Mood:  hungry

Over the past few years, while trying to raise a family, I've come to one conclusion. It's hard to keep three hungry boys fed! It's even harder to make sure they eat healthy. AND, when you do find healthy foods, it's even harder to convince them to eat them or to explain why they should eat them.

Enter Nutrition 101:Choose Life! Nutrition 101 was a real life saver in this area. I must admit that when I first saw Nutrition 101 I was not convinced. I pre-read the first couple of chapters, and thought that there was no way that my 13 year old, John Allen, was going to understand this, let alone Joshua, my 8 year old asperger's child. Boy was I wrong. They both loved it. 

Published by Growing Healthy Homes and written by four, well educated (one with a doctorate) homeschooled moms, Nutrition 101 is a Christian health/nutrition curriculum that is divided into two sections. The first half  is a six unit study on good nutrition. Each unit is divided into four chapters and cover two or three of the 12 bodily systems and how proper or improper eating habits effect those systems. Each chapter takes about a week to cover so the entire study should take you about 24 weeks. 

They layout of each unit is very well done. Each unit begins with a couple of paragraphs that explain what you will be studying for the next few weeks. Then the fun begins. The first unit is "The Brain and Nervous System" with the first chapter being "The Brain". Each chapter begins with an explanation of that system of the body and why good nutrition is important. It includes foods that are high in the vitamins and minerals that are beneficial for that particular system. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions and age separated activities that reinforce what you have learned. The really fun part of the chapter, however, is the "Power Recipe". The Power Recipe uses ingredients that have the vitamins and minerals talked about in that chapter. After reading the chapter and discussion questions on Monday, you do activities, shopping or gathering ingredients for the recipe, or, the best part, preparing the recipe the rest of the week. On Friday you have a family discussion as to what your favorite part of the week was. All recipes are fairly kid friendly but require an adult to work along side the child. Our first week we made Guacamole and it was an experience. I wouldn't say that we are ready to open a Mexican restaurant, but it was palatable.  

Each week is fairly similar with a new system or part of a system explained, new activities, and a different recipe to be prepared. We've had a blast with the chapters that we have covered so far but I have had to break much of the information down so that Joshua could understand. My only real complaint, however, is the recipes. They are simple, delicious and fun to make, but frequently require ingredients that aren't the usual things that you have in your pantry. If you are on a limited budget (who isn't these days ), then you may find it difficult to justify buying avocados or flax seed oil (just two of the examples) for a special food. There are alternate recipes contained at the end of the unit that you could use, but they still often require unusual food items.

The six units cover the following systems in each:

• Unit 1 - The Brain and Nervous System
• Unit 2 - The Digestive System
• Unit 3 - The Respiratory, Olfactory, Auditory and Visual Systems
• Unit 4 - The Skeletal and Muscular
• Unit 5 - The Cardiovascular and Immune Systems
• Unit 6 - The Endocrine System and Emotions 

That first section is a whopping 299 pages, but that is only about two thirds of the book! The other third is the 29 (twenty nine) appendices! The appendices contain everything from vitamin and mineral charts to sections on molds and toxins. All in all, this book is a huge 448 pages! 

If you would have told me at the beginning what a gem Nutrition 101 was, I wouldn't have believed you. I had my doubts about the level it was written on and how interested my children would be. But, my children do love it! They enjoy getting together as a family and discussing the parts of the body and what foods are good or not good for them. They have even brought up different things after the chapter is over, like when we are at a grocery store! I found that amazing. 

I think this curriculum is a great one to have in your home. The appendices are worth having by themselves. Nutrition 101: Choose Life is available in a CD Rom or book format. The CD Rom is priced at $79.95 with the book selling for $99.95. There is also a combo pack available that includes both the book and CD Rom for $129.95. I know that for some that may be priced out of your budget, but you need to consider that this is more than just a book, it is a complete health curriculum that will be used not just once, but over and over again. 

Let me also give a brief personal testimony. Nutrition 101 has been very beneficial to us as a family with special needs children. Many childhood and adult illnesses can be helped - if not completely healed - by special diets. We have been searching for a diet that would help not only Joshua, our asperger's child, but also his younger brother, Jacob, who is beginning to exhibit many of the same behaviors. We have joined organizations that push special diets and bought cookbooks until we are blue in the face (and broke in the pocketbook). Many of the membership costs and material fees for such organizations can be much more expensive than the price of Nutrition 101.

The following YouTube video has other user testimonies as well as the reasons behind writing Nutrition 101.

If you are still unsure, read some of the reviews written by the other Homeschool Crew members by clicking here, or look over the Growing Healthy Homes website by clicking here or on any one of the highlighted links above. As usual, happy homeschooling, but in this case also, happy eating! 

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