What do you think?
Rate this book
It's Not About the Broccoli: Three Habits to Teach Your Kids for a Lifetime of Healthy Eating
You already know how to give your children healthy food, but the hard part is getting them to eat it. After years of research and working with parents, Dina Rose discovered a powerful when parents focus solely on nutrition, their kids - surprisingly - eat poorly. But when families shift their emphasis to behaviors - the skills and habits kids are taught - they learn to eat right. Every child can learn to eat well, but only if you show them how to do it. Dr. Rose describes the three habits - proportion, variety, and moderation - all kids need to learn, and gives you clever, practical ways to teach these food skills. With It's Not About The Broccoli you can teach your children how to eat and give them the skills they need for a lifetime of health and vitality.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 7, 2014
127 people are currently reading
1420 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
May 8, 2017
I don't have any kids but I babysit for dozens of families and I care a great deal about nutrition and getting folks to eat healthier. I witness the struggle between kids and their parents over food constantly, so I decided to read this book. I've already recommended it to many of the parents whose kids I look after! I think it's a fairly excellent book with good ideas, though it perhaps foolishly trusts parents to understand what foods are healthy and what are not. There are parents out there who have been so fooled by the meat, dairy, and egg lobby's carb-phobic propaganda and its spread throughout both mainstream and social media that they don't understand that fruit, starchy veggies, and whole grains are undeniably healthy foods, the kinds you eat in higher proportion than other foods, This raises concerns for me, but I still think it is an objectively helpful book even if parents got only one thing from it, like setting food time windows so that kids don't end up snacking all their calories, something I see all the time. If it gets any parents to stop using food as rewards and to follow through on both all threats and all promises, it will have done a lot of good for families.
I just want to throw in, though, that I sat for a vegan single mom and her son from age 3 to almost 6 and that this momma, all by herself, fed her son the best food with the least fighting of any family I've seen, but they did it very differently from how this book suggests. First, he ate the same things for dinner always. He'd have a plain baked sweet potato, pinto beans, avocado, plain broccoli (if he complained about it, we'd add some soy sauce over it), plain tofu (the delicious vacuum-packed super firm kind), and either rice or whole wheat pasta. He'd eat the whole plate with minimal complaining. His mother did not have the same dinner as he did, she'd have an enormous kale salad every night for dinner. How did she manage this? One, we'd help him, putting food on forks for him, sometimes even hand feeding him because he was a very prone to distraction. Two, there weren't alternatives. This is just what he ate. Three, I'd read books to him while he ate because he was a total hellraiser but he loved books. When he wanted sweets, he'd ask for dates. If I offered him a cookie, he might accept it, but he was also likely to say "No thanks" because his tastes had never been geared toward sweets and processed foods. "Junk food" he enjoyed included seaweed snacks, his mom's homemade flax crackers, olives, and frozen peas (not heated). This was a particularly rebellious and wild kid, let me add. And yet, the eating struggle never reached any kind of serious point. So, take from that what you will. I think it really just indicates that vegans, who care a lot more about the quality and ethics of their food than most people, are more mentally able to give their children a consistently healthy diet. If eating ethically is central to your belief system, this can positively impact how your kids view eating. This is just one anecdotal story, but if the vegan children of folks online are any indication, there are a lot of happy kids out there helping their parents season roasted veggies and begging for green smoothies. So this could be an alternative to the method suggested in the book, but if that won't work for you, It's Not About the Broccoli> is terrific and should help!
I just want to throw in, though, that I sat for a vegan single mom and her son from age 3 to almost 6 and that this momma, all by herself, fed her son the best food with the least fighting of any family I've seen, but they did it very differently from how this book suggests. First, he ate the same things for dinner always. He'd have a plain baked sweet potato, pinto beans, avocado, plain broccoli (if he complained about it, we'd add some soy sauce over it), plain tofu (the delicious vacuum-packed super firm kind), and either rice or whole wheat pasta. He'd eat the whole plate with minimal complaining. His mother did not have the same dinner as he did, she'd have an enormous kale salad every night for dinner. How did she manage this? One, we'd help him, putting food on forks for him, sometimes even hand feeding him because he was a very prone to distraction. Two, there weren't alternatives. This is just what he ate. Three, I'd read books to him while he ate because he was a total hellraiser but he loved books. When he wanted sweets, he'd ask for dates. If I offered him a cookie, he might accept it, but he was also likely to say "No thanks" because his tastes had never been geared toward sweets and processed foods. "Junk food" he enjoyed included seaweed snacks, his mom's homemade flax crackers, olives, and frozen peas (not heated). This was a particularly rebellious and wild kid, let me add. And yet, the eating struggle never reached any kind of serious point. So, take from that what you will. I think it really just indicates that vegans, who care a lot more about the quality and ethics of their food than most people, are more mentally able to give their children a consistently healthy diet. If eating ethically is central to your belief system, this can positively impact how your kids view eating. This is just one anecdotal story, but if the vegan children of folks online are any indication, there are a lot of happy kids out there helping their parents season roasted veggies and begging for green smoothies. So this could be an alternative to the method suggested in the book, but if that won't work for you, It's Not About the Broccoli> is terrific and should help!
August 10, 2015
In the beginning of this book the author describes our parenting pitfalls when it comes to our children's eating habits and I was just depressed. Somehow I persevered and things got better. Dr. Rose advocates the move from a "nutritionist" state of mind (my college food science class) to a healthy habit approach. Here are the three habits:
1.) Teaching Proportion: We eat more growing foods (fresh and healthy -- fruits, veggies, chicken, milk, eggs) than fun foods (not junky, but not fresh and healthy -- red meat, crackers, chocolate milk) and more fun foods than treat foods (junk food.)
2.) Teach Variety: Teaching your kids how to taste new foods, how to have variety -- not eating the same fun or treat foods over and over.
3.) Teach Moderation: Teaching kids to listen to their body -- eating when you're hungry and stopping when you are full, using eating zones, managing treats and sweets.
Reading this book has given me some really practical approaches and lines to use on children of all varieties: undereaters, overeaters, brand new eaters. It's given me some direction, and some confidence, and some clarity to the eating struggles we've had the last couple years. Hurrah!
1.) Teaching Proportion: We eat more growing foods (fresh and healthy -- fruits, veggies, chicken, milk, eggs) than fun foods (not junky, but not fresh and healthy -- red meat, crackers, chocolate milk) and more fun foods than treat foods (junk food.)
2.) Teach Variety: Teaching your kids how to taste new foods, how to have variety -- not eating the same fun or treat foods over and over.
3.) Teach Moderation: Teaching kids to listen to their body -- eating when you're hungry and stopping when you are full, using eating zones, managing treats and sweets.
Reading this book has given me some really practical approaches and lines to use on children of all varieties: undereaters, overeaters, brand new eaters. It's given me some direction, and some confidence, and some clarity to the eating struggles we've had the last couple years. Hurrah!
March 9, 2016
What a great book. It took me many months to read it, because I wanted to implement the ideas within the book slowly over time. Too much change at once tends to freak out most people.
The book focuses on healthy habits when it comes to eating rather than healthy eating itself. The thought is that the latter will follow the former in due time. The book examines how most parents have a "nutrition mindset" (I know that I did) versus the "teaching method". The key is to have variety, proportion and self-regulation when it comes to satiety.
I started with the Eating Zones and identification of foods as Growing, Fun or Treats. Then, we implemented the Rotation Rule, which requires that no same food be eaten two days in a row. Over the course of a few months, I noticed that my daughter started to try new foods because she was constrained from repeating her favorites. I also started "Soup Sundays" where she and I picked a soup to make, shopped together for the ingredients and then made the soup on Sundays. This idea was mine but it provided me with a way in which to introduce my daughter to new flavors, and in particular, vegetables. My daughter loves spinach now as a result of Soup Sundays.
We've been working on proportion and intend to start working on what it means to feel full. My daughter, if left to her own devices, would eat 24-7. She claims that she is constantly hungry. She is not overweight at this point, but I worry about her ability to learn how to say "I'm full" in the future. The book provides a visual for parents to use so that kids can rank their hunger. They can't really understand the concept of satiety so that like everything else, it needs to be taught. We'll continue to work on this approach as well the others. Changing behavior takes a long time.
Overall, I highly recommend this book.
The book focuses on healthy habits when it comes to eating rather than healthy eating itself. The thought is that the latter will follow the former in due time. The book examines how most parents have a "nutrition mindset" (I know that I did) versus the "teaching method". The key is to have variety, proportion and self-regulation when it comes to satiety.
I started with the Eating Zones and identification of foods as Growing, Fun or Treats. Then, we implemented the Rotation Rule, which requires that no same food be eaten two days in a row. Over the course of a few months, I noticed that my daughter started to try new foods because she was constrained from repeating her favorites. I also started "Soup Sundays" where she and I picked a soup to make, shopped together for the ingredients and then made the soup on Sundays. This idea was mine but it provided me with a way in which to introduce my daughter to new flavors, and in particular, vegetables. My daughter loves spinach now as a result of Soup Sundays.
We've been working on proportion and intend to start working on what it means to feel full. My daughter, if left to her own devices, would eat 24-7. She claims that she is constantly hungry. She is not overweight at this point, but I worry about her ability to learn how to say "I'm full" in the future. The book provides a visual for parents to use so that kids can rank their hunger. They can't really understand the concept of satiety so that like everything else, it needs to be taught. We'll continue to work on this approach as well the others. Changing behavior takes a long time.
Overall, I highly recommend this book.
May 21, 2014
Followers of the author's blog, It's Not About Nutrition, won't find a lot of unfamiliar information in the book, but it's nice to have it all in one place with questions addressed. Having struggled recently with keeping the toddler eating a variety of foods in the face of an overseas move and living out of hotels, I found it a good refresher and system for "rebooting" how we've been eating in the last few months. Also, unlike the blog, it presents Rose's advice as a comprehensive program rather than just a series on thoughts about different aspects of varying a child's diet.
As always, she's convincing and well-reasoned, and does a great job debunking the long term usefulness of, say, hiding vegetables within other foods or relying on slightly healthified junk foods. Now I just need to be consistent in implementing her advice!
As always, she's convincing and well-reasoned, and does a great job debunking the long term usefulness of, say, hiding vegetables within other foods or relying on slightly healthified junk foods. Now I just need to be consistent in implementing her advice!
March 1, 2014
2.5 Stars
Eh, maybe this will be helpful to some parents, but I didn't find it terribly helpful. Lots of anecdotes and vague references to what NOT to do, while the advice for what to actually do seems like common sense to me.
Eh, maybe this will be helpful to some parents, but I didn't find it terribly helpful. Lots of anecdotes and vague references to what NOT to do, while the advice for what to actually do seems like common sense to me.
December 5, 2023
This book was recommended by my sister-in-law, who is a registered dietician, and it was an absolute game changer in the way I look at food and teaching kids healthy eating habits. It was an easy and informative read and one of the most, if not THE most interesting and useful self help book I've ever read.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve the way they look at food and diet but especially recommend it to parents who want to have a positive food relationship with their children and teach them habits they will carry throughout their lives.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve the way they look at food and diet but especially recommend it to parents who want to have a positive food relationship with their children and teach them habits they will carry throughout their lives.
August 18, 2014
This is a great book about feeding children. I wish I had read it when my girls were just starting solids.
The author's position is that when we emphasize nutrition and try to control our kids' eating, we create stress and, ironically, UNhealthy eating patterns. She advocates not emphasizing nutrition but the teaching of good eating habits, specifically eating a variety of foods, eating foods in proportion to their health benefits (lots of veggies, less ice cream), and eating in moderation -- listening to our hunger, eating when hungry and stopping when not hungry. She gives multiple suggestions for methods to support learning these habits.
Her idea of what constitutes healthy food is sometimes extreme -- she wants a diet of mostly unprocessed natural foods and, while I agree that that is probably good for you, it can be tough to achieve when you're busy. She emphasize dealing with picky eaters more than dealing with overeaters, which is my situation, but she has advice for overeating as well. She places more emphasis on toddlers and preschoolers and starting right than on shaping things up when problematic patterns around food have been established -- one of the reasons I wish I had read this sooner.
If your kids are adventurous eaters and you don't have struggles around food, you probably don't need this book, but I think it's a valuable read for the vast majority of parents who do not have food and feeding going as smoothly as they would like in their households.
her blog, It's Not About Nutrition, is great too.
The author's position is that when we emphasize nutrition and try to control our kids' eating, we create stress and, ironically, UNhealthy eating patterns. She advocates not emphasizing nutrition but the teaching of good eating habits, specifically eating a variety of foods, eating foods in proportion to their health benefits (lots of veggies, less ice cream), and eating in moderation -- listening to our hunger, eating when hungry and stopping when not hungry. She gives multiple suggestions for methods to support learning these habits.
Her idea of what constitutes healthy food is sometimes extreme -- she wants a diet of mostly unprocessed natural foods and, while I agree that that is probably good for you, it can be tough to achieve when you're busy. She emphasize dealing with picky eaters more than dealing with overeaters, which is my situation, but she has advice for overeating as well. She places more emphasis on toddlers and preschoolers and starting right than on shaping things up when problematic patterns around food have been established -- one of the reasons I wish I had read this sooner.
If your kids are adventurous eaters and you don't have struggles around food, you probably don't need this book, but I think it's a valuable read for the vast majority of parents who do not have food and feeding going as smoothly as they would like in their households.
her blog, It's Not About Nutrition, is great too.
September 19, 2014
I've followed Rose's blog for a few years now, and I love that her message is simple and consistent. Simply stated: it matters less what your child eats today (or this week or this year) than what your child learns about eating today that will affect how he eats for the rest of his life. Rose further expands that message in to three food habits: Proportion, Moderation, and Variety. Rose contends that focusing on those good habits will lead to proper nutrition, and that focusing instead on nutrition will lead to bad habits which will ultimately undermine nutrition, too.
In this book, Rose presents both the underlying philosophy and an actionable plan for parents to teach those three good food habits. While much of the information is available scattered about on Rose's blog, the book lays the plan out in a comprehensive, step-by-step way. If you've already got food struggles with your children, you should definitely buy a copy
In this book, Rose presents both the underlying philosophy and an actionable plan for parents to teach those three good food habits. While much of the information is available scattered about on Rose's blog, the book lays the plan out in a comprehensive, step-by-step way. If you've already got food struggles with your children, you should definitely buy a copy
March 27, 2017
This book had good tips and suggestions, but I didn't like how it was structured. The first part was convoluted rather than clear. With that said, it feels like a moderate, long term approach and did include some good tips.
My three favorite takeaways:
1. Never serve the same food two days in a row.
2. Serve fruits and veggies at every meal so dinner doesn't become a battlefield. Frequency is the antidote to fighting.
3. Describe the taste of new foods to your kids so they know what to expect.
My three favorite takeaways:
1. Never serve the same food two days in a row.
2. Serve fruits and veggies at every meal so dinner doesn't become a battlefield. Frequency is the antidote to fighting.
3. Describe the taste of new foods to your kids so they know what to expect.
September 14, 2015
Probably like most people who pick up this book, I read it because I have a daughter and I want her to become a healthy, adventuresome eater.
Being reasonably knowledgable about health and nutrition, I found a lot of the book to be pretty old hat. But there were a few insights I found very helpful, and in any case, it was a pretty quick read.
Being reasonably knowledgable about health and nutrition, I found a lot of the book to be pretty old hat. But there were a few insights I found very helpful, and in any case, it was a pretty quick read.
October 13, 2019
I can only guess I am not the target audience for this book. If you think it’s ok to give your toddler mac and cheese � because at least it has calcium� then this book might be useful. But then the author at some point actually recommends rotating three types of very sugary cereals for breakfast... #notimpressed
December 3, 2018
I think this does have some good ideas. Like most parenting-related books, pick what works for you. For me, I like the idea of focusing on variety in all things. I'm someone who naturally avoids variety, but I can see the value here. I like that it points out to do variety in unhealthy and healthy foods. The idea is just to get your kids used to eating different things or even the same things in different ways. This makes trying new things fun. Also, I like the information about how to talk about having your kids taste things. Ask them to taste only the tiniest bit and have them share their opinion about the food. Make them into a food critic. I'm not currently stressing about what my kids eat. I have one (6 yrs) who is fairly balanced and very willing to try new foods. Then I have one (3 yrs) who could be labeled as picky and has zero interest in trying new things. I've never fought with my kids about food, and I don't plan to start now. But I like the idea of working these ideas into our routine and I think with time it will work itself out.
January 17, 2024
Recently, we hosted a birthday party.
As I was reading this book, it was on the couch. One of the kids took it, read 20 pages, told their mom that it's an interesting book, and asked, "By the way, was the cake served already?"
It's literally how I feel after reading it:) As Dina Rose wrote: "The strategies in this book may be simple, but they are not necessarily easy."
I've already been down the path of trying to introduce a variety (mostly vegetables) to my kids, and it's really a whole project. I like the idea that Dina mentioned - focus on the shift from eating to tasting, and it helped a while ago.
However, I don't like, or rather, I have no idea how the statement below could work in my current life: "Never serve the same food two days in a row." We eat the same food as long as it lasts.
To sum up this salad of sentences - as in many other parenting books, I found a lot of ideas here that I would like to put into life, but I'm not sure how exactly and when.
As I was reading this book, it was on the couch. One of the kids took it, read 20 pages, told their mom that it's an interesting book, and asked, "By the way, was the cake served already?"
It's literally how I feel after reading it:) As Dina Rose wrote: "The strategies in this book may be simple, but they are not necessarily easy."
I've already been down the path of trying to introduce a variety (mostly vegetables) to my kids, and it's really a whole project. I like the idea that Dina mentioned - focus on the shift from eating to tasting, and it helped a while ago.
However, I don't like, or rather, I have no idea how the statement below could work in my current life: "Never serve the same food two days in a row." We eat the same food as long as it lasts.
To sum up this salad of sentences - as in many other parenting books, I found a lot of ideas here that I would like to put into life, but I'm not sure how exactly and when.
July 27, 2017
This was an incredibly straight-forward book into how to help children develop healthy eating habits. It was a little overwhelming to consider implementing the suggestions, but unlike other parenting books these things do seem possible to try out. What stuck out most to me is that most of our eating habits have very little to do with eating! Rather knowing ourselves well enough to realize we are satisfied or full, being willing to try new things and enjoy variety, and developing self control with a long term perspective are things the world in general needs more of!
My wife and I plan to implement some of the things from this book, but it isn't going to be easy. I recommend this if you want to help your children develop long-term healthy habits around food, I think this is a must for all parents.
My wife and I plan to implement some of the things from this book, but it isn't going to be easy. I recommend this if you want to help your children develop long-term healthy habits around food, I think this is a must for all parents.
quit-partway-through
November 25, 2021I'm sure the info in this book is useful, but I couldn't get past the introduction thanks to the author's condescending tone (e.g. the Gerber cookie incident) and black-and-white attitude towards unhealthy food. Saying "crackers teach kids to like chips" makes them sound like a gateway drug! And humans have inbuilt preferences for salty, sweet and fatty foods - even if we were not led down that path as children by our parents, we'd start eating them as soon as we were old enough to choose for ourselves anyway.
I'm glad I picked it up though because it's helped me to realise I don't actually want my kids to have an 'ideal' diet. I want them to eat like I do, i.e. a bit of everything, no foods are forbidden, but plenty of variety including vegetables.
I'm glad I picked it up though because it's helped me to realise I don't actually want my kids to have an 'ideal' diet. I want them to eat like I do, i.e. a bit of everything, no foods are forbidden, but plenty of variety including vegetables.
November 25, 2023
I expected to love this book…and didn’t like it nearly as much as I expected. I’ve professionally worked with children ages 0-3 for about 6 years. And I think that this book is targeted more at parents who are very anxious about food and who have children who are already picky eaters in the 3-10 year old range. I didn’t appreciate the vague philosophizing at the beginning of the book. Or how she viewed feeding children as very black-and-white—or how she said that feeding children crackers was bad? I found the second half of the book much more useful—with specific, practical suggestions and a more positive note. It was a hard slog to get there tho and I’m not sure that the effort was worth it.
January 25, 2019
Once you read the whole book, you realize that she really promotes the Ellyn Satter method of feeding, but in the long, convoluted program described here for feeding, she confuses matters and even contradicts herself. “Do what you can to get kids to taste foods, but don’t pressure them!� (I’m paraphrasing. Have you met a 3 year old that doesn’t want to taste something?
There were a few good elements, suggestions like trying to encourage your child to focus on being a food critic and describe the food they’re eating - I think that could be helpful.
But really, save yourself the time and just read Satter.
There were a few good elements, suggestions like trying to encourage your child to focus on being a food critic and describe the food they’re eating - I think that could be helpful.
But really, save yourself the time and just read Satter.
January 5, 2019
Much of what Dina shared I knew, however what I especially liked that Dina took the long view about developing lifelong healthy eating habits instead of getting caught up in looking at nutrition over a day or fixing problems (she does have a troubleshooting guide at the end though). Lots of good suggestions; however, most helpful were creating the environment ( externally and internally) to support the three habits--remembering to go slow and to keep in mind keeping ourselves (parents and caregivers) in a resourceful state ...will recommend to parents I work with!
May 22, 2019
It’s hard to find time to read an entire book like this. I read it all because I have a picky eater, but if you want to read more efficiently I’d read chap 4 and 5 and then skim the rest since a lot of the other parts are based on advice in chap 4. I like her long term approach to a lifetime of eating habits, not just trying to get kids to eat broccoli. It’s a big picture, long haul perspective, not quick fixes.
January 16, 2020
This book really helped me to find ways to help my child get his eating habits under control. We had really been struggling with how to help him and he was not eating enough and was often insisting on and healthy foods. This book showed me the ways that I was flawed in my thinking, and helped me to realize the most important skills for a lifetime of healthy eating choices. I highly recommend this book for all new parents and any parents who have kids with eating problems, like pickiness.
February 16, 2017
I have changed my own bad diet over the past several months with the whole30 but I tend to fall back into old habits and have to recommit myself. I really want to help my kids become healthy eaters now! The author makes sense, i learned a lot, im going to start implementing the eating zones now! One step at a time.
May 19, 2019
I found this book to be rather in line with what we already do, with the exception of the meal rotation. I typically do serve the same thing for dinner two days in a row, mostly because I don’t cook a whole meal on the days I work. I do tend to fall in the category of “nutrition mom�, although I try not to let this interfere with my firm held belief that food should be enjoyed, not just consumed.
September 5, 2023
This book offers a very different way to approach teaching children about food and eating. I wish I had read this book BEFORE we had any of our children, but thankfully I can still teach them some of the strategies and concepts I have learned. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone about to become parents, or parents of babies.
May 14, 2018
Great book for parents of toddlers/school aged kids or anyone involved in caregiving. I would definitely recommend it, even if your child is very young. Great tips for ensuring you don’t raise a picky eater!
November 10, 2020
Really enjoyed this and already I can see some of the structures working. I like the idea of eating well being a habit to teach kids and the focus on the long term game. Definitely worth reading. I got it from the library but will need to buy it now!
April 20, 2024
I skimmed through this book and wrote down some noteful things, I appreciate the book and it was not something that is that useful (for me) but has some good tips for younger kids, I thought it would help for more than just toddlers, maybe teens 🤷
June 16, 2024
This book felt a bit repetitive towards the end. However, I appreciated the ideas within it. It contains relatively practical and flexible recommendations about following a teaching approach to develop healthy eating habits.
July 14, 2017
Feels like an updated Child of Mine
May 7, 2018
This was a really great read. She had lots of really great suggestions even for a really good 2 year old eater.
If you are having any food challenges, I would definitely recommend this book!
If you are having any food challenges, I would definitely recommend this book!
May 27, 2018
The book touches the plights of most parents and has provided practical solutions to counter different kids. It would be beneficial to try and persist for those who hope for long term benefits.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.