Growing Healthy Homes

I do not know a single person who says that they want to be unhealthy. Yet there are many people who do not take care of their bodies properly by eating right and exercising. I think that many of us know we “should” eat better, but either don’t know how to begin or just put it off.

I recently received a copy of Nutrition 101: Choose Life! to review. (I received this in electronic format.) This resource is unlike any other that I have seen. This 448 page book contains

• Detailed information about the 12 main body systems
• Discussion of specific nutrients necessary for proper function of each of the body systems
• Amazing illustrations
• Power recipes
• Discussion questions, activities, and additional resources for each body system
• Thirty-one appendices containing information on a wide variety of health topics including sugar substitutes, sleep, cancer, selecting fresh produce, and choosing nutritional supplements.

And it is written from a Christian perspective!

In reviewing the book we found that although the book is designed to be used with the whole family, the text itself is too complicated for most elementary students to read themselves. However, there are specific activities designed for younger students in addition to  those activities for upper level students. I elected not to print any of this book for the review process. I read aloud from my laptop computer with the kids sitting next to me. It worked well, but for the long term, I would opt to print at least some of the activity pages. The recipes are not complicated, but do contain many ingredients that are not likely to be staples in your home, unless you are already eating natural foods.

We did an interesting activity (of our own) and compared the food pyramid in Growing Healthy Homes to the USDA pyramid. The recommended number of servings of vegetables is SIGNIFICANTLY higher in Growing Healthy Homes. (They recommend 7-10 servings of vegetables per day in addition to 4-5 servings of fruit!) We also noticed that Growing Healthy Homes has put the dairy group at the top of the pyramid with only  0-1 servings per day. They do explain why they deviate from the typical recommendation, but I do not personally agree with their reasoning.

That being said, I still think that this is an excellent compilation of information on health and nutrition that is presented in a format usable by the whole family. I love curriculum resources that can be used with multiple ages of children because they typically make good use of my time and money, as well as provide opportunities for everyone to spend time together. This resource is admittedly expensive. Of course there is great variety in what people consider to be expensive. Growing Healthy Homes does have the potential of being used over multiple years with multiple students.

To purchase this resource visit their website. There are also sample pages to download on the website. The book is available on CD-ROM for $79.95, printed copy for $99.95, or a combo package containing both the CD-ROM and a printed copy for $129.95.

Disclosure: This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.