Your Child's Weight: Helping Without Harming Kindle Edition

I was incredibly grateful to discover this book, and Ellyn Satter's work generally. It is full of detailed advice about feeding your family, focusing on health and family relationships, not weight. It has given me permission to feed my kids well, and teach them how to have a good relationship with food. It is a voice of sanity in a world which is pretty hysterical about eating. If you are looking for something which will tell you how to make your child lose weight, this is not the right book for you. But I would urge you to read it before putting your family on a "diet". Some people may find the book long or wordy, but I don't mind the style - I feel like I am in a consultation with Ellen when I'm reading it, as she tells me in detail why you should never make your kids diet, and what to do instead. Her stories about kids whose parents restricted their food (with the best intentions) made me cry. In the end, this is a book about acceptance - of our kids, of their natural body shape, and ultimately, acceptance of our own bodies as well - because you can't improve your kids relationship with food unless you do the same for your yourself.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. We have been following the basic principles in this book for three years, when my child first started gaining weight quickly as a pre-schooler. The basic premise of this book is the the parent controls what the child eats and when (following guidlines laid out by Satter), and the child decides whether to eat and how much. At first some of the methods can be scary and counter-intuitive (i.e., let your kid eat as much as they want at dinner time!) Now, three years later, my child has slimmed down naturally, without any type of dietary restrictions, and shows much less interest in food and much more interest in other activities, including exercise. We plan to continue using Satter's methods as long as possible. This book has made a major positive impact on our whole family. If your child has been labeled "overweight" or "at risk of overweight" you owe it to them and yourself to read this book, and trust and use the methods in it.

Satter's approach to eating and teaching healthy eating habits to your children has been incredibly helpful to our family. Our daughter, now 5.5 yrs old, has always tracked 30-60% heavier than she is tall and than our pediatrician was comfortable with. In the past five years I've despaired my daughter would always be heavy, be made fun of by peers, and spend her adult life dieting. My concern has accidentally given rise to subtle food battles in the house as I was always trying to encourage her to eat "more healthily", my code for eating lower fat and calorie foods, fruits and veggies galore. This book has really helped me figure out what I can do to help her grow well and reach her optimal weight while enjoying food. We are no longer battling over food and are rebuilding her trust that she is not going to be denied foods she loves. My only dispute with the book is that the case studies placed throughout make it hard to get to the basic information I need. They would be better placed in an appendix.

I love it so far! I'm about halfway through, but it makes alot of sense. Having dinners as a family, AND making them pleasant without food battles is great. I've already noticed that my 10 year old son just eats until he's done. We're not restricting his portions and he seems to stop eating easily AND is asking for vegetables. I think the hardest part will be routinely providing the structured meals...especially breakfast and lunch and not having 'grazing'. I would definitely recommend this if you have an above average weight child. Or even a normal or underweight child will benefit from the structure of the meals and learning how to regulate their own hunger signals.

I am thankful that we found this book early enough in my daughter's childhood that we can implement the suggestions and really make a difference in her life. I have struggled with obesity my entire life, and my daughter appears to have inherited my genetic makeup. I learned from this book that many of the things my husband and I were doing WERE harming her and setting her up for full-blown obesity in the future. This book has helped us develop a more relaxed environment around eating, and we now have sit-down family meals for every meal we have at home. That is a key component of the whole philosophy, and even though we knew that was important in the same way that everyone does, we didn't make it a priority until after reading this book.

I have two kids, one that eats very little and another one that eats more than enough. I have not finished the book, but I have put most of the suggestions in place. Amazing! We look forward to family meals, as hard as it is for me to stay seated for breakfast time with the regular morning rush, it has worked! The concept of self regulation is true. My little one who used to eat very little now eats just fine and my little one who ate too much has been able to self regulate and eat only what she needs. It took some time, lots of patience, and tons of trust on my end but it has paid off. I highly recommend this book, but most importantly I recommend an honest try to the suggestions in the book.