Eating healthy, wholesome meals plays a big role in ensuring good health for children of all ages. However, every parent knows that it can be tough to feed fussy and picky toddlers foods that are healthy and good for them. Joanna Dolgoff, a pediatrician and child obesity expert, in her book, Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right offers practical, useful and easy tips to make healthy eating a part of life and not something that one ‘has’ to do.
How to Use The Red Light, Green Light System for Meal Planning and Healthy Meals
Meal planning makes healthy eating easier for the whole family. Knowing what to cook makes healthy cooking more convenient. Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right makes meal planning as easy as 1-2-3. Dr. Dolgoff not only offers readymade meal plans for three main meals and snacks, she also teaches parents and older children how to make their own meal plans by using the Red Light, Yellow Light and Green Light system.
Red Light foods are basically foods, such as cakes and pies, which have little or no nutritional value and high caloric content. Yellow Light foods are, according to Dr. Dolgoff, moderately high in calories and slightly higher in fat than Green Light foods. Green Light foods are high in nutrient value and lower in calories and fats. For instance, fish, skinless chicken, potatoes, brown rice and fat-free milk are all green light foods. There are also Free Fuel foods that you can eat in any amount and any time. These include all fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, excluding a few.
The three-light system is easy to understand and apply in everyday life and makes meal planning simple and easy.
Learn the Basics of Healthy Eating
Healthy eating does not have to be boring and mundane. It can be filled with colors, textures and flavors. Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right shows parents how to make healthy eating fun for children from the ages of 4 years and upwards. Using the Red Light, Yellow Light and Green Light plan can enable parents and older children to make the right food choices and have fun eating healthy, wholesome meals.
Dr. Dolgoff also lists over 1000 foods that have been nutritionally assessed and color-coded into Red, Green and Yellow along with the appropriate serving size. The index makes healthy eating easy and convenient. Moreover, the book has helpful Road Rules to make healthy eating a part of one’s life and in addition, is packed with useful tips on grocery shopping, understanding labels and fun and enjoyable ways to exercise and get active.
What I Liked About Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right
I loved reading Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right for the sensible advice and easy-to-do tips and recipes it offered. The book is laid out beautifully with pictures and illustrations that make it a joy to read. Plus, it is loaded with healthy recipes that are quick (for the most part) and easy to make, besides being healthy and wholesome.
If you thought healthy food was boring, check this out. Dr. Dolgoff has recipes for Chocolate Brownies, Chicken Nuggets and Chocolate Chip Cookies! But let’s not get carried away. She also has recipes and tips for planning healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners as well as snacks for different times of the day. All the 50-odd recipes come with step-by-step instructions, time required and full-page color photos. The tips and ideas for getting active and weaving exercise into everyday life are all practical and fun to do for both kids and adults, alike
While my toddler is not obese, I want to establish healthy eating habits right now so that as a teenager or adult, she knows what to eat and why. I liked how Dr. Dolgoff has used case studies and real-life examples to address common issues that crop up when encouraging children to eat healthy. The best part is that the book offers a solution to battling childhood obesity and increasing good health by choosing the right types of foods in the right amounts.
Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right is a book that every parent must read and apply in order to create healthy families. While I read the book from the perspective of a toddler’s parent, I strongly recommend Dr. Dolgoff’s book for parents of children of all ages and use her advice to create healthy yet enjoyable meals for the whole family. Learn more about eating right and Dr Dolgoff at www.DrDolgoff.com.
Disclaimer: A review copy of the book was provided to Untrained Housewife for the purpose of providing a fair and complete review. No other compensation was received.
