want to give up altogether. That’s where Deceptively Delicious comes in. These wonderful recipes introduce our children’s taste buds to the good, healthy foods, but kids still get to eat the foods they love. Later, as they grow, they will want healthy vegetables on their own, since, for years, they had their chicken nuggets coated with them already!
Jessica Seinfeld addresses the heart of the problem: its practical implementation. She simplifies the dilemma of how to start by telling us exactly which kitchen supplies we need and showing us tricks for preparing meals simply and efficiently. Daily routines are not disturbed, while the dedicated time for this effort is minimized. It is clear to us that the benefits clearly outweigh the work that goes into feeding your family.
This book is an innovative approach to feeding our children healthful foods at an early age without added stress for either