101 Foods That Could Save Your Life Review and Giveaway

At last! I have finished Dave Grotto’s book, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life. I read his book cover to cover; every health benefit, every recipe, every detail of food history. And now that my works is done, ONE Food with Kid Appeal reader will get a chance to win a free copy!!Read the review first, and then find out how you can win.

In his introduction Dave talks about eating optimally. Optimal eating can be defined as including health supporting foods in your diet as often as possible. His prescription for a healthy diet, is a list of foods you can eat. He does not talk about what not to eat in this book. Simply put, Dave’s book is a long list of things you should eat (doability) plus chef inspired recipes (taste) which equals a diet that is sustainable.

His eating philosophy mirrors mine. Before I was feeding my family, I relied on restaurant meals and convenience foods to supplement what few meals I made at home. Kids often induce change in a parent’s life, and for me that meant cooking at home more often, eating less restaurant meals, and using less convenience foods for daily sustenance. I’m actually quite surprised that I’m leaner and have more energy compared my previous decade. I’m a terrible dieter, usually falling off the wagon after a few days of a new regimen. To be honest with kids, a love of cooking, a business and a hobby that includes a heft of writing and research; lengthy and rigorous exercise is not a part of my life. I know for a fact that the reason I have crazy amounts of energy for all my pursuits and I’m as lean as I was as a teenager is because my “feeding the family” prescription includes mostly health promoting whole foods. By the time I’ve prepared, eaten and fed my family wholesome food, we’re satiated and there’s little need for refined, processed, convenience foods.

In order to eat optimally, we need know what foods support our body’s systems and organ function. That’s where Dave’s book is super handy. The book is organized alphabetically for easy reference. The 101 "foods" contain fruits, vegetables, grains, herbs, spices, beverages (hot chocolate or coffee anyone??), legumes and dairy items. The book also has an appendix for sample meal plans and a phytochemical and nutrients appendix. The second appendix is my favorite (admittedly, I'm a food dork). This is a handy reference if you want to determine which foods increase bone density, improve heart function/prevent coronary heart disease, or maintain a healthy digestive tract. If you or a loved one has a health need you can focus first on incorporating foods that could help relieve constipation or prevent a heart-attack.
Once you know what foods are great for your body and will promote the energy you need to fulfill parenting, professional and personal goals, you need to know how to make those foods tasty. Dave includes a recipe for each of the 101 foods. Many more recipes can be found online by doing a key-word search in a search engine. What’s more, is that many of the foods in his book are great eaten in their raw form, which means you don’t need to be a cook to get these foods into your family’s diet. When optimal eating becomes a way of life for you, you may even become inspired to learn preparation techniques for some of the foods that require cooking!

Dave’s book is a great resource for

• a home cook to know which foods should be a part of optimal eating.



• anyone wanting to slow down the effects of aging such as macular degeneration, bone density loss and memory loss.



• anyone who hates dieting that wants to lose or maintain weight; busy yourself with eating as many foods-that-could-save-your-life as you can and forget about what you can’t eat.



• anyone who wants to prevent heart disease, cancer, digestive problems, diabetes than have to treat it.



• anyone suffering from illness or disease that wants to add dietary solutions to other medical treatments.



• foodies obsessed with know why whole grains, eggs or blueberries are so good for us.

If you aren't the winner you can buy a copy from Amazon, here. My copy resides by the kitchen table. Whenever I make a new vegetable the boys have never seen before, something they haven’t learned to appreciate, or even an old favorite I pull Dave’s book out. Little boo often asks, “what does oatmeal do for your body? or “ what does avocado do for your body?” Even at 2, he understands that what he puts in his mouth supports his body. The boys are especially attracted to food that helps with eyesight, grows big muscles, gives them energy to ride bikes or run around the playground, attack sick germs, and grows big brains that help solve tricky puzzles.

I partnered with Heather at Freebies4Mom to do this giveaway. To qualify to win, enter a comment on this review post on Kid Appeal telling me why you want to know more about food that can save your life. Include your name and the portion of your email address before the @ symbol. Do not leave your full email address in the comments section here. Then go to Freebies4Mom (click here) and enter to win the book. While you’re there check out some of her other great freebies for mom! The contest closes Wednesday Feb. 25th at midnight CST. You must enter a comment here on Kid Appeal AND register to win on Freebies4Mom for a chance to win.

Here is a round up of recipes I’ve posted about here that contain the 101 Foods. Stay tuned later this week for a post about body benefits your kids can get from the 101 Foods.